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Bayer Leverkusen stunned Germany — and Europe — with their 2023-24 title. Can they build on that and make it back-to-back crowns? Or will Bayern reassert their dominance?
German football has not been the same since Bayer Leverkusen's extraordinary 2023-24 season, in which they went the entire Bundesliga campaign unbeaten and ended Bayern Munich's eleven-year stranglehold on the title. Bayern recovered to win the 2024-25 and 2025-26 crowns, but Leverkusen — now in their fourth season under Xabi Alonso — are back in contention, sitting second after ten games, three points behind a Bayern side that looks anything but imperious.
Bayern have conceded 14 goals in ten Bundesliga games — more than in any comparable period of the past five years. Their new manager, appointed after the previous coaching tenure ended by mutual consent in April, is implementing a more expansive possession style that has taken time to click. The defence, in transition following the departure of a veteran centre-back and the injury to their first-choice goalkeeper, has yet to find the solidity that European contention requires. Bayern are a club built on ruthless self-correction; expect them to tighten by December.
The question asked of Xabi Alonso since his stunning debut campaign is whether he can replicate the magic now that opponents have had three additional years to study and counter his system. The answer, based on 2026-27, is a nuanced yes. Leverkusen are not unbeatable in the same extraordinary way they were in 2023-24 — they have lost once — but they are deeper, more experienced, and better equipped to handle the physicality of European competition alongside their domestic challenge.
Florian Wirtz, whose pre-season move to a major European club was widely expected but did not materialise, has started the season in the best form of his career. Nine goal contributions in ten league games, combined with a Champions League display against Real Madrid that drew plaudits across Europe, suggests the 23-year-old is approaching the peak of his powers.
Leverkusen have the tools to win the Bundesliga again, but Bayern have the history, the resources, and the institutional ruthlessness that tends to tell in the second half of German seasons. Our prediction is a title race settled in the final six weeks — Bayern edge it on 78 points, with Leverkusen one point behind. But the margins are thinner than they have been for a decade, and that is good for German football.
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