Bundesliga
Fans, clubs and experts have voted for their Bundesliga Team of the Season 2021/22, in partnership with EA Sports. Read on to find out who made the all-star XI…
>> Click here for more on the Team of the Season!
Goalkeeper
Manuel Neuer underlined his standing as the greatest goalkeeper the game has ever seen in 2021/22. The Bayern Munich captain conceded a league-low 24 goals when in the starting line-up and recorded a joint league best 10 shut-outs as the record champions won a 10th successive title - all on his watch. He repelled 72.7 percent of shots on his goal, whilst usurping legendary predecessor and current CEO Oliver Kahn in the Bundesliga record books as the goalkeeper with the most clean sheets and player with the most wins.
Defenders
Alphonso Davies (Bayern Munich)
Opposition players couldn’t, but Alphonso Davies will have made teammate Neuer dizzy with his electric performances up and down the Bayern left. The Canadian was absolutely central to the success of Julian Nagelsmann’s champions, marrying defensive diligence with incendiary attacking forays. The Canadian rounds out the season in Bayern’s top five for challenges won (255) and crosses from open play (32), despite missing the first 11 matches of 2022 due to a mild heart condition.
Watch: Davies' comeback this season
Evan Ndicka (Eintracht Frankfurt)
Evan Ndicka was even more productive in the final third for UEFA Europa League finalists Eintracht Frankfurt. Although a centre-back by trade, the Frenchman registered four goals and four assists over his 31 Bundesliga appearances. Among the division’s central defenders, only Freiburg’s Philipp Lienhart scored more - but for aerial duels Ndicka was top dog with 129 won. That’s more than any defender, and fourth among all outfield players.
Nico Schlotterbeck won only five fewer aerial duels than Ndicka, whilst helping himself to four goals. He also ranked sixth league wide for challenges won (383), as the defensive heartbeat of a Freiburg team through to the DFB Cup final and in top-four contention heading into the final weekend of the season. A maiden Germany call-up and summer move to Borussia Dortmund attest to his growing status within the game.
David Raum is another of the Bundesliga’s newest kids on the block turned fully fledged Germany international. Bundesliga 2’s top provider for promotion-winning Greuther Fürth last season, the roaming left-back made a seamless transition to the top tier with Hoffenheim in 2021/22. Raum produced three goals, a team-leading 11 assists and a league-high 183 crosses from open play.
Watch: Nico Schlotterbeck - rising star
Midfielders
Jude Bellingham (Borussia Dortmund)
All-action performances are something Borussia Dortmund’s Jude Bellingham knows plenty about. The 18-year-old won some 407 of his attempted challenges, putting him third league wide in the category. He also showcased a budding creative side with three goals and seven assists from the centre of midfield. At Dortmund, only Erling Haaland, Marco Reus and Julian Brandt can lay claim to a bigger combined hand than the heart-on-the-sleeve England international.
Joshua Kimmich (Bayern Munich)
If pitch-side monitors were rigged with decibel meters, Joshua Kimmich might just shade Bellingham as the Bundesliga’s most vocal player. A born leader and captain-in-the-making, Bayern’s pocket-rocket midfielder is the link between head coach Julian Nagelsmann’s tactical area, defence and attack. He’s the record champions’ second best passer of the ball, behind Dayot Upamecano, and is second only to Thomas Müller - and sixth league wide - for assists (10).
Florian Wirtz (Bayer Leverkusen)
Florian Wirtz reached 10 assists - as well as seven goals - at the start of February, before a serious knee injury brought a premature end to another eye-catching campaign. The Bayer Leverkusen teenager made a flying start with a goal, assist or both in each of his first seven appearances of the season, and in December became the youngest player in history to hit 50 Bundesliga games. To think he only made his top-flight debut in May 2020…
Watch: Bellingham's Bundesliga goals and assists
Forwards
Erling Haaland (Borussia Dortmund)
Haaland is no stranger to Bundesliga records. Earlier this season, he became the quickest player ever to reach 50 Bundesliga goals, doing so in as many appearances, and at one point was hitting the back of the net once every 56 minutes. The Manchester City-bound Norwegian concludes his time at Dortmund with 61 strikes in 66 top-flight games, including 21 in 23 this term - seven doubles and a hat-trick among his haul. Had injuries not robbed him of 10 matches, the 21-year-old would surely have run Robert Lewandowksi closer in the top scorer’s race.
Robert Lewandowski (Bayern Munich)
That’s right, Lewandowski set the go[a]ld standard once more in 2021/22. The reigning two-time Best FIFA Men's Player scored a league-leading 34 times for the record champions, averaging a goal every 84 minutes whilst only failing to score in 10 of his 33 appearances. LewanGOALski also broke the Bundesliga record for most single-season away goals (18) to put him on the brink of becoming the first player in Bundesliga history to win five top scorer's cannons in a row, as well as seven outright.
Watch: All of Lewandowski's Bundesliga goals this season
Christopher Nkunku (RB Leipzig)
Christopher Nkunku was Lewandowski’s closest pursuer in terms of combined goals and assists. The Frenchman had a direct hand in 33 of RB Leipzig’s 71 team goals, scoring 20 and setting up a further 13 - that’s 10 more assists than Lewy. The first player in 2021/22 to reach double figures for both categories, Nkunku won four Bundesliga Player of the Month awards for his efforts, and made his long-awaited senior debut for world champions France.