1998–99 Bundesliga

Bundesliga
Season1998–99
Dates14 August 1998 – 29 May 1999
ChampionsBayern Munich
14th Bundesliga title
15th German title
Relegated1. FC Nürnberg
VfL Bochum
Borussia Mönchengladbach
Champions LeagueBayern Munich
Bayer Leverkusen
Hertha BSC
Borussia Dortmund
UEFA Cup1. FC Kaiserslautern
VfL Wolfsburg
Werder Bremen (domestic cup winners)
Intertoto CupHamburger SV
MSV Duisburg
Matches played306
Goals scored866 (2.83 per match)
Top goalscorerMichael Preetz (23)
Biggest home winWolfsburg 7–1 M'gladbach (7 November 1998)
Biggest away winM'gladbach 2–8 Leverkusen (30 October 1998)
Highest scoringM'gladbach 2–8 Leverkusen (10 goals) (30 October 1998)

The 1998–99 Bundesliga was the 36th season of the Bundesliga, Germany's premier football league. It began on 14 August 1998[1] and ended on 29 May 1999.[2] 1. FC Kaiserslautern were the defending champions.

Competition modus

Every team played two games against each other team, one at home and one away. Teams received three points for a win and one point for a draw. If two or more teams were tied on points, places were determined by goal difference and, if still tied, by goals scored. The team with the most points were crowned champions while the three teams with the fewest points were relegated to 2. Bundesliga.

Team changes to 1997–98

Karlsruher SC, 1. FC Köln and Arminia Bielefeld were relegated to the 2. Bundesliga after finishing in the last three places. They were replaced by Eintracht Frankfurt, SC Freiburg and 1. FC Nürnberg.

Season overview

While Bayern Munich clearly dominated the league and secured the championship in round 31, the season is well remembered for the struggle against relegation which remained close until the final whistle. In the last round (round 34), five teams needed a win to remain in the top flight, with one team having to join Mönchengladbach and Bochum who already had lost their chances. At halftime, Frankfurt looked like the relegated team, but they turned a 0–0 draw into a 5–1 win against Kaiserslautern. Rostock (3–2 at Bochum) and Stuttgart (1–0 against Bremen) also won their matches, and the other two teams, Nürnberg and Freiburg, faced each other. Nürnberg lost 1–2 and was eventually overtaken by the other four teams, dropping from position 12 to 16, and had to go down to 2. Bundesliga.

With around twenty minutes to go, league table position #16 changed hands several times:

  • 68th minute: While Frankfurt had scored shortly after the break, Kaiserslautern equalized (1–1), therefore Frankfurt even more looked like the third relegated team.
  • 70th to 74th minute: Frankfurt scored (2–1), which still would not have been enough, but Rostock (1–0 up) conceded two goals at Bochum and was now in 16th place.
  • 77th to 82nd minute: Rostock equalized (2–2), but Frankfurt scored two more goals (4–1), leaving Rostock at #16 and now having the same goal difference as Nürnberg.
  • 83rd minute: Rostock scored another goal (3–2), which meant that Nürnberg (still 0–2 down) dropped to 16th place and would have been relegated.
  • 85th minute: Nürnberg scored (1–2) and climbed back up the table, leaving Frankfurt in the relegation zone again.
  • 89th minute: With the penultimate goal of the season (the final one being scored for Schalke at Munich), Frankfurt scored for the final time during the match which resulted in a 5–1 win over Kaiserslautern. Soon afterwards the games in Nürnberg (1–2), Frankfurt and Bochum (a 3–2 win for Rostock) ended, and Nürnberg were relegated.

In a famous post-match interview, Frankfurt's striker Jan Åge Fjørtoft, who had scored the team's decisive goal, praised Frankfurt's manager Jörg Berger claiming that he would have also saved RMS Titanic.

Team overview

class=notpageimage|
Location of teams in Bundesliga 1998–99
Club Location Ground[3] Capacity[3]
Hertha BSC Berlin Olympiastadion 76,000
VfL Bochum Bochum Ruhrstadion 36,344
SV Werder Bremen Bremen Weserstadion 36,000
Borussia Dortmund Dortmund Westfalenstadion 68,600
MSV Duisburg Duisburg Wedaustadion 30,128
Eintracht Frankfurt Frankfurt am Main Waldstadion 62,000
SC Freiburg Freiburg Dreisamstadion 22,500
Hamburger SV Hamburg Volksparkstadion 62,000
1. FC Kaiserslautern Kaiserslautern Fritz-Walter-Stadion 38,500
Bayer 04 Leverkusen Leverkusen BayArena 22,500
Borussia Mönchengladbach Mönchengladbach Bökelbergstadion 34,500
TSV 1860 Munich Munich Olympiastadion 63,000
FC Bayern Munich Munich Olympiastadion 63,000
1. FC Nürnberg Nuremberg Frankenstadion 44,700
FC Hansa Rostock Rostock Ostseestadion 25,850
FC Schalke 04 Gelsenkirchen Parkstadion 70,000
VfB Stuttgart Stuttgart Gottlieb-Daimler-Stadion 53,700
VfL Wolfsburg Wolfsburg VfL-Stadion am Elsterweg 21,600

League table

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification or relegation
1 Bayern Munich (C) 34 24 6 4 76 28 +48 78 Qualification to Champions League group stage
2 Bayer Leverkusen 34 17 12 5 61 30 +31 63
3 Hertha BSC 34 18 8 8 59 32 +27 62 Qualification to Champions League third qualifying round
4 Borussia Dortmund 34 16 9 9 48 34 +14 57
5 1. FC Kaiserslautern 34 17 6 11 51 47 +4 57 Qualification to UEFA Cup first round
6 VfL Wolfsburg 34 15 10 9 54 49 +5 55
7 Hamburger SV 34 13 11 10 47 46 +1 50 Qualification to Intertoto Cup third round
8 MSV Duisburg 34 13 10 11 48 45 +3 49 Qualification to Intertoto Cup second round
9 1860 Munich 34 11 8 15 49 56 −7 41
10 Schalke 04 34 10 11 13 41 54 −13 41
11 VfB Stuttgart 34 9 12 13 41 48 −7 39
12 SC Freiburg 34 10 9 15 36 44 −8 39
13 Werder Bremen 34 10 8 16 41 47 −6 38 Qualification to UEFA Cup first round[a]
14 Hansa Rostock 34 9 11 14 49 58 −9 38
15 Eintracht Frankfurt 34 9 10 15 44 54 −10 37
16 1. FC Nürnberg (R) 34 7 16 11 40 50 −10 37 Relegation to 2. Bundesliga
17 VfL Bochum (R) 34 7 8 19 40 65 −25 29
18 Borussia Mönchengladbach (R) 34 4 9 21 41 79 −38 21
Source: www.dfb.de
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.
(C) Champions; (R) Relegated
Notes:
  1. ^ Werder Bremen won the DFB-Pokal (domestic cup) and thus qualified for the UEFA Cup.

Results

Home \ Away BSC BOC SVW BVB DUI SGE SCF HSV FCK B04 BMG M60 FCB FCN ROS S04 VFB WOB
Hertha BSC — 4–1 1–0 3–0 1–3 3–1 1–0 6–1 1–1 0–1 4–1 2–1 1–0 3–0 2–0 2–0 2–0 2–0
VfL Bochum 2–0 — 2–0 0–1 0–2 0–0 1–2 2–0 1–2 1–5 2–1 2–0 2–2 0–3 2–3 1–2 3–3 0–2
Werder Bremen 2–1 1–1 — 1–1 1–1 1–2 2–3 0–0 0–1 2–2 4–1 4–1 0–1 2–3 0–3 1–0 2–2 0–1
Borussia Dortmund 3–0 0–1 2–1 — 2–0 3–1 2–1 2–1 1–0 1–0 1–1 3–1 2–2 3–0 2–0 3–0 3–0 2–1
MSV Duisburg 0–0 2–0 2–0 3–2 — 2–1 1–0 2–3 3–1 0–0 2–2 1–1 0–3 1–1 4–1 1–2 2–0 6–1
Eintracht Frankfurt 1–1 1–0 0–2 2–0 0–0 — 3–1 2–2 5–1 2–3 0–0 2–3 1–0 3–2 2–2 1–2 1–1 0–1
SC Freiburg 0–2 1–1 0–2 2–2 2–2 2–0 — 0–0 0–1 1–1 2–1 1–2 0–2 1–0 3–0 0–2 2–0 0–0
Hamburger SV 0–4 1–0 1–1 0–0 4–1 0–1 2–1 — 2–0 0–0 3–0 3–0 0–2 2–0 1–0 2–2 3–1 1–1
1. FC Kaiserslautern 4–3 2–3 4–0 1–0 3–0 2–1 0–2 1–0 — 0–1 2–1 1–1 2–1 2–0 3–2 4–1 1–1 1–1
Bayer Leverkusen 2–2 2–0 2–0 3–1 2–0 2–1 1–1 1–2 2–2 — 4–1 1–1 1–2 3–0 3–1 1–1 0–0 3–0
Borussia Mönchengladbach 2–4 2–2 0–1 0–2 0–2 1–1 3–1 2–2 0–2 2–8 — 2–0 0–2 0–2 1–1 3–0 2–3 5–2
1860 Munich 2–0 2–1 1–3 2–0 0–0 4–1 2–0 0–0 1–2 0–2 3–1 — 1–1 1–2 2–1 4–5 1–1 2–3
Bayern Munich 1–1 4–2 1–0 2–2 3–1 3–1 2–0 5–3 4–0 2–0 4–2 3–1 — 2–0 6–1 1–1 2–0 3–0
1. FC Nürnberg 0–0 2–2 1–1 0–0 0–2 2–2 1–2 1–1 1–1 2–2 2–0 1–5 2–0 — 2–2 3–0 2–2 1–1
Hansa Rostock 1–2 3–0 2–1 2–0 3–0 2–2 0–2 0–1 2–1 1–1 1–1 4–1 0–4 1–1 — 2–2 3–0 3–3
Schalke 04 0–0 2–2 1–2 1–1 2–0 2–3 1–1 1–4 0–2 0–1 1–0 2–2 1–3 2–2 1–0 — 1–0 2–0
VfB Stuttgart 0–0 4–2 1–0 2–1 0–0 2–0 3–1 3–1 4–0 0–1 2–2 0–1 0–2 0–0 1–1 2–1 — 1–2
VfL Wolfsburg 2–1 4–1 2–4 0–0 4–2 2–0 1–1 4–1 2–1 1–0 7–1 1–0 0–1 1–1 1–1 0–0 3–2 —
Source: DFB
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Top goalscorers

Rank Player Club Goals
1 Germany Michael Preetz Hertha BSC 23
2 Germany Ulf Kirsten Bayer 04 Leverkusen 19
3 Germany Oliver Neuville Hansa Rostock 14
Ghana Tony Yeboah Hamburger SV
5 Germany Markus Beierle MSV Duisburg 13
North Macedonia Saša Ćirić Nürnberg
Brazil Giovane Élber Bayern
Germany Carsten Jancker Bayern
Poland Andrzej Juskowiak VfL Wolfsburg
10 Germany Bernd Hobsch TSV 1860 Munich 12
Germany Olaf Marschall Kaiserslautern

See also

References

  1. ^ "Schedule Round 1". DFB. Archived from the original on 28 September 2012.
  2. ^ "Archive 1998/1999 Round 34". DFB. Archived from the original on 28 September 2012.
  3. ^ a b Grüne, Hardy (2001). Enzyklopädie des deutschen Ligafußballs, Band 7: Vereinslexikon (in German). Kassel: AGON Sportverlag. ISBN 3-89784-147-9.