Bundesliga 2021/22: final-day decisions
VfB Stuttgart beat the drop at the last, while RB Leipzig secured another season of UEFA Champions League football. bundesliga.com runs down a dramatic conclusion to the 2021/22 season...
UEFA Champions League
1. Bayern Munich (CHAMPIONS, 77 points, +60 goal difference)
2. Borussia Dortmund (RUNNERS-UP, 69, +33)
3. Bayer Leverkusen (64, +33)
4. RB Leipzig (58, +35)
Leipzig will join champions Bayern Munich, runners-up Borussia Dortmund and third-placed Bayer Leverkusen in next season's Champions League group stage. They were made to sweat away to second-bottom Armina Bielefeld, but ultimately got the point they needed to get over the line, rendering fifth-placed Freiburg's result in Leverkusen academic - at least for them.
UEFA Europa League/ UEFA Europa Conference League
A 2-1 defeat to Leverkusen means Freiburg will play UEFA Europa League football in 2022/23. They began the day in fifth - and needing a win to have any chance of breaking back into the top four - but end the season in sixth after Union climbed above them with a 3-2 win over mid-table Bochum. Non-movers in seventh after a 2-1 loss in Stuttgart, Cologne go into the UEFA Conference League play-offs*.
5. Union Berlin (57, +6)
6. Freiburg (55, +12)
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7. Cologne (52, +3)
*Ordinarily, the team in fifth and the team that wins the DFB Cup qualify directly for the UEFA Europa League group stage, with sixth going into the Europa Conference League play-offs. However, as Leipzig and Freiburg are this season's DFB Cup finalists, the team that finishes sixth receives the second Europa League group berth. Seventh gets a shot at the Europa Conference League play-offs.
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Teams with only final league positions to play for
8. Mainz (46, +5)
9. Hoffenheim (46, -2)
10. Borussia Mönchengladbach (45, -7)
11. Eintracht Frankfurt* (42, -4)
12. Wolfsburg (42, -11)
13. Bochum (42, -14)
14. Augsburg (38, -17)
*Frankfurt will join the Bundesliga's top-four teams in the 2022/23 Champions League groups, if the beat Glasgow Rangers in the Europa League final on 18 May.
Relegation
With Fürth already down, and Arminia needing a big win over Leipzig coupled with favours from elsewhere to salvage a place in the relegation play-offs, it was effectively a shoot-out between Hertha and Stuttgart to determine who would survive outright and who would go into the play-offs.
Stuttgart prevailed - on goal difference alone. VfB recorded a last-gasp win over Cologne, while Hertha lost 2-1 in Dortmund. The Old Lady - who led their game until the 68th minute and would have been safe with a draw - will now face Hamburg (Bundesliga 2's third-placed team) over two legs for the right to play Bundesliga football in 2022/23.
Watch: Tale of the Tape: The Miracle of Stuttgart
15. VfB Stuttgart (33, -18)
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16. Hertha Berlin (relegation play-offs, 33, -34)
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17. Arminia Bielefeld (automatic relegation, 28, -26)
18. Greuther Fürth (automatic relegation, 18, -54)
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