The 18 Bundesliga clubs are relying on German players more in 2023/24 than in previous seasons. However, one team clearly stands out. The number of potential candidates for the national team has not been this high for over ten years.
Stuttgart had enough: In the end there were four Stuttgart players on the field against France: Führich, Mittelstädt, Undav and Anton. IMAGO/Eibner
Could the national team’s problems in the recent past have something to do with the lack of playing time in the Bundesliga for German players who would be eligible to play for the DFB? The current data gives a clear answer to this at first: No.
By matchday 26, the proportion of German players in the clubs’ starting lineups was a historically strong 48.9 percent. Since the beginning of this millennium, this value has only been higher twice. The absolute peak was the 2000/01 season. At that time, the proportion of German players in the starting lineups of the 18 Bundesliga clubs was 50.7 percent.
In the 2000/01 season, the Bundesliga set a record for this millennium. imago images
When FC Bayern dramatically became champions ahead of Schalke 04 with a late 1-1 draw at HSV, players like Oliver Kahn, Thomas Linke, Mehmet Scholl and Carsten Janker were in the Munich squad. For example, 13 different German players were used (in comparison: nine different players have been used so far in the current season).
In the 2010/11 season the value was also higher than in the current season at 49.8 percent. In the following season – just like currently – 48.9 percent of players who were eligible to play for the DFB were used in the starting lineups of the 18 clubs.
The lowest value was just four years ago
The lowest value was not that long ago if you take a closer look at the period up to 2000. In 2020/21, only 38.7 percent of German players were used in the starting eleven. However, the value has increased in recent years from 40.9 to 41.4 percent last season to the current 48.9 percent.
The special case of Heidenheim
So how can the jump be explained? Newcomer Heidenheim has an important role to play. Because Frank Schmidt relies almost exclusively on German players. In numbers this means: the starting eleven percentage is 90.4 percent. “Troublemaker” Lennard Maloney is a US national player, but the 24-year-old was actually born in Berlin. Only Nikola Dovedan remains, who has a few appearances as an Austrian (click here for the Heidenheim squad…).
Bottom line Wolfsburg – VfB with a high quota and four national players
To date, VfL Wolfsburg has the worst rate at 23.4 percent. Leverkusen ranks just ahead with 27.3 percent. The factory club currently has three national players, Jonathan Tah, Florian Wirtz and Robert Andrich, and relies on quality instead of quantity. Only VfB Stuttgart (66.8 percent) and FC Bayern (45.8 percent) are currently sending more players to the DFB team, with four nominees each (Aleksandar Pavlovic had to decline). Incidentally, only in Cologne and Heidenheim is the proportion of German players in the starting eleven higher than that of the currently successful Swabians.
2024-03-25 08:50:30
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