By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
There were three six-goal matches in the final Bundesliga Matchday of 2024 as another unpredictable year concluded in the German top-flight.
FC Bayern München set the tone on Friday night, with five different players getting on the scoresheet in their 5-1 home win over RB Leipzig.
Bayer 04 Leverkusen, currently four points behind Bayern in second, also notched five, with four of them coming from Patrik Schick.
And Holstein Kiel got their second win of the season, and they did it in style, putting five past FC Augsburg to keep them off the bottom of the table for Christmas, with a double for Kiel’s Japanese forward Shuto Machino.
In the Bundesliga 2, 1. FC Köln finish the year on top after they beat 1. FC Kaiserslautern 1-0 yesterday, but it still remains incredibly tight as we head into 2025.
Meanwhile the DFL Deutsche Fußball Liga released the schedule for Bundesliga and Bundesliga 2 matches through the beginning of March 2025. Fixtures for the current 2024-25 season have now been set for Matchdays 20-24 in both leagues.
This means that the Matchday 20 fixture between 1. FC Union Berlin and RB Leipzig (Saturday, 1 February, 6:30 p.m. CET) and the match between Borussia Dortmund and VfB Stuttgart on Matchday 21 (Saturday, 8 February, 3:30 p.m. CET) have been scheduled. On Matchday 22, Bayer 04 Leverkusen will face FC Bayern München on Saturday evening (15 February, 6:30 p.m. CET). The following week, on Matchday 23, FC Bayern München and Eintracht Frankfurt will face each other on Sunday afternoon (23 February, 5:30 p.m. CET). On Matchday 24, VfB Stuttgart will welcome FC Bayern München (Friday, 28 February, 8:30 p.m. CET), while Eintracht Frankfurt will face Bayer 04 Leverkusen in the Saturday evening game (1 March, 6:30 p.m. CET).
In Bundesliga 2, the fixtures on Matchday 20 include 1. FC Nürnberg against SV Darmstadt 98 (Friday, 31 January, 6:30 p.m. CET) and Hamburger SV against Hannover 96 (Sunday, 2 February, 1:30 p.m. CET). Matchday 21 features the games between Hertha BSC and 1. FC Kaiserslautern (Saturday, 8 February, 8:30 p.m. CET) and between 1. FC Köln and FC Schalke 04 (Sunday, 9 February, 1:30 p.m. CET). One week later, 1. FC Kaiserslautern and Hannover 96 will face each other on Matchday 22 (Saturday, 15 February, 1:00 p.m. CET), before 1. FC Köln will meet Fortuna Düsseldorf in the Rhine derby on Matchday 23 (Sunday, 23 February, 1:30 p.m. CET). The matches between current table leaders SV Elversberg and Hertha BSC and 1. FC Magdeburg and SV Darmstadt 98 (both on Sunday, 2 March, 1:30 p.m. CET) on Matchday 24 are also scheduled.
The next set of exact fixtures for the Bundesliga and Bundesliga 2 are expected to be announced in calendar week 6 of 2025 (3 to 7 February), following the play-offs draw of the European club competitions.