Bundesliga
Xabi Alonso has overseen an extraordinary turnaround at Bayer Leverkusen since taking charge in October 2022 - but don't just take our word for it, here are the stats to prove it!
Stats correct as of 19 April 2024
1st – Leverkusen have won the Bundesliga title for the first time in the club's history.
1 - Die Werkself have been in pole position at the end of 25 of the 29 completed Bundesliga matchdays so far in 2023/24 - likewise a club record.
2 – Alonso is just the second Spaniard to take charge of a Bundesliga club as head coach, after Pep Guardiola at Bayern Munich.
2.2 – Alonso’s goals-per-game average is the best of any coach in Leverkusen’s history.
2.3 – Alonso’s points-per-game average of 2.3 is also the best of any coach in Leverkusen’s history.
Watch: Leverkusen - champions at last!
7 – Die Werkself have won each of their last six away games in the Bundesliga - a new club record.
9 – Alonso is just the ninth person to win the Bundesliga as both a player and a coach, after Hansi Flick, Niko Kovač, Thomas Schaaf, Matthias Sammer, Franz Beckenbauer, Felix Magath, Jupp Heynckes and Helmut Benthaus.
10 – Leverkusen have set a club record of 10 consecutive wins between Matchdays 20 and 29.
17 – When Alonso took over the reins at Leverkusen in October 2022 they were in 17th place in the table. They ended the 2022/23 campaign in sixth, and have only gone upwards ever since.
19 - Leverkusen have only conceded 19 goals across their 29 Bundesliga matches so far this term - a new club record.
29 - Leverkusen are the first team in Bundesliga history to go unbeaten across the first 29 games of a season (25 wins, four draws).
34 – By earning 34 points from their first 12 Bundesliga games of 2023/24 (11 wins, one draw), Leverkusen equalled the best-ever start to a top-flight campaign in Germany set by Bayern in 2015/16.
Watch: Leverkusen a record 44 games unbeaten
38 - Leverkusen have also set new single-season club records for away wins (12) and points earned away from home (38).
44 - Leverkusen have set a new European record for the longest unbeaten sequence by going 44 games without defeat (38 wins, six draws).
69 – Alonso’s win ratio now stands at 69 percent. Only three permanent coaches (excluding caretakers) have ever had a better tally in league history, and all of them were at Bayern: Guardiola (80 percent), Flick (78 percent) and Carlo Ancelotti (73 percent). Alonso contributed to those numbers for Guardiola and Ancelotti as a player.
Watch: Alonso talks Ancelotti, Leverkusen and his inspiring dad
74 - Alonso's charges have scored 74 times after 29 rounds of games - a new club record for this stage of a season. They only need six more to beat the club's best ever goal haul of 80, set in 2021/22.
124 - Leverkusen have won 124 points from 55 games under Alonso - more points than any other Bundesliga team across the same period.
2026 – At the start of August 2023, Alonso extended his contract at Leverkusen until 2026.