A club looks set to qualify for next season’s Champions League in the most unique set of circumstances.
It’s been a dramatic season for teams at the top of the Bundesliga. Bayer Leverkusen are on course for an invincible treble campaign, while Borussia Dortmund are set to take on Real Madrid in the Champions League final at Wembley.
Meanwhile, perennial champions Bayern Munich have endured a tumultuous season that will end without any silverware.
Advert
And with just one game remaining of the current campaign one set of results could lead to Hoffenheim qualifying for the Champions League in the rarest of fashions.
Germany already has an extra place in next season's competition due to their UEFA coefficient ranking.
But if fifth-placed Dortmund win the Champions League, they would automatically qualify for next year’s edition, and that extra coefficient spot in the competition will be offered to the Bundesliga’s sixth-placed side.
Advert
Frankfurt are currently in sixth, three points ahead of Hoffenheim. However should the former lose their last game against RB Leipzig by two goals or more, and Hoffenheim beat Bayern by two goals, Pellegrino Matarazzo’s side will qualify for the competition.
Moreover, should all the above take place, and Hoffenheim beat Bayern by no more than two goals, they will qualify for the Champions League despite having a negative goal difference.
Elsewhere, as mentioned, Bayer Leverkusen have notched up a half-century of unbeaten matches in all competitions, and are within one game of completing the first part of their invincible treble.
Advert
If Leverkusen avoid defeat in their final league game of the season at home to Augsburg they will become the first team to go through a Bundesliga campaign without tasting defeat. Bayern Munich lost just once in their title-winning seasons of 1986-87 and 2012-13.
They will then face Italian side Atalanta in the Europa League final in Dublin before playing in the German Cup final against Kaiserslautern in Berlin three days later.
Topics: Bundesliga, Champions League, Hoffenheim, Bayer Leverkusen, Borussia Dortmund, Real Madrid
Chris Byfield