Jamal Musiala is player and Vincent Kompany coach of the first half of the season

With the restart of the Bundesliga on Friday evening, the first half of the 2024/25 season is gradually coming to an official end. The three-week winter break provided an ideal opportunity to review the first half of the season before the football year gets back into full swing on 10 January. While a duel is emerging at the top of the table and some teams in the basement already appear to be out of contention, more than half of the league has legitimate hopes of qualifying for European football after 15 match days.

Cologne. It is not unexpected to see FC Bayern Munich and defending champions Bayer Leverkusen at the top of the table - after all, they were considered the top favourites to win the championship trophy before this season. However, they are followed by two positive surprises in third and fifth place, Eintracht Frankfurt and 1. FSV Mainz 05. In addition to Borussia Dortmund, neighbouring VfL Bochum has been particularly disappointing so far. The team at the bottom of the table is already eight points off the relegation zone and is currently battling with the weakening European Cup participants from Heidenheim and promoted Holstein Kiel for the relegation spot. FanQ asked over 3,000 football fans what they thought of the first half of the 2024/25 Bundesliga season. The survey not only determined which teams have surprised and disappointed supporters the most so far, but also who football fans in this country thought was the most dominant player in their respective position in the first half of the season. 

Just under a third of those who voted see 1. FSV Mainz 05 as the surprise team of the first half of the season (32.4 %). Eintracht Frankfurt followed with around a quarter of the votes (25.0 %), while the performance of the league leaders from Munich was the biggest surprise of the first half of the season for 13.0 per cent. Borussia Dortmund, on the other hand, was one of the biggest disappointments of the first half of the season for the second time in a row (33.2 %) and, despite VfL Bochum's only six points (14.3 %), is well ahead of the 18th-placed team in the table at the top of this ranking. The third most votes as the most disappointing team of the first 15 match days went to 1. FC Heidenheim (9.0 %). Frank Schmidt's team, which was one of the three biggest surprises in last year's ranking, is currently four points behind TSG 1899 Hoffenheim and FC St. Pauli in 14th and 15th place respectively.

Bundesliga fans see FC Bayern's Jamal Musiala (40.2 %) as the best player of the first five months. Germany's international player of the year is followed at some distance by Omar Marmoush (26.6 %) and Florian Wirtz (17.6 %), the two outstanding players from the two other top three clubs in the season to date. In total, almost 85 per cent of the votes went to the aforementioned trio. It is therefore all the more surprising that neither Frankfurt's goalscorer Marmoush (32.7 %) nor Bayer playmaker Wirtz (18.5 %) won the title of best attacker. This vote ended narrowly in favour of Harry Kane (33.4 %), while Musiala (54.0 %) was the outstanding midfielder of the first half of the season for more than half of the fans. His team-mate Joshua Kimmich (19.0 %) and Bayer's chief strategist Granit Xhaka (7.6 %) complete the podium in this poll.

The votes for the best goalkeeper and defender of the first half of the season produced fairly close and even results. Manuel Neuer (14.9 %) secured the award for the best goalkeeper of the first half of the season despite interim injury problems and ongoing public criticism of his performances. Not only the low percentage of the Bayern captain, but also the rest of the voting distribution shows that no goalkeeper stood out from the crowd in the first half of the season. Instead, five keepers with a score above the ten per cent mark testify to the broad quality in this position. Kevin Trapp received the second most votes (13.3 %) and Robin Zentner came third (12.50). Among the defensive players, Nico Schlotterbeck (22.1 %) came out on top against national team colleague Jonathan Tah (17.9 %) and FCB centre-back Dayot Upamecano (17.5 %). This category is therefore the only one of the six most important individual awards that does not go to a player from the record champions.

In the voting for coach of the first half of the season, the representatives of the three strongest teams are once again at the top. Vincent Kompany, the new manager of FC Bayern Munich, is not only in first place with his team in the league, but also in the ranking of the best coaches of the first 15 match days - and by a clear margin (42.0 %). Leverkusen's mastermind Xabi Alonso (20.4 %) and Eintracht coach Dino Toppmöller (13.1 %) follow in second and third place, in the same order as their clubs in the league table. According to the Bundesliga observers, Kompany's squad also has the most convincing new summer signing in its ranks in the person of Michael Olise (48.2 %). Behind the winger are Borussia Mönchengladbach's free agent Tim Kleindienst (18.2 %) and new SGE defender Arthur Theate (9.3 %).

Given the dominance of the professionals working in Munich, Frankfurt and Leverkusen in the individual awards, it is not surprising to find these clubs at the top of the predictions for the rest of the season. Almost three quarters (72.8 %) of all Bundesliga fans believe that Bayern will be able to bring the championship trophy back to the Allianz Arena after their strong performances in the first half of the season. At least 17.4 per cent believe that the Werkself can defend the title. Consequently, the league leaders (91.3 %) and the reigning German champions (93.3 %) are also the two clubs most likely to qualify for the Champions League. In the battle for the other two places, Eintracht (67.1 %) and RB Leipzig (65.6 %) are seen as the strongest, while BVB will struggle according to the fans (38.4 %) with a deficit of just two points to the aforementioned teams. At the other end of the table, no major changes are expected either. The teams from Bochum (87.0 %), Kiel (88.7 %) and Heidenheim (44.9 %), who are currently in 16th to 18th place, are also expected to finish in the bottom three at the end of the season.

The questions about the league in general also provide a revealing picture of opinion. Almost halfway through the current Bundesliga season, an overwhelming majority rate Germany's top division as one of the three best leagues in Europe. 9.6 per cent of football fans see Germany at the top in an international comparison, while over three quarters of those who voted either consider the Bundesliga to be the second best league (38.9 %) or have it in third place in their personal ranking (38.3 %). The fans were able to answer the question of how they perceive the excitement and entertainment of the competition in the form of a 5-star scale. In terms of suspense, the average rating was 3.5 stars, with more than half of all respondents (55.7 %) voting four stars (46.3 %) or even the maximum of five stars (9.4 %). In terms of the entertainment factor, the top German league scored slightly better with an average of 3.6 stars. Here, 61.1 per cent opted for a rating of four (47.2 %) or five stars (13.9 %).

The bottom line is that it will be interesting to see whether the current top clubs can build on their good performances from the first half of the season, whether the clubs currently in a sporting slump will manage to turn things around and whether the various predictions - or fears - of German supporters will ultimately materialise. Either way, all football fans are eagerly awaiting next Friday, 10 January, when BVB welcome the German champions to their Signal Iduna Park and the ball finally rolls again for the first time in 2025.

Click here for the fans' detailed Bundesliga interim results!

FanQ is the "voice of the fans". It is the only football platform where the opinion of the fans takes centre stage. The experienced FanQ editorial team provides daily surveys via the web and app. Fans can vote on their favourite clubs and all relevant football topics. FanQ is interactive. Fans can exchange opinions, interact socially and ask their own questions. This results in a representative picture of the mood. FanQ also creates long-term studies to research complex topics. Registration for the web community and use of the app are free of charge. FanQ is based in Cologne.

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Kilian Weber/Joachim Lammert 
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