Bundesliga
Lewandowski’s departure to Barca leaves Bayern seeking new star striker
The departure of Robert Lewandowski leaves Bayern Munich with the unenviable task of finding a replacement for the Bundesliga’s most prolific contemporary striker after his relationship with the club turned sour.
Following eight glorious years in Munich, winning the Bundesliga each season and lifting the Champions League trophy in 2020, Lewandowski announced in late May that “my story with Bayern comes to an end”.
The forward turns 34 in August, yet Lewandowski is showing no signs of slowing down and now embarks on a fresh challenge to make as much impact on Spain’s La Liga as he did in the Bundesliga.
He scored 35 times last season in Germany’s top flight, after breaking the single-season scoring record in the previous campaign with 41 Bundesliga goals, snatching the record from Gerd Mueller who held it for 49 years.
The Polish striker quits Germany’s top flight having scored 312 goals in 383 Bundesliga games for Bayern and former club Dortmund.
Only German legend Mueller, who scored 365 goals for Bayern in 427 Bundesliga games during the 1960s and 1970s, netted more.
But since Lewandowski won Fifa’s best male player award for the second year running in January, his relationship with Bayern has progressively unravelled.
Communications breakdown
With Lewandowski’s contract expiring in 2023, Bayern sports director Hasan Salihamidzic insisted at the start of the year that the star striker was central to their plans.
Yet when a Sky reporter relayed the message in a post-match interview in February, Lewandowski dropped the first hint that communications had broken down. “I’m hearing that for the first time,” he said.
As reports emerged that Barcelona were eager to fulfil the striker’s wish of playing at the Camp Nou, Salihamidzic and Bayern CEO Oliver Kahn could only insist Lewandowski would be held to his contract.
He finished last season banging in goals for Bayern, earning the trophy as the Bundesliga’s top-scorer for the fifth straight year.
Despite winning a 10th straight Bundesliga title last season, there was a lingering air of disappointment after Bayern’s shock Champions League exit to Villarreal in the quarter-finals.
A defeat in Spain and draw at home showed how far Bayern currently are from the summit of European football, fuelling Lewandowski’s desire to leave.
As tensions simmered between the player and club, head coach Julian Nagelsmann admitted he wanted the matter resolved to plan for next season.
Lewandowski’s team-mate Leon Goretzka said it was important to “find a good solution for everyone involved.”
Yet the prolific poacher will not be easy to replace.
His 55 goals in all competitions in 2019/20 were key to Bayern winning the treble, as Lewandowski became the first player to be top-scorer in the Champions League, Bundesliga and German Cup competitions in a single season.
Five goals, nine minutes
He has made a career out of stunning goal-scoring feats.
In 2015, he needed just under nine electrifying minutes off the bench to score five goals, leading the charge as Bayern roared back from a goal down against Wolfsburg to dish out a 5-1 thrashing.
Two years earlier, Lewandowski scored four goals for Borussia Dortmund in the 2013 semi-final first leg against Real Madrid, helping his former club into the final, where they were beaten by Bayern at Wembley.
Lewandowski was spotted as a raw 21-year-old playing for Polish club Lech Poznan, where he scored 41 goals in 82 games, and joined Dortmund in 2010.
He made his breakthrough under Juergen Klopp, helping Dortmund win back-to-back Bundesliga titles in 2010/11 and 2011/12.
Lewandowski put himself firmly on Bayern’s radar with a hat-trick against them in the prestigious surroundings of Berlin’s Olympic Stadium as Dortmund romped to a 5-2 win in the 2012 German Cup final.
Two years later, Bayern signed him on a free transfer and, thanks largely to Lewandowski’s ruthlessness in front of goal, the Bavarian giants have since dominated the Bundesliga.
His depature to Spain is perhaps the biggest threat to Bayern’s monopoly of Gefmany’s top flight with the hunt for a new star striker potentially now on.
-AFP
A masked fan unplugged a VAR monitor during a German second division match on Sunday in an audacious act of sabotage that left the referee looking at a blank screen when he was called to review a potential penalty.
The bizarre incident unfolded during the Bundesliga 2 clash between Preussen Muenster and visiting Hertha Berlin, when referee Felix Bickel was summoned to the pitchside monitor only to discover that someone had yanked out the power plug.
According to Muenster’s website, a masked supporter had infiltrated the interior and unplugged the VAR monitor, sabotaging the review process. German media reported that at the same time, home fans displayed a banner reading “Pull the plug on VAR”.
With Bickel unable to view the replay, VAR official Katrin Rafalski in Cologne was forced to make the decision remotely, ruling that the challenge was indeed a foul, prompting Bickel to award the penalty, which Hertha duly converted.
The Berlin side eventually won the match 2–1 with a stoppage-time goal.
Muenster later said the incident appeared to have been a planned action and that the club would do everything in its power to identify those responsible.
-Reuters
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German football powerhouse Borussia Dortmund has officially launched the BVB International Academy Ghana, marking the club’s first international academy on the African continent.
The academy, which will commence operations in Accra in February 2026, is based at Achimota School and has been established in partnership with Accra Shooting Stars FC. It is designed to provide structured football development for boys and girls aged 6 to 18.
In a statement announcing the project, Dortmund described the initiative as a major milestone for youth football development in Ghana and part of the club’s expanding global academy network.
Young players enrolled at the academy will be trained under Borussia Dortmund’s internationally recognised methodology, which emphasises discipline, leadership, education, nutrition and holistic personal development, while remaining aligned with Ghana’s vibrant football culture.
Benedikt Scholz, Director of Internationalisation and Commercial Partnerships and Managing Director of the BVB Football Academy, said the launch reflects the Bundesliga side’s longstanding relationship with Ghana, forged through former players such as Otto Addo and Ibrahim Tanko.
He described the academy as a “strong statement” of intent and noted that the club’s objective is to build sustainable youth development structures in close cooperation with local partners.
Academy Director Teddy Hiadzi explained that the project is inclusive by design, offering pathways for both recreational and elite players.
“Every child’s football journey is different,” Hiadzi said, adding that the academy’s priority is to provide quality coaching, clear developmental structures and a safe environment for growth on and off the pitch.
Former Dortmund midfielder and Black Stars legend Ibrahim Tanko has been appointed ambassador of the BVB International Academy Ghana. He described the academy as a special opportunity for young Ghanaian talents, noting that the country’s passion for football makes it an ideal environment to instil the mindset and discipline required to succeed at the highest level.
The BVB International Academy Ghana will operate as an official member of Dortmund’s global International Academy network, which already includes academies across Europe, the Americas and the Caribbean. Enrolment for the first intake is underway, with information sessions and football camps scheduled in collaboration with local schools.
The launch further strengthens Dortmund’s footprint in Africa and underscores Ghana’s growing reputation as a hub for structured youth football development on the continent.
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Bayer Leverkusen kept pace with Bundesliga leader Bayern Munich by beating Hoffenheim 3-1 on Sunday with goals from Victor Boniface, Patrik Schick and Jeremie Frimpong.
Leverkusen finished with 10 players after Álex Grimaldo’s sending off with half an hour to play. New signings Emiliano Buendía and Mario Hermoso made their debuts as Xabi Alonso’s team stayed six points behind Bayern two weeks before the top two clash in Leverkusen.
Bayern defeated Holstein Kiel on Saturday.
Boniface scored with his first shot at goal since his proposed move to Saudi team Al-Nassr collapsed. The Nigeria forward started for his first game since early November after recovering from a thigh injury, and he scored in the 15th minute with a shot that Hoffenheim ’keeper Luca Philipp should arguably have stopped.
Frimpong made it 2-0 four minutes later after Aleix García sent the Dutch wing back through.
Then Robin Braun became the first referee to announce a VAR call to fans in a Bundesliga game when a penalty he awarded to Nathan Tella for a foul by Hoffenheim defender David Jurasek was taken back — video replays showed the Leverkusen attacker was coming from an offside position before he was fouled.
Leverkusen’s match was among five in the 20th round trialling the NFL-style announcements, a change league officials hope will make the much-maligned VAR system more popular among fans.
Buendía went on for the injured Tella to make his Bundesliga debut before the break, and Schick went on for Boniface after it.
Buendía surged through the Hoffenheim defence only to see his shot saved by Philipp, but Schick was there to tuck away the rebound for 3-0 in the 51st. It was the Czech forward’s 14th league goal of the season.
Then Grimaldo was shown red in the 61st when Hoffenheim substitute Gift Orban went on for the visitors. Orban pulled a goal back a minute later.
Buendía made way for Hermoso to compensate for Grimaldo’s sending off. Though tempers flared at times, Leverkusen’s 10 men contained the visitors for the rest of the game.
Third-placed Eintracht Frankfurt drew with Wolfsburg 1-1 in the early game.
-AFP
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