Curtains for the German leagues. So very happy to see VfB Stuttgart return to the Bundesliga, they did a heck of a job rejuvenating the squad and making the necessary adjustments after last year's disappointment. Hannover 96 also immediately get back up, while Ingolstadt and Darmstadt go down. I think for the league in general that's great, they get two teams with tradition and support back (Stuttgart set a new attendance record in the 2nd division this season with an average of over 50.000) and lose two "small" teams. There's going to be a relegation between VfL Wolfsburg and Eintracht Braunschweig ... really crazy how Wolfsburg has deteriorated over the last two seasons, also thanks to the VW scandals. Would be crazy to see them go down ...
Also a shout out to TSG Hoffenheim and Werder Bremen. In the end, Hoffenheim lost the fight for 3rd place and direct CL qualification to Dortmund, but man, what a season they've had. In early 2016 it looked like they were headed to the 2nd division, then Julian Nagelsmann guided them to survival and now all the way to 4th place, all while playing beautiful attacking football. Sensational. Werder Bremens season has also been wild ... when Alexander Nouri took over after 4 games, they were dead last, and after 21 games they were still only 16th. They completely turned it around then though and almost qualified for EL, but ultimately fell short and finished 8th. Still, amazing finish for them. And Austrian coach Peter Stöger has led FC Cologne back to the EL for the first time in 25 years.
Interesting summer ahead. Bayern had a weak season by their standards and will probably invest heavily, Dortmund will probably replace their coach, Leipzig and Hoffenheim will have to strengthen to follow up their fairytale seasons. Leverkusen and Schalke will look to rebound next season.
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