The team who finish top of the Bundesliga table after 34 matches have the honour of receiving the coveted championship shield. And then proudly presenting it to the fans. "Here's that thing," were the emotionally charged words uttered by Bayern Munich captain Oliver Kahn after a dramatic final day of the 2000/2001 season. Bayern had just snatched the shield from rivals Schalke 04 thanks to a free-kick goal scored by Patrick Andersson in the dying seconds of injury time of the match against Hamburg.
The Gelsenkirchen outfit remain haunted by the trauma of not having won the title since the Bundesliga was introduced in 1963. The seven-time champions have not had their name engraved on the trophy since 1958. Schalke will have to get their skates on, as soon there will be no more room.
To accommodate the name of the new champions, a silver ring was added to the 50 cm diameter shield back in 1981. The engraved name plate was replaced and enlarged a second time in 2009. With the next squeeze likely to happen in 2026, the championship trophy will inevitably have to grow again. At the moment it is 59 centimetres in diameter and weighs about eleven kilograms. Its value is put at 25,000 euros.
Though the coveted silverware was not made until 1949, all the German champions since the competition was launched in 1903 have been immortalised on it. The most decorated club by some distance are Bayern Munich, with over 30 titles. That is not going to change any time soon. Second in the rankings are nine-times champions FC Nürnberg. The most successful player to date is Thomas Müller. No other player has had the chance to say the following words more often at the end of the season:
Deutsches Fußballmuseum