The Bundesliga playoff battle to conclude the 2023/24 season was one of the most unpredictable stories in recent soccer history. The team finishing 16th in the Bundesliga, Bochum took on the third-place team from that season’s 2. Bundesliga. In this case, that was Fortuna Dusseldorf, a side that last played in the top flight in 2020. The tight affair went down to the wire, and the Bundesliga was capturing every moment along the way.
Relegation Rollercoaster is a new feature the Bundesliga produced to capture the hunt to stay in the Bundesliga. For much of the close of the 2023/24 Bundesliga campaign, fans focused on Bayer Leverkusen. Xabi Alonso’s side put together an undefeated season in Germany to be the first undefeated Bundesliga champion. Yet, the battle at the bottom was as much, if not more, entertainment for fans. That drama from the closing stages of the Bundesliga seasons is not available in a six-part documentary series organized by the DFL. The entire program is available on the Bundesliga website.
Koln, Bochum, Union Berlin, Mainz and Heidenheim hovered around the bottom four. The Bundesliga then covered some of the major moments from the close of their season. For example, Union Berlin went from the UEFA Champions League to a relegation candidate in one season while interchanging coaches. Many of the games among the relegation candidates had significance as to how the final table shaped up.
The series concludes with the aforementioned relegation playoff series between Fortuna Dusseldorf and Bochum. After losing 3-0 at home to Dusseldorf, Bochum needed a miracle to keep its Bundesliga hopes alive. The documentary crew captured how that unfolded in Dusseldorf.
The deeper dive into how those four clubs handled the closing stages of the season will be worth a watch. Union Berlin’s dramatic late goal in the final game of the season kept it afloat in the Bundesliga after picking up one win in March, April and the first half of May. Bochum’s sensational win over Bayern Munich came at a time when the side desperately needed points. As mentioned, the final day was dramatic across the board, and it is well worth reliving.
Still, the documentary series is more than just in-game highlights. The DFL interviewed players and coaches involved in the relegation scrap to get their emotions as the season transpired. The series also features analysis from Liverpool manager Jürgen Klopp. Although not involved in the drama from the Bundesliga, Klopp spoke to the DFL about the relegation battle. He used to manage at Mainz, the club where he got his managerial career going. He speaks on what that club means to him and what it is like watching them compete in a relegation battle from afar.
Fans looking to watch Relegation Rollercoaster do not have to wait for weekly releases. Each of the six episodes is already available on the Bundesliga website. That does not require any form of paid subscription, but it is ad-supported content. The Bundesliga has done well to produce great content that gives a detailed look at the league, and this series could be at the top.
PHOTOS: IMAGO
