Will this be the season that Willi Orbán finally gets his hands on the Bundesliga Trophy?

Fans of German football could be forgiven for fearing another Groundhog Day moment during the 2023/24 season. Bayern Munich have now won the Bundesliga title for an unprecedented 12 consecutive years, maintaining their dominance of the beautiful game in Germany.

However, the 2022/23 campaign was the first in some time that Bayern really started to show some vulnerabilities, and with RB Leipzig – led by Hungarian defender Willi Orbán – finishing either second or third in five of the last seven seasons, they and Borussia Dortmund appear to be closing in.

Could Orbán be hoisting the Bundesliga trophy skyward come next May?

Pretenders to the Throne

According to the outright sports betting odds for the Bundesliga, it will be business as usual with Bayern the -333 favorite ahead of Dortmund (+500) and Leipzig (+700).

However, that does little to reflect the trials and tribulations that Bayern faced in 2022/23, with the sacking of Julian Nagelsmann and the nerve-shredding action of the final day of the campaign.

The title was, in theory, in Dortmund’s hands – they needed to defeat Mainz to end Bayern’s domination of the trophy. But the Yellow and Blacks went two goals down inside the opening half hour, and while they pulled it back to 2-2, there was nothing they could do to prevent the Munich outfit’s 2-1 victory against Koln.

As for Orbán’s Leipzig, they were well in the hunt too before three defeats in four games in March and April ultimately ended their hopes of a maiden Bundesliga crown. However, seven wins in their final eight games was a reminder of how close Marco Rose’s team is to finally getting their hands on the trophy.

In Transition

The elephant in the room for RB Leipzig is that they are considered a ‘selling club’ – that is, they identify some of Europe’s top talents at a young age, develop them into fine players and then sell them for a tidy profit.

That’s a business model that keeps accountants happy but it doesn’t always lend itself to sustained success on the pitch, with Leipzig expected to lose three of their best young players in the summer transfer window – Christopher Nkunku, who delivered 20 goal involvements in 2022/23, is just one of the key assets to depart.

In time-honored fashion, Leipzig has gone out and sorted even younger, unheralded replacements – including a couple off their conveyor belt of talent at feeder club Red Bull Salzburg.

Unfortunately, it probably means that Leipzig heads into the new campaign weaker than they did the last, which is perhaps in contrast to their main rivals – Bayern has snapped up powerful defender Min-Jae Kim, Raphael Guerreiro, and Konrad Laimer (from RB, no less), while Dortmund has bolstered their ranks with Marcel Sabitzer.

Perhaps Orbán’s best hope of silverware in this coming campaign is the German Cup, which he was won twice already as a Leipzig player – handing the Hungarian his finest moments in the beautiful game.

One thing, for sure, is that the 30-year-old captain will continue to give his all for his team’s cause.