Created on 06-04-2013 at 00:00 AM
Saturday’s 1-0 win away to Eintracht Frankfurt in the 28th league fixture of the season means Bayern have claimed the German championship at an earlier stage of the campaign than any other team in the Bundesliga’s 50-year history, as the nation’s most successful club can no longer be caught at the top of the table with six games still to play.
FCB have thus beaten their own record for the fastest title triumph on record, as the Reds have previously won the championship twice with 30 of the 34 games played:
- In 1972/73 (when a win still earned only two points), Bayern were 12 points clear of FC Köln with four to play;
- In 2002/03, when Bayern were 13 points ahead of VfB Stuttgart at the same stage.
The league has been won on the 31st matchday of the season four times in the past, three times by Bayern (1998/99, 2004/05, 2007/08), and once by Werder Bremen (1987/88).
Bayern have won the title in record time in two respects, both in terms of the number of games played and according to the date, as the champions have never before been crowned so early in the month of April. The destination of the championship shield has been settled in April eight times before, with FC Köln previously the earliest to claim the honours: the Rhineland side landed the inaugural Bundesliga title on 18 April 1964, with two matches still to play.
Saturday’s achievement also means one other confirmed milestone, as it will be the fifth time that Bayern have led the Bundesliga standings from the first completed round of matches to the last, a feat previously achieved in 1968/69, 1972/73, 1984/85, 2007/08. No other club has ever spent an entire season top of the league.