Wolfsburg in danger of Bundesliga relegation and irrelevancy
Wolfsburg is Germany’s self-styled Autostadt. The city owes its very existence to Volkswagen and car manufacturing, but there is a very real danger that playing in the top-flight Bundesliga might stall in Niedersachsen, this sometimes forgotten part of Northern Germany.
VfL (Verein für Leibesübungen, or “club for body exercise”) Wolfsburg first ascended to the Oberhaus (first division) in 1997 and have since then become an established part of the furniture. Only Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund and Bayer Leverkusen have occupied places in the Bundesliga continuously for longer than die Wölfe (the Wolves).
Wolfsburg famously won the league in 2009 under Felix Magath at a time when star men Edin Dzeko and Grafite lit up Germany. In 2015, they lifted the DFB-Pokal for the first time in their history. As recently as 2016, they stood on the verge of eliminating Real Madrid in the UEFA Champions League quarterfinals. Up 2-0 from the first leg at home, they succumbed 3-0 at the Santiago Bernabéu and it paved the way for years of struggling to look relevant.
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The following season, Wolfsburg slipped to 16th in the table and only secured the Klassenverbleib (staying in the league) thanks to a two-legged win in a nervy relegation duel with local rivals Eintracht Braunschweig. A collective sigh of relief was heaved on the shore of the Mittellandkanal, but there has been a sense ever since that Wolfsburg are some sort of no man’s land club. This was the case even when Oliver Glasner was impressively leading them back into the Königsklasse (Champions League) before leaving due to apparent differences of opinion and direction with Sportchef Jörg Schmadtke.
Never appreciated by the wider German public, due mostly to the 50+1 exemptions granted to a club underwritten by the Volkswagen group, die Wölfe seemed set to exist permanently in the Bundesliga without receiving much love. Suffice it to say, there is Schadenfreude at play among fans of other clubs this season. Wolfsburg, second bottom with a mere 20 points from 24 games are suffering through their worst campaign since the 1997 Aufstieg (promotion) season.
The man most under pressure is the club’s Geschäftsführer-Sport (managing director for sport), the Dane Peter Christiansen, who arrived in 2024 from FC Copenhagen.
Christiansen has spent substantially on players and assembled a bloated squad, but has gone through two coaches — Ralph Hasenhüttl and Paul Simonis — and the internally promoted former youth coach Daniel Bauer could be next.
Bauer stuck his head above the parapet this week with his statement that the atmosphere and culture at the club are not bundesligatauglich (suitable for the Bundesliga). Whether that will soon apply to Bauer himself is an intriguing question.
This weekend’s Nordduell at home to Hamburger SV (Saturday, 9:20 a.m. ET, ESPN+) feels a bit like a final for both Bauer and Wolfsburg. Hamburg have acquitted themselves fairly well in their first season back in the Bundesliga after their first ever Abstieg (relegation) and seven subsequent years in the purgatory for them of the 2. Bundesliga.
They will bring a sizable following to the Volkswagen-Arena, and the game may even have a home feel to it for die Rothosen. But right now, HSV are mittendrin im Abstiegskampf (ensconced in the relegation fight) after losing to Leverkusen in the Wednesday Nachholspiel (make-up game).
It is a fight that this season, anyway, involves virtually half the Bundesliga. It will be surprising if Union Berlin, currently six points clear of 16th — the playoff position — get dragged into it and a home win against the team in that spot, Werder Bremen, will go a long way towards securing safety in Berlin-Köpenick.
Bremen, now under Daniel Thopune, recorded a significant 2-0 win over Schlusslicht (bottom club) Heidenheim, who I feel are destined for the drop after a plucky and unlikely three-year stint in the Bundesliga.
St. Pauli and Mainz have become imbued with the spirit of improvement and perhaps it is no shock. Urs Fischer has had the desired effect since taking over the reins in Mainz and it will be perplexing indeed if that squad — one still competing in European competition — falters significantly again.
With St. Pauli, there was always a sense earlier this season that even when Alex Blessin’s sides were losing games, they were not getting turned over. By going to Sinsheim and beating Hoffenheim, die Kiezkicker showed they have the know-how.
This uptick by the two aforementioned clubs should rightly make Köln and Borussia Mönchengladbach more than a bit nervous.
Köln coach Lukas Kwasniok received the latest vote of confidence from his superiors this week, but you get the feeling this is a week-to-week situation of concern in the Domstadt. The big Rheinderby against Gladbach in a couple of weeks could take on even bigger significance than usual, depending on what both clubs do on the pitch between now and then.
Finishing 16th is often no cause for panic in the Bundesliga as history speaks loudly for the top flight representative in the playoff as opposed to the team finishing third in the 2. Bundesliga. But no one wants to be Wolfsburg right now, stuck in 17th place and seemingly unable to engage the Notbremse (emergency brake).