Wolfsburg: In the middle of a muddle

In the round of the last 16 of the 2015/2016 Champions League, the 2015 German Cup winner VfL Wolfsburg might be mentioned as being one of the surprise packages, just like KAA Gent their opponents on Wednesday evening.

However, while last season's Bundesliga runner-up is eager to advance to the next round, the top German league faces a controversial debate as to whether the country's domestic football is boring with little international class?

Taking a look at the Bundesliga table, Germany's top club teams currently ends after the two big boys Bayern Munich and their main rivals Borussia Dortmund. Meaning: Only two are able to tango. Leaders Bayern are already eight points ahead of the 2012/2013 Champions League finalists, Dortmund, who in turn have opened up a massive 13-point gap on third-placed Bayer Leverkusen, and that after 21 matches in 34-game season.

Not only Wolfsburg (8th/18 points behind Dortmund) has been a disappointment as far as the 2015/2016 Bundesliga season is concerned, but also teams like Bayer Leverkusen, FC Schalke 04 and Borussia Moenchengladbach. It has resulted in the former German national keeper Oliver Kahn concluding that the race for the German title is boring and almost a foregone conclusion. And more: Kahn is predicting that the Bundesliga will lose its international influence in the near future due to the dominance of Bayern and Dortmund.

"In the future, the music will be played in the English Premier League especially as it will be home to the world`s best players. It will become far bigger challenge to win the title there," Kahn said, assuming that it is one of the reasons why Pep Guardiola will leave Bayern Munich for Manchester City next summer.

"Competing for the title in England is a bigger challenge for Guardiola as well. Quite different to winning the German title, in which you don't have to invest much effort," Kahn added.

Two years after the 2014 World Cup win, German club football not only seems to lack quality nationally. Only Bayern Munich seems strong enough to resist the Premier League. And the future might not be rosy internationally as the Premier League seems to be light years ahead due to gigantic new TV deal providing the Premier League clubs with the astronomical sum of 6.9 billion euros for national pay TV rights (13.6 million per game as opposed to 1.1 million euros for Bundesliga matches) from 2016 to 2019.

Wolfsburg is currently feeling a cold wind in their faces as they find themselves in the middle of the muddle. In the Bundesliga, the north German club is in danger of missing out on qualifying for the next Champions League campaign which puts them under pressure to gain extra money in this year's edition. Looking at the club's situation from an international perspective, they can only be basically viewed as underdogs.

"The quarterfinal would be a milestone for us," said Wolfsburg CEO Klaus Allofs. "Like all German clubs, we need all the extra money we can possibly get," he continued when demanding a radical change in international marketing. "We have to think about getting more income from abroad and have to think about playing league games in Asia, meaning we have to be more flexible than we have been up to now."

Allofs additionally sees China's league to some extent as a new challenger. "The enormous salaries now being paid in the Chinese league are also paid in England. This means the Chinese have to raise transfer fees in order to convince important players to go there. We have to come to terms that we are a part of a tough market, and the fact that Wolfsburg is not the dream club for players. But there again it is the same for Dortmund, Schalke nor others. Perhaps of the German clubs, only Bayern Munich ranks as a dream club."

At the moment, Allofs is convinced, "players joining the Chinese league are mainly one coming to the end of their careers whose job it is to make football popular in China." Meaning: The Premier League is the biggest threat to the Bundesliga on international stage, but China is catching up. After all besides Bayern coach Guardiola, former Dortmund coach Juergen Klopp (Liverpool) has joined the Premier League as will Schalke's defender Joel Matip (Liverpool) next summer.

Recently the Bundesliga lost several stand-out figures to the Premier League such as Bastian Schweinsteiger (Manchester United), Roberto Firmino (Liverpool), Per Mertesacker and Mesut Oezil (Arsenal). Last season Belgian Kevin de Bruyne (Manchester City) left Wolfsburg for 75 million euros. Since De Bruyne left, Wolfsburg is struggling to get back into good shape.

Due to the new TV money, "the Premier League clubs do not depend so much on on-the-pitch success as a basis of economic success anymore." If the Bundesliga is to catch up the Premier League, Allfos recommends thinking about a second group phase in the Champions League instead of the current one today: "More Champions League would be a good thing for the German clubs."

But for now, Allofs and Wolfsburg are happy to face another underdog in the round of the last 16. "It's unusual seeing us at this stage. And now, with all respect, we are facing a club that is maybe not quite one of the top dogs. We are probably favorites to go through. We accept that but we aren't forgetting the problems we are having in the Bundesliga and what it would mean for the club to make it to the next round," Allofs said. Endit