Bayern vs. Dortmund: The pinnacle of rivalries

It’s not just about three points when Bayern face Borussia Dortmund on Saturday. It’s about prestige, history and a fixture that has shaped the Bundesliga like few others in recent decades. Der Klassiker is one of world football’s biggest rivalries, with its own special quirks, as this comparison with other famous fixtures shows.

Bayern the dominant force

When you compare Germany’s Klassiker with other high-profile rivalries around the world – such as Real Marid against Barcelona, Boca Juniors against River Plate or the Milan derby – then one thing very much sticks out. Bayern have dominated their close rivals like few other teams have managed.

Bayern’s competitive record from 136 meetings with Dortmund reads 67 wins, 36 draws and 33 defeats. When you compare that to Spain’s Clásico, it’s far more even, as Real have won 41 percent of encounters to Barcelona’s 39 percent. Or go to England, where Manchester United have won 39 percent of their fixtures against Liverpool (32 percent).

A painful intensity

Despite that dominance, Dortmund have never made life easy for Bayern. A rather unusual stat underlines that point. No other high-profile fixture around the world in the last 10 years has seen as many injury-enforced substitutions as Der Klassiker.

The average in Germany’s biggest game is 1.1 enforced changes per game – a number that is substantially higher than Galatasaray against Fenerbahce or Juventus vs. Inter Milan, for example, where their average is only 0.7.

Neck and neck in table

A look at the table going into the last 10 encounters also proves that there’s so much more than pride on the line in Der Klassiker. On average, just five points and an average of 1.8 places have separated Bayern and Dortmund ahead of their clashes, so almost always neck and neck in the standings.

In Spain, the difference in points going into a Clásico has been 4.7; in Scotland’s Old Firm between Celtic and Rangers it’s been 9.7, although those two domestic giants have almost always been in first and second, with just 1.3 places between them.

The Klassiker sell-out guarantee

Germany’s Klassiker also draws in the fans. Every game in the last 10 years has boasted a capacity crowd – a feat none of the other analysed rivalries can match. Even Spain’s Clásico has seen just 97 percent of seats filled, while it’s 98 percent between Celtic and Rangers.

When it comes to overall crowd numbers, the Bundesliga comes out on top with 91 percent capacity ahead of Spain (76 percent), France’s Ligue 1 (73 percent) and Italy’s Serie A (65 percent). The difference is most marked when looking at Turkey, where the Istanbul derby between Galatasaray and Fenerbahce averages just 88 percent capacity, with the league average way down at 37 percent.

Cards? No more than usual

Even with the levels of intensity and vociferous crowds, Der Klassiker remains a fair contest. The fixture averages 3.7 yellow cards per game, which is only slightly above the Bundesliga average (3.6). It’s also on par with the league average for red cards at 0.1 dismissals per match.

Cards are far more common than goals in Argentina’s Superclásico between Boca and River, where 7.5 yellows and 1.1 reds are shown per meeting. The domestic average there is 4.5 yellows and 0.3 reds.

Der Klassiker compared

Whatever you wish to call the match between Bayern and Dortmund, it remains one of world football’s standout fixtures. The numbers show Der Klassiker is often a great spectacle, relevant in the context of the season, intense but still surprisingly fair. How will the next edition at the Allianz Arena on 12 April fare?

This text appeared in members’ magazine ‘51’