Are we now a Top Bundesliga Club?
Following the outstanding past season, where Eintracht Frankfurt achieved a historic third-place finish, fans and experts alike have been discussing whether Eintracht should now be considered a ‘top club’ in the Bundesliga. Some have even suggested that we could soon become a serious Bundesliga title contender.
So what are we now? Just a regular Bundesliga team that’s experiencing a short spell at the top? "One of the top four teams in the Bundesliga", as David Abraham recently claimed? Or something in between?
Let’s take a look at the club’s development from a few different perspectives, to make a better judgement on where we stand now, and where our potential lies in the coming years.
FINANCIAL STRENGTH
One of the biggest aspects in determining a club’s strength is their financial power. Despite playing European football regularly and selling multiple players for big money recently, Eintracht Frankfurt are still some way off being one the financially strongest teams in the Bundesliga. A great metric for measuring a club’s financial size is the value of their total assets. The total assets are the sum of everything a club owns (e.g., stadium, training facilities, player contracts). They provide a broad overview of a club’s financial power, its ability to invest into its future, and to absorb financial setbacks. Here’s a table showing all Bundesliga clubs, sorted by the value of their total assets:
1. FC Bayern München – €1.03b
2. RB Leipzig – €633m
3. Borussia Dortmund – €589m
4. Bayer Leverkusen – €362m
5. VfL Wolfsburg – €293m
6. VfB Stuttgart – €284m
7. Eintracht Frankfurt – €244m
8. TSG Hoffenheim – €238m
9. Borussia Mönchengladbach – €193m
10. SC Freiburg – €189m
11. Hamburger SV – €157m
12. Union Berlin – €139m
13. FC Augsburg – €133m
14. Werder Bremen – €102m
15. 1. FC Köln – €91m
16. FC St. Pauli – €64m
17. 1. FSV Mainz 05 – €64m
18. 1. FC Heidenheim – €47m
source: DFL
As you can see, Eintracht is not one of the financially strongest clubs in the Bundesliga, with total assets worth less than half of clubs such as Dortmund and Leipzig, who we finished above last season. However, the club has been growing in the right direction. The value of the clubs total assets increased by a staggering €90m over the last year alone. Other financial metrics like the equity ratio, which show what percentage of the total assets is actually owned by the club (rather than borrowed), also show that Eintracht are not among the biggest players in the Bundesliga, even if we’re working our way up. At the latest annual club member’s meeting, a decision was approved to increase our equity by a further €25.7m, showing the progress the club is making in this regard.
Even though Eintracht is on a really good path and constantly improving our financial situation, it is still competing against clubs that have massive financial advantages, by avoiding certain 50+1 regulations. Clubs like RB Leipzig, Hoffenheim, Wolfsburg and Leverkusen all have strong financial backing from large corporations and billionaire investors, which allows them to take more risks without the fear of any serious financial consequences.
Bayer Leverkusen for instance have recorded a significant net transfer loss in each of their last four seasons. Similarly, Wolfsburg had a net transfer spend of just under €100m in the same period of time. In contrast, Eintracht Frankfurt made a net transfer profit of over €120m.
As Wolfsburg and Hoffenheim prove consistently, money doesn’t automatically win you games. However, for long-term success the financial factors can play a huge role. In this aspect, Eintracht Frankfurt are definitely not in the Bundesliga’s ‘top four' yet, but we’re heading in the right direction.
FANBASE AND CULTURE
I was unsure whether or not to include this aspect in the article, as a team’s sporting success is not measured by the performance or cultural impact of their fanbase. However, I believe it does deserves a mention, when comparing Eintracht Frankfurt to their competitors in the Bundesliga. Even if a great atmosphere in the stadium doesn’t automatically make you a successful football team, it can play a role in a team’s success, and in the general perception of a club.
Last season, Eintracht Frankfurt’s average attendance of 57,600 was the fourth highest in the Bundesliga. The average number of away fans (5,071) was only exceeded by Stuttgart. The number of members is also a very good metric for measuring a club’s size. Eintracht rank third in the Bundesliga with over 150,000 members, as of June 2025. These figures show that in terms of fanbase and cultural impact, Eintracht Frankfurt is (and has always been) a top club in the Bundesliga.
RECENT PERFORMANCES
Perhaps the most significant category, by which to compare Eintracht Frankfurt to the Bundesliga’s established top clubs, is their recent success. Let’s take a look at recent league positions, trophies, and head to head scores:
In the last five years, only Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund have qualified for the Champions League every year. RB Leipzig have only missed out once, and Leverkusen qualified in three out of the five seasons. Eintracht Frankfurt have just secured their second Champions League campaign in that period.
All remaining clubs, that qualified for the Champions League just once in the past five seasons (Wolfsburg, Union Berlin and Stuttgart) experienced a big decline in the following season, whereas Eintracht have been able to continue their upward trajectory. In the ‘5-year’ Bundesliga table, which is sorted by total points from the past five Bundesliga seasons, we’re also in fifth, finishing just two points above SC Freiburg, and 46 points behind Leipzig in fourth.
The most important achievements however, are actual trophies. Here’s an overview of the trophies won by all Bundesliga clubs in the past five years (excluding Bayern, as they’re undoubtedly ahead of everyone else in this comparison):
Borussia Dortmund: DFB Pokal 2021
Eintracht Frankfurt: Europa League 2022
RB Leipzig: DFB Pokal 2022 and 2023
Bayer Leverkusen: Bundesliga 2024, DFB Pokal 2024
VfB Stuttgart: DFB Pokal 2025
The Champions League run by Dortmund and the Europa League run by Leverkusen in 2024 also deserve a mention, although they both ultimately ended in defeats in the final.
Considering both the Bundesliga performance and title wins by the other top teams, we can gather that while others may have been more successful than us domestically, our Europa League trophy stands alone above the rest on the international stage.
CONCLUSION
So are we a ‘top club’ in the Bundesliga? I’d say we are close, but we’re not just a top four team yet. Playing in the Champions League is still not normal for us. The expectations within our fanbase have increased massively in the past few years – maybe a little too much for some. We need to stay realistic. The development of our club in recent years has been amazing, but clubs like Dortmund, Leverkusen and even Leipzig are still one level above us – especially in the financial aspect.
We’ve now established ourselves as the ‘best of the rest’. If we continue to grow and improve, we could attack the top four more frequently in the next few years. However, we must remain patient and realistic with our situation, and not expect this rise to continue forever.
