By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
The race to decide the UEFA Champions League berths will go to the final matchday, with Eintracht Frankfurt, SC Freiburg and Borussia Dortmund all still in the mix on what promises to be a Super Saturday to cap the 2024-25 Bundesliga season.
The curtain will fall on the current season with FC Bayern München already confirmed as champions and Bayer 04 Leverkusen as runners-up, but there is all to play for behind them.
The top four qualify directly for the UEFA Champions League, but Eintracht Frankfurt need a point at fourth-placed SC Freiburg to be sure of finishing third, while Dortmund, who currently sit fifth, could secure qualification with just a point at third-from-bottom 1. FC Heidenheim 1846.
Dortmund host Holstein Kiel knowing that a win by a two-goal margin will see them cap a late-season surge in form with a top-four spot. Having beaten Leverkusen 4-2 away to extend their unbeaten Bundesliga run to seven matches, Niko Kovač’s side will be confident against their opponents who were relegated with a 2-1 defeat to Freiburg.
Whichever of the trio of top-four contenders misses out will most likely have the consolation of a fifth-placed finish and UEFA Europa League qualification. There is another two-way battle for sixth and UEFA Conference League qualification, between 1. FSV Mainz 05 and RB Leipzig, with the pair only separated by goal difference.
Mainz know a win at home to Leverkusen in Xabi Alonso’s final match in charge would secure sixth, whereas Leipzig will be ready to pounce on any slip-up by edging ahead of Mainz with a better result at home to VfB Stuttgart.
As regular Champions League participants, Leipzig will do everything they can to avoid a season without any form of European football against a Stuttgart side who are a week ahead of the biggest match of their own campaign, the DFB Cup final against Arminia Bielefeld – themselves just promoted back to Bundesliga 2 – which will also bring Europa League qualification for the winners.
At the foot of the table, Hostein Kiel and VfL Bochum 1848 have already been relegated, but the spotlight turns to the play-off place, currently occupied by Heidenheim, but with FC St. Pauli and TSG Hoffenheim both still at risk.
Congratulations to Hamburger SV, who will be back in the Bundesliga next season after a seven-year absence.They are set to be joined by FC Köln, another sleeping giant of German football, but third-placed SV Elversberg, who have never played in the Bundesliga, are also pushing for the other automatic promotion place going into the final Matchday on Sunday.
Xabi Alonso will bow out as Leverkusen head coach this weekend, having led Die Werkself to their first Bundesliga title in 2023-24. Bundesliga.com shows how Alonso steered Leverkusen away from the relegation battle and forged them into the team which lifted the Meisterschale.
Bundesliga Match Facts powered by AWS shows how Alonso left his mark on Leverkusen since his arrival in October 2022.
Eintracht Frankfurt are on the verge of securing a direct Champions League spot for the first time in their history.