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Sports and sparklines

Germany’s Bundesliga soccer season is officially over. Bayern Munich remains the record champion; their local rivals in Nuremberg have also won a record – as the most relegated team. Our graphical review shows the ups and downs of the 2007/2008 season.

The relegation into the minor league poses an emotional pathos for the team’s fans, a physical challenge for the players, and economic hardship for the management. After all, their budget is practically cut in half. The proceeds from broadcasting rights fall through, the number of paying fans drops and the sponsors don’t want to pay as much. In professional sports, it’s all about numbers.

Fans of Bavaria’s top two soccer clubs shed both tears of sorrow and joy in the 2007/2008 season. “The Club” in Nuremberg dropped into the minor league while FC Bayern Munich won yet another national championship. The sparklines below illustrate the wins (blue whiskers), losses (red whiskers) and ties (black dashes) for all eighteen teams this season.

R Team GP W D L GS:GA GD P Record
1 Bayern München 34 22 10 2 68:21 47 76 Sparkline: Bayern München, Saison 2007/2008
2 Werder Bremen 34 20 6 8 75:45 30 66 Sparkline: Werder Bremen, Saison 2007/2008
3 Schalke 04 34 18 10 6 55:32 23 64 Sparkline: Schalke 04, Saison 2007/2008
4 Hamburger SV 34 14 12 8 47:26 21 54 Sparkline: Hamburger SV, Saison 2007/2008
5 VfL Wolfsburg 34 15 9 10 58:46 12 54 Sparkline: VfL Wolfsburg, Saison 2007/2008
6 VfB Stuttgart 34 16 4 14 57:57 0 52 Sparkline: VfB Stuttgart, Saison 2007/2008
7 Bayer Leverkusen 34 15 6 13 57:40 17 51 Sparkline: Bayer Leverkusen, Saison 2007/2008
8 Hannover 96 34 13 10 11 54:56 -2 49 Sparkline: Hannover 96, Saison 2007/2008
9 Eintracht Frankfurt 34 12 10 12 43:50 -7 46 Sparkline: Eintracht Frankfurt, Saison 2007/2008
10 Hertha BSC Berlin 34 12 8 14 39:44 -5 44 Sparkline: Hertha BSC Berlin, Saison 2007/2008
11 Karlsruher SC 34 11 10 13 38:53 -15 43 Sparkline: Karlsruher SC, Saison 2007/2008
12 VfL Bochum 34 10 11 13 48:54 -6 41 Sparkline: VfL Bochum, Saison 2007/2008
13 Borussia Dortmund 34 10 10 14 50:62 -12 40 Sparkline: Borussia Dortmund, Saison 2007/2008
14 Energie Cottbus 34 9 9 16 35:56 -21 36 Sparkline: Energie Cottbus, Saison 2007/2008
15 Arminia Bielefeld 34 8 10 16 35:60 -25 34 Sparkline: Arminia Bielefeld, Saison 2007/2008
16 1. FC Nürnberg 34 7 10 17 35:51 -16 31 Sparkline: 1. FC Nürnberg, Saison 2007/2008
17 Hansa Rostock 34 8 6 20 30:52 -22 30 Sparkline: Hansa Rostock, Saison 2007/2008
18 MSV Duisburg 34 8 5 21 36:55 -19 29 Sparkline: MSV Duisburg, Saison 2007/2008

We had a hunch that things looked bad for Nuremberg back in December. Not much changed since then. Bayern Munich took the championship early and most other teams only moved up or down one or two positions. For comparison, we used a vertical line to illustrate the first and second halves of the season.

Two outstanding second halves this season are those of VfL Wolfsburg, which can look forward to playing in the UEFA Cup, and Energie Cottbus, which saved itself from the relegation. Karlsruher SC, however, lost momentum in 2008. And what happened after Nuremberg gave Hans Meyer, the trainer that led Nuremberg to the 2007 German Cup, the boot for Thomas von Heesen? Not much. After all, you don’t lose the relegation battle during the final match but throughout the course of the season.

That’s why it makes sense to look at the entire season and not just the final table for the season.

Maybe, someday, the editors at kicker – which also happens to be based in Nuremberg – will see things that way, too. This magazine, which is the #1 reference for every serious German soccer fan, could at least ensure that the charts in Nuremberg are top notch, even when local soccer is literally only second-class.

The first horizontal line shows the German teams playing in the Champions League while the second illustrates those who could still qualify. The third horizontal line designates the German teams contending for the UEFA Cup and the fourth signalizes the relegated ones. The vertical line shows the first and second halves of the season. The data originates from the German Football Association (DFB); we made the sparklines using SparkMaker.

For detailed, individual analysis, you may wish to download and print this PDF version.