In any case, after the World Cup final in Qatar in the afternoon, the Bundesliga will have at least one new world champion. If Argentina win, Leverkusen’s Exequiel Palacios may be happy; in France, even six players would call themselves (sometimes double) world champions. They would be in line with the 65 professionals from current Premier League clubs to have claimed the title.
Not surprisingly, the largest share goes back to FC Bayern. Starting with Hans Bauer in the Miracle of Bern in 1954 up to Corentin Tolisso in 2018, a total of 24 footballers who were under contract at the start of the respective finals in Munich were able to lift the trophy at the end. Along with Jorginho (Brazil, 1994) and Bixente Lizarazu (France, 1998), Tolisso is one of only three foreigners to date to have won the world championship as Bayern professionals. Four could be added on Sunday: Kingsley Coman, Benjamin Pavard and Dayot Upamecano are still in the squad, and Lucas Hernandez, who came out injured, would also be officially listed as world champion.
Gladbach and Frankfurt can recover
The first pursuer when it comes to world champions in the first division is perhaps somewhat surprisingly 1.FC Köln. The Domstädter sent players to the DFB team’s first three World Cup titles in 1954, ’74 and ’90, bringing the number of title holders to a total of nine. This puts the goats ahead of Borussia Dortmund, Borussia Mönchengladbach and FC Schalke 04 with seven, six and five world champions respectively. The colts can reach BVB today if Marcus Thuram wins with France. Eintracht Frankfurt currently have four world champions and can join Schalke because Randal Kolo Muani is in the Les Bleus squad.
Leverkusen waves the third South American
Werder Bremen and VfB Stuttgart each have three title holders in their ranks, Bayer Leverkusen two. With Palacios, the Rhinelanders can look forward to a third world champion, which would also continue a tradition: So far, the Werkself has provided two South American title holders in Lucio and Paulo Sergio. After all, SC Freiburg and FC Augsburg each had a world champion, even if a previous club is actually responsible for this in Augsburg. So far, Union Berlin, VfL Bochum, Hertha BSC, TSG Hoffenheim, RB Leipzig, FSV Mainz 05 and VfL Wolfsburg have not won the title.
The world champions of the Bundesliga clubs
1. FC Bayern: 24 world champions
Klaus Augenthaler (1990), Raimond Aumann (1990), Hans Bauer (1954), Franz Beckenbauer (1974), Jerome Boateng (2014), Paul Breitner (1974), Mario Götze (2014), Uli Hoeness (1974), Jorginho ( Brazil 1994), Jupp Kapellmann (1974), Jürgen Kohler (1990), Toni Kroos (2014), Philipp Lahm (2014), Bixente Lizarazu (France 1998), Sepp Maier (1974), Gerd Müller (1974), Thomas Müller ( 2014), Manuel Neuer (2014), Hans Pflügler (1990), Stefan Reuter (1990), Hans-Georg Schwarzenbeck (1974), Bastian Schweinsteiger (2014), Olaf Thon (1990), Corentin Tolisso (2018)
2. 1.FC Cologne: 9 world champions
Bernhard Cullmann (1974), Heinz Flohe (1974), Thomas Haessler (1990), Bodo Illgner (1990), Pierre Littbarski (1990), Paul Mebus (1954), Wolfgang Overath (1974), Hans Schäfer (1954), Paul Steiner (1990)
3. Borussia Dortmund: 7 world champions
Erik Durm (2014), Kevin Grosskreutz (2014), Mats Hummels (2014), Heinrich Kwiatkowski (1954), Frank Mill (1990), Andreas Möller (1990), Roman Weidenfeller (2014)
4. Borussia Mönchengladbach: 6 world champions
Rainer Bonhof (1974), Jupp Heynckes (1974), Wolfgang Kleff (1974), Christoph Kramer (2014), Berti Vogts (1974), Herbert Wimmer (1974)
5. FC Schalke 04: 5 world champions
Julian Draxler (2014), Benedikt Höwedes (2014), Bernhard Klodt (1954), Helmut Kremers (1974), Norbert Nigbur (1974)
6. Eintracht Frankfurt: 4 world champions
Uwe Bein (1990), Jürgen Grabowski (1974), Bernd Hölzenbein (1974), Alfred Pfaff (1954)
7. Werder Bremen: 3 world champions
Günter Hermann (1990), Horst-Dieter Höttges (1974), Karl-Heinz Riedle (1990)
= 7. VfB Stuttgart: 3 world champions
Guido Buchwald (1990), Carlos Dunga (Brazil 1994), Benjamin Pavard (France 2018)
9. Bayer Leverkusen: 2 world champions
Lucio (Brazil 2002), Paulo Sergio (Brazil 1994)
10. FC Augsburg: 1 world champion
Ulrich Biesinger (1954; predecessor club BC Augsburg)
= 10. SC Freiburg: 1 world champion
Matthias Ginter (2014)
12. No world champion
Union Berlin, VfL Bochum, Hertha BSC, TSG Hoffenheim, RB Leipzig, FSV Mainz 05, VfL Wolfsburg
[Maßgeblich sind die jeweiligen offiziellen Kaderlisten der FIFA zum Beginn der Endrunden]
