From this week's Flying Kiwis.
"GERMAN BUNDESLIGA & FRAUEN BUNDESLIGA
As the first major league to get back into it after a pando interruption, the Bundesliga’s been enjoying some boosted support from footy fans around the world as it carries the torch. Sarpreet Singh’s Bayern Munich, to use the club’s full Aotearoa translation, have picked up where they left off with three wins from three to push themselves clear at the top of the table – including a crucial 1-0 win over Dortmund this morning. Singh hasn’t come close to featuring in any of those matches. He’s often picked up in training photos with the team but he didn’t make the bench in any of them, although that’s all par for the course, he wasn’t expected to either.
Before the pandemic Singh would train with the top side then play for the reserves but getting his third tier reserves reps hasn’t been an option lately. The same situation exists for the women’s Bundesliga which was also on an extended hiatus even after the to two male tiers in Germany had resumed. Money being a major issue there – keeping Meikayla Moore (MSV Duisburg) and Paige Satchell (SC Sand) out of action indefinitely as well as Jana Radosavljevic (Cloppenburg) a division down.
But there’s some good news on that front, folks. Not for Rado, because the second women’s tier has been cancelled... although with Cloppenburg sitting atop a five-team race to the bottom that’s not so bad for them. One point separated tenth from fourteenth but no teams will be relegated from the 2. Frauen Bundesliga this season so it doesn’t matter in the end. However both the third tier of men’s footy and the top tier of women’s footy have now been cleared to resume. There’ll be plenty of midweek games, especially for Singh’s Bayern ressies, as they try to cram everything into a tighter window but with correlating leagues around Europe being straight up cancelled they’re still in an enviable place. Germany’s done pretty well despite their geographical disadvantages and are ahead of the curve compared to most countries in that continent it seems.
Both leagues will begin this weekend, the final weekend of May. SC Sand are in a comfortable mid-table place with six games remaining although they do have a DFB-Cup quarter-final to play as well - that cup comp is still going ahead. Duisburg have more work to do. They’re only two points clear of relegation with seven matches still up their sleeve. As for Bayern II in the men’s third division, they can’t be promoted any higher since they’re a reserves team and they’re too good to be relegated so they’ll just play it where it lies. Singh has 7 goals and 6 assists from 20 appearances for BM2 so with eleven more matches left hopefully he can push those numbers into double figures."