
“This is home truly, where I know I must be” goes Kit Chan’s famous 9th of August Singapore National Day anthem, and quite a sort of homecoming it was for players Svenja H. and Sven R. of FC Bayern München I. After years in the German non-Bundesliga-Bowling diaspora, they returned to the sunny, albeit currently heavily raining, Little Red Dot at the southern tip of the Malaysian peninsula with a bang. Winning the coveted inaugural CL-trophy (in Bundesliga-Bowling in Singapore) together with Singapore “Urgesteine” Jörg S. and Florian O., their return to the bowling alleys of Singapore was nothing less than triumphant.
The newly inaugurated CL-edition of the already longtime established Bundesliga-Bowling in Singapore followed an UEFA-Champions League-worthy, non-understandable, match plan with two matches in the League phase followed by Semi-finals and Finals. After the League Phase, in which each team won once, all four CL-trophy aspirants ended up on 3 points, and the table was to be settled by scores with VfB Stuttgart leading the pack with 882 pins, followed closely by FC Bayern München II (879 pins), and in a distance by FC Bayern München I (825 pins) with CL-All Stars coming in dead-last with 758 pins. Worth mentioning: CL-All Stars victory over FC Bayern München II with 357 pins to 356 pins, it can’t get any closer!

The Semi-finals then saw surprise results with FC Bayern München I through with 460 pins against 453 pins for their second team in an allegedly match-fixed game, investigations by the SNBBF (Singapore National Bundesliga-Bowling Federation) are ongoing and titles illegally won may have to be returned, if confirmed. CL-All Stars, which for the rest of the evening showed rather uninspired performances, had a brief awakening winning against tournament favorites VfB Stuttgart with 478 pins to 461 pins in the other Semi-Final.
In the resulting Final FC Bayern München I clearly beat CL-All Stars 416 pins to 355 pins, with some of the latter’s players still waiting for their first ever trophy in Bundesliga-Bowling in Singapore. So, it is back to the training grounds and drawing boards for Christoph W. and Mara of SC Freiburg, who were joined by newcomers Sebastian B. (1. FC Kaiserslautern) and Felix F. (1. FC Köln), in order to get back into the title race next time. But, given the relatively young team (in terms of years participating in Bundesliga-Bowling in Singapore, not necessarily in terms of age otherwise) improvements are to be expected as only Christoph W. has been a stalwart in Bundesliga-Bowling in Singapore over the years so far.
In the “kleine Finale” VfB Stuttgart managed to secure third place with 450 pins against FC Bayern München II’s 401 pins. Marcus H., Hartmut D. and Markus B. (on loan from Hamburger SV) showed a solid performance throughout the evening, whereas Logan had a very bad day in the bowling alley. Parallels between Logan (performing previously ok-ish at Eintracht Braunschweig, now not performing at all at VfB Stuttgart) with a certain Serhou Guirassy (performing previously excellently at VfB Stuttgart, now not performing at all at BVB Dortmund) were very obvious with regard to their joint performance drop to “Kreisliga-Niveau”. FC Bayern München II coming in last overall were still sparked by controversy as newbies Jürgen W. and Kell W. outperformed seasoned players Sven I. and Anne I. by far. Kell W. is currently under investigation by the SNBBF for breaching the tournament’s non-professional amateur standards. Scoring an outstanding 568 pins ahead of Marcus H. (533 pins) and third placed Jürgen W. (483 pins), her professional gear - own ball and shoes (!), wrist support (!!) and huge bowling bag (!!!) - gave away her true colors, as the rumor mill spins her having been only very recently part of the Singapore National Bowling Team. However, as Kell W. indicated being available for team selection by VfB Stuttgart next time round, those investigations may be dropped immediately by the highly independent and neutral “Schwaben-controlled” SNBBF, if such a move materializes.
For the rest of the 2024/25 season look out for “Meisterschaft” and “DFB-Pokal” later this year. But, it is the upcoming 2025/2026 season that may start off with a real treat in early/mid-October 2025. Svenja H. and Sven R. already indicated their intention to return for the defense of their CL-title. Organizers are also working for former champion Roland H. of Eintracht Braunschweig to join as well as rumor has it that even legendary player Thomas R. of Waldhof Mannheim may make a surprise appearance. Markus B. is expected to work on his drinking buddy Dietmar K. to re-join the Bundesliga-Bowling in Singapore series to potentially replace players currently not performing up to expectations (no names mentioned Logan), but this may already happen earlier than October. Such developments would only leave top youth player Sasha D. being unavailable for team selection due to study commitments as also Michael J. is expected to be fully match-fit again. Of course, also other players may join bringing Bundesliga-Bowling in Singapore to new, never seen before heights in the coming year.
Comments