How Europe's Top Clubs Can Answer German Dominance Next Season

It’s amazing, really, the difference two days can make.

On April 22 it looked as though the Champions League semifinals might produce a Clasico for the Wembley centrepiece, that this Saturday’s Final in London would be a transplanted version of one of world football’s most contentious rivalries.

Spain, after all, was widely held as the capital of the club game—a country where Barcelona and Real Madrid demonstrated their dominance week after week—and if any division could have challenged their claim it would likely have been England’s Premier League.

Certainly not Germany.

At least not until April 24.

That night Borussia Dortmund beat Real Madrid 4-1 at the Westfalenstadion, putting a foot and then some into the championship match. The previous evening Bayern Munich had destroyed mighty Barcelona in a fashion so convincing the sport’s balance of power was thrown into flux.

Only, the rise of the German powerhouses—and Bayern, in particular—was a long time coming, something that had been very intentionally planned through growing television revenue, skyrocketing sponsorship deals and a level of fan engagement that put other leagues to shame.

And now, with Bayern and Dortmund set to square off in the Champions League Final, the top clubs from elsewhere on the continent are faced with a question: How to overturn the German supremacy, or at least match it, next season?

Fans come first

On Thursday former Netherlands manager Bert Van Marwijk hailed the rise of Bayern Munich as the latest and greatest footballing superpower.

“Bayern Munich are the new benchmark in European football in my opinion,” he said. “Bayern’s players are at an age when the current team can go on for two or three more seasons. And what’s really impressive is that they have plenty of cash in the bank. They could easily spend €100 million on new players if they wanted.” (Goal)

Imitation, as they say, is the sincerest form of flattery. And don’t be surprised if, over the next few years, Bayern are mimicked not only on the pitch, but in the front office as well.

What differentiates their rise to power from the fast-money approaches of the likes of Chelsea, Paris Saint-German and Manchester City is that a foundation is in place to ensure they remain at the top for a very long time.

They have money to spend, yes, and they’ve shown signs that they will spend it—last summer’s €40 million acquisition of Javi Martinez being a prime example—, but cash is not something that’s taken for granted at Bayern. If anything, it’s the fallout from a business setup that, as naive as it sounds, puts the fans first.

On matchdays in many German cities, a ticket doubles as a transit pass, and in most cases the ticket will have cost as little as €15 to begin with. And once at the stadium, the ticket-holder will be supporting a members-owned club where private investment is limited to 49 per cent—a measure designed to dissuade the sort of recklessness that has plunged the likes of Portsmouth, Malaga and Blackburn Rovers into so much trouble.

The reason for this strategy is simple.

Happy, engaged customers are good for the bottom line. And nowhere in Europe is that engagement as all-encompassing as in Germany.

It’s not exactly a get-rich-quick scheme, but it’s one where sustainability is prioritized ahead of immediate results—both in regards to silverware and the balance sheet.

While many European clubs are tightening their belts ahead of Financial Fair Play implementation, Bayern are only starting to flex their muscles. They could very well leave some big sides in the dust.

Tackling German dominance

So, what to do about it?

Affordable ticket prices are a good place to start. Matchday revenue is typically dwarfed by television and sponsorship income anyway, and if the fanbase is engaged, filling stadiums and producing healthy TV numbers, the sponsors will crash through the doors with fistfuls of bank notes.

Attention needs to be paid to academy structures as well.

Sometimes it seems as though good players are only acquired when large amounts of money changes hands, but the truth is that the best clubs often get their best players for free.

The production line at Barcelona’s La Masia has rolled out nearly the entire first team, and Bayern Munich’s youth setup has trained the likes of Philipp Lahm, Bastian Schweinsteiger and Thomas Muller.

Those players become assets, either to sell or to make available funds for the transfer market that might otherwise have been spent on their own positions.

Finally, there is the obvious.

To track down Bayern Munich, contend with them and even defeat them, Europe’s Champions League contenders will have to made targeted, thoughtful player acquisitions during the summer transfer period.

Barcelona, for example, aren’t that far away from returning to the top of the pile, and if they address issues in the centre of defense and add one more reliable attacker, they should be there or thereabouts again next season.

Things are rather more complicated at Real Madrid, who will have to appoint a manager before dealing with inadequacies at right-back, central defense and up top, as well as sorting out the drama and infighting that plagued the side much of the current campaign.

Chelsea have a good group of young players but could use a holding midfielder, a deep-lying playmaker and another option at right-back. Manchester United will be looking for enhanced creativity from the centre of the park. Juventus are nearly there but require a goalscorer who can bang in 25 or 30 goals a season.

Toppling Bayern will not be easy. It will be a process. But if it’s done thoughtfully and sustainably, there’s no reason another club can’t set itself up for its own period of success somewhere down the road.

Just not right away