Bundesliga fireworks on frantic final day

18.05.2024

Leverkusen ended unbeaten, Stuttgart edged out Bayern to finish second, Marco Reus made an emotional farewell to BVB and Cologne suffered the disappointment of relegation. bundesliga.com rounds up all of the action on what was an unforgettable final day in Germany's top tier.

Check out the final Bundesliga standings now that 2023/24 regular season has concluded.

Title

This was already done and dusted before the final round of fixtures, with Leverkusen ending Bayern’s 11-year reign with the third-quickest title in 61 seasons of the Bundesliga on Matchday 29. The question that remianed for the Werkself was whether they could become the first-ever side to go unbeaten through an entire campaign. They achieved that remarkable feat with a 2-1 home win against Augsburg ...

Watch: Leverkusen’s title story

Runners-up

Second place was still up for grabs ahead of the final round of fixtures. Before Matchday 34, Bayern were in the better position ahead of Stuttgart. The deposed champions had a two-point advantage, meaning all Thomas Tuchel's side needed was to equal VfB's result to take the runners-up spot. The Bavarian giants even enjoyed an electric start against Europe-chasing Hoffenheim, going 2-0 ahead inside the opening six minutes.

Stuttgart were doing their part by making light work of Borussia Mönchengladbach so when TSG began a monumental fightback, Bayern would eventually be left stunned. An Andrej Kramarić hat-trick eventually gave the Sinsheimers a 4-2 victory, leaving Stuttgart to celebrate second after they won their game 4-0.

The Swabians will contest next season's Supercup against Leverkusen if the latter win the DFB Cup final against Kaiserslautern.

Watch: Leverkusen lift the Meisterschale!

UEFA Champions League

Leverkusen became the first team from any country to book their place in the revamped 2024/25 Champions League way back on Matchday 27.

Matchday 31 saw Bayern officially clinch their Champions League spot with a win against Eintracht Frankfurt.

Borussia Dortmund's semi-final first-leg victory over Paris Saint-Germain secured the Bundesliga a fifth Champions League qualifier berth. Therefore, Stuttgart, RB Leipzig and BVB are all now also assured of Champions League football in 2024/25.

Find out more about how the Bundesliga earned a fifth Champions League spot

Watch: Marco Reus bids farewell to BVB

Remaining European places

Sixth place

As it stands, sixth place will mean UEFA Europa League qualification. That spot went to Eintracht Frankfurt, but only after a nervy afternoon at the Deutsche Bank Park in which the Eagles had to come back from 2-0 down to rescue a 2-2 draw against Leipzig.

Since Dortmund are certain to finish fifth, if they are also crowned European champions this season by beating Real Madrid in the final at Wembley, Frankfurt would also qualify for the Champions League.

Had Eintracht failed to reverse their fortunes in Saturday's game, Hoffenheim could have nipped in to steal sixth thanks to their aforementioned 4-2 win against Bayern. As it was, Pellegrino Matarazzo's men ended the campaign in seventh and will contest a UEFA Conference League play-off.

There may also be a European place to savour for Heidenheim after the side competing in their maiden Bundesliga campaign finished eighth. Frank Schmidt's team won big on the final day - sending Cologne down to the second division with a 4-1 victory.

Heidenheim's victory means that if Leverkusen win the DFB Cup to complete a domestic double following the completion of the Bundesliga season, then seventh place would become a Europa League spot, with the team that finishes eighth going into the Conference League play-offs.

Watch: Andrej Kramarić helps Hoffenheim finish on a high

Relegation

Bottom side Darmstadt were relegated after only one season back in the top flight after their loss to fellow promoted side Heidenheim on Matchday 31. They were also guaranteed to end in 18th place prior to Matchday 34.

It was Cologne who were still teetering on the edge, with the bottom two dropping down to Bundesliga 2 automatically. A dramatic late comeback to win their six-pointer against Union last weekend kept the Billy-Goats' slim survival hopes alive going into the final day. But it was all too much for Effzeh in the end, with their Europe chasing opponents Heidenheim proving just too strong.

The third from bottom side will contest a relegation play-off against the team who have finish third in the second division, Fortuna Düsseldorf. That team will be Bochum after Union Berlin, who had been sitting in the play-off position, and Mainz both won their last games while Die Blauen were defeated 4-1 at Werder Bremen.

Find out about the teams coming up from Bundesliga 2