1968–69 Bundesliga

Bundesliga
Season1968–69
Dates17 August 1968 – 7 June 1969
ChampionsBayern Munich
1st Bundesliga title
2nd German title
Relegated1. FC Nürnberg
Kickers Offenbach
European CupFC Bayern Munich
Cup Winners' CupFC Schalke 04 (losing DFB Cup finalists to Bayern)
Goals scored873
Average goals/game2.85
Top goalscorerGerd Müller (30)
Biggest home winFC Bayern 6–0 Werder Bremen (29 March 1969)
Biggest away win1860 Munich 0–4 M'gladbach (28 September 1968)
Highest scoringWerder Bremen 6–5 M'gladbach (11 goals) (7 June 1969)

The 1968–69 Bundesliga was the sixth season of the Bundesliga, West Germany's premier football league. It began on 17 August 1968 and ended on 7 June 1969.[1] 1. FC Nürnberg were the defending champions.

Competition modus

Every team played two games against each other team, one at home and one away. Teams received two points for a win and one point for a draw. If two or more teams were tied on points, places were determined by goal average. The team with the most points were crowned champions while the two teams with the fewest points were relegated to their respective Regionalliga divisions.

Team changes to 1967–68

Borussia Neunkirchen and Karlsruher SC were relegated to the Regionalliga after finishing in the last two places. They were replaced by Hertha BSC Berlin and Kickers Offenbach, who won their respective promotion play-off groups.

Season overview

The dominant team of the 1968–69 season was FC Bayern Munich. Bayern were in first place of the standings from the very first matchday and never looked back, continuously increasing their margin to eventually eight points, the biggest so far in league history. They were victorious in the DFB Cup as well, beating Schalke in the final by a 2–1 score. Keys to their double win were their improved defense and top scorer Gerd Müller, who scored 30 goals.

Behind Bayern, the league continued to create surprises. Alemannia Aachen ended up in second place after a campaign which featured almost every position between second and 16th. Other notable astonishments were Eintracht Braunschweig, who finished in fourth place, and 1. FC Köln, who ended their season in a dismal 13th position.

Köln even were in danger of being relegated prior to the last matchday, sitting in 15th place with 30 points at that time. They played 1. FC Nürnberg at home, who also were in relegation trouble as 16th-placed team, one point behind Köln. Another match on that day was the clash between 17th-placed Borussia Dortmund and 18th-placed Kickers Offenbach. Both teams had 28 points prior to the game. After the matches were over, both Nürnberg and Offenbach had received 3–0 defeats, resulting in the demotion of both teams.

The demotion of Nürnberg was especially tragic as they had been Bundesliga champions only 12 months ago. Nevertheless, a pre-season sell-out of their best players and continuous quarrels between coach Max Merkel and his players proved to be costly, and although Merkel was sacked in late March 1969, it was too late to reverse tides. A home draw to Dortmund on matchday 33 and the defeat against Köln one week later eventually sealed their fate.

Team overview

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Location of teams in Bundesliga 1968–69
Club Ground[2] Capacity[2]
Alemannia Aachen Tivoli 30,000
Hertha BSC Olympiastadion 100,000
Eintracht Braunschweig Eintracht-Stadion 38,000
SV Werder Bremen Weserstadion 32,000
Borussia Dortmund Stadion Rote Erde 30,000
MSV Duisburg Wedaustadion 38,500
Eintracht Frankfurt Waldstadion 87,000
Hamburger SV Volksparkstadion 80,000
Hannover 96 Niedersachsenstadion 86,000
1. FC Kaiserslautern Stadion Betzenberg 42,000
1. FC Köln Müngersdorfer Stadion 76,000
Borussia Mönchengladbach Bökelbergstadion 34,500
TSV 1860 Munich Stadion an der Grünwalder Straße 44,300
FC Bayern Munich Stadion an der Grünwalder Straße 44,300
1. FC Nürnberg Städtisches Stadion 64,238
Kickers Offenbach Bieberer Berg 30,000
FC Schalke 04 Glückauf-Kampfbahn 35,000
VfB Stuttgart Neckarstadion 53,000

League table

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GR Pts Qualification or relegation
1 Bayern Munich (C) 34 18 10 6 61 31 1.968 46 Qualification to European Cup first round
2 Alemannia Aachen 34 16 6 12 57 51 1.118 38
3 Borussia Mönchengladbach 34 13 11 10 61 46 1.326 37
4 Eintracht Braunschweig 34 13 11 10 46 43 1.070 37
5 VfB Stuttgart 34 14 8 12 60 54 1.111 36 Qualification to Inter-Cities Fairs Cup first round
6 Hamburger SV 34 13 10 11 55 55 1.000 36
7 Schalke 04 34 14 7 13 45 40 1.125 35 Qualification to Cup Winners' Cup first round[a]
8 Eintracht Frankfurt 34 13 8 13 46 43 1.070 34
9 Werder Bremen 34 14 6 14 59 59 1.000 34
10 1860 Munich 34 15 4 15 44 59 0.746 34 Qualification to Inter-Cities Fairs Cup first round
11 Hannover 96 34 9 14 11 47 45 1.044 32
12 MSV Duisburg 34 8 16 10 33 37 0.892 32
13 1. FC Köln 34 13 6 15 47 56 0.839 32
14 Hertha BSC 34 12 8 14 31 39 0.795 32 Qualification to Inter-Cities Fairs Cup first round
15 1. FC Kaiserslautern 34 12 6 16 45 47 0.957 30
16 Borussia Dortmund 34 11 8 15 49 54 0.907 30
17 1. FC Nürnberg (R) 34 9 11 14 45 55 0.818 29 Relegation to Regionalliga
18 Kickers Offenbach (R) 34 10 8 16 42 59 0.712 28
Source: www.dfb.de
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal ratio.
(C) Champions; (R) Relegated
Notes:
  1. ^ As Bayern Munich also won the 1968–69 DFB-Pokal, runners-up Schalke 04 were given the European spot reserved for the domestic cup winners.

Results

Home \ Away AAC BSC EBS SVW BVB DUI SGE HSV H96 FCK KOE BMG M60 FCB FCN KOF S04 VFB
Alemannia Aachen — 0–0 1–4 2–1 0–1 4–0 4–2 2–0 2–0 1–0 2–1 2–1 4–0 2–4 4–2 1–2 4–1 1–3
Hertha BSC 0–1 — 0–0 1–0 0–0 1–1 2–0 3–2 2–1 1–0 2–1 2–1 1–2 1–2 2–0 1–0 1–0 0–1
Eintracht Braunschweig 2–0 3–3 — 0–3 4–3 0–0 1–0 1–0 3–3 3–0 2–1 0–0 2–1 2–3 0–2 2–2 3–0 1–2
Werder Bremen 1–2 2–0 2–1 — 2–1 2–1 0–1 1–1 3–2 2–1 3–1 6–5 4–1 1–0 3–3 2–0 1–3 1–0
Borussia Dortmund 3–1 2–2 2–1 3–2 — 2–1 0–1 3–1 1–1 2–3 1–1 1–3 2–0 0–1 3–1 3–0 0–1 1–0
MSV Duisburg 1–1 2–1 1–1 2–0 2–0 — 1–1 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 1–1 3–4 0–0 1–0 2–1 1–0 2–0
Eintracht Frankfurt 0–1 2–0 0–1 2–1 1–1 2–1 — 2–2 0–0 2–2 1–2 1–1 3–0 1–1 3–0 3–2 1–0 3–0
Hamburger SV 3–0 0–0 0–0 5–2 2–0 1–2 1–4 — 1–4 3–1 3–1 2–0 2–0 2–2 4–2 3–0 1–3 2–1
Hannover 96 5–2 1–1 1–1 1–0 1–1 1–1 1–2 2–2 — 0–2 3–0 2–3 3–2 1–0 2–2 2–2 1–0 1–0
1. FC Kaiserslautern 2–1 1–0 4–0 1–0 1–2 3–0 2–2 0–1 0–0 — 4–0 2–0 3–1 3–1 1–1 2–1 1–1 1–3
1. FC Köln 1–2 1–0 2–0 3–3 2–1 1–1 2–1 4–1 1–0 2–1 — 1–4 0–0 1–1 3–0 2–1 2–0 5–2
Borussia Mönchengladbach 2–2 0–1 1–1 1–1 1–0 1–0 2–3 1–2 3–2 4–0 2–1 — 3–0 1–1 1–1 4–1 3–0 4–4
1860 Munich 0–0 0–1 0–1 4–3 2–1 2–1 1–0 3–3 2–1 1–0 2–1 0–4 — 0–3 2–0 2–0 3–1 3–1
Bayern Munich 1–1 3–0 2–1 6–0 4–1 2–2 2–0 5–1 2–1 2–0 1–0 0–0 0–2 — 3–0 5–1 0–0 2–0
1. FC Nürnberg 1–4 3–0 2–0 1–1 2–2 1–1 1–0 0–0 1–2 1–0 0–1 4–0 3–0 2–0 — 2–2 1–1 1–1
Kickers Offenbach 1–1 1–0 0–1 0–3 4–3 0–0 4–2 1–1 1–1 4–1 3–1 1–0 2–3 0–0 2–1 — 1–0 2–1
Schalke 04 3–1 2–0 0–2 2–1 4–1 1–0 2–0 2–3 1–1 1–0 3–1 1–1 2–0 1–2 4–1 3–0 — 1–1
VfB Stuttgart 3–1 4–2 2–2 2–2 2–2 3–2 2–0 3–0 1–0 4–3 6–1 0–3 1–1 3–0 2–3 1–0 1–1 —
Source: DFB
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Top goalscorers

30 goals
23 goals
17 goals
15 goals
14 goals
13 goals
12 goals

Champion squad

FC Bayern Munich
Goalkeeper: Sepp Maier (34).

Defenders: Werner Olk (34 / 1); Peter Pumm Austria (34); Hans-Georg Schwarzenbeck (34); Franz Beckenbauer (33 / 2); Peter Kupferschmidt (22).
Midfielders: August Starek Austria (34 / 4); Franz Roth (34 / 2); Helmut Schmidt (21 / 2).
Forwards: Rainer Ohlhauser (34 / 10); Dieter Brenninger (34 / 9); Gerd Müller (30 / 30); Gustav Jung (4).
(league appearances and goals listed in brackets)

Manager: Branko Zebec Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.

On the roster but have not played in a league game: Fritz Kosar; Benno Zellermayer; Peter Stegmann; Albrecht Wachsmann; Reinhard Lippert.

See also

References

  1. ^ "Archive 1968/1969 Schedule". DFB.
  2. ^ a b Grüne, Hardy (2001). Enzyklopädie des deutschen Ligafußballs, Band 7: Vereinslexikon (in German). Kassel: AGON Sportverlag. ISBN 3-89784-147-9.