Now that the 2022/23 Bundesliga season has come to a close, it’s time to take back at this wonderfully wild season that gave us one of the all-time great Cinderella stories with Union Berlin qualifying for the 2023/24 Champions League.
Let’s take a look at the 2022/23 Bundesliga Team of the Season, which, yes, features an Union standout!
GK Gregor Kobel, Borussia Dortmund
The Bundesliga usually features a handful of top goalkeeping performances, with Yann Sommer having another strong campaign for both Borussia Mönchengladbach and eventual champions Bayern München. However, his countryman, Gregor Kobel, had an even stronger season despite being on the “wrong end” of the title race for Borussia Dortmund.
That Dortmund made it to the final day of the title race against Bayern is partially owed to Kobel, who is the very best goalkeeper in the Bundesliga. Kobel makes saves few other keepers than make, and, forgetting a bizarre mis-kick against Bayern, has fewer howlers than the other keepers vying for this spot like Mark Flekken and even Sommer.
LB Alphonso Davies, Bayern München
Alphonso Davies almost wins this position by default. There is really no other competitor for Davies at left back in the entire Bundesliga, so even in a bit of a down season for the Canadian, the world-class fullback remains the top man at the position. And really, that’s nothing the other Bundesliga left backs should be ashamed of, because Davies could very well be the best left back in Europe as a whole.
This past season, Davies had 2.7 dribbles completed and 1.7 key passes per game. Yes, that is Davies in a down year. He is still one of the best creative influences and easily the best progressor down the left flank. Still only 22 years old, he is also solid defensively. Davies is a hard-working fullback who fits the prototype of what a top team wants from a player at the position in the modern game.
CB Danilho Doekhi, Union Berlin
One of the out-of-nowhere breakout stars of the 2022/23 Bundesliga season, Danilho Doekhi scored a handful of important goals for the future Champions League club. Doekhi played intelligent, mistake-free defense, too, distinguishing himself as the best player on an Union Berlin team filled with solid and underrated pieces.
CB Konstantinos Mavropanos, Stuttgart
Another standout young center back wanted by Napoli and other notable clubs around Europe, Konstantinos Mavropanos was indispensable to VfB Stuttgart in another way. Without Mavropanos, Die Schwaben would have been in an even worse position than 16th, where they can at least save themselves from the 2. Bundesliga by winning the playoff.
An incredible all-around presence at center back, Mavropanos had an even more impactful year than Borussia Dortmund star signing Nico Schlotterbeck. Mavropanos made fewer mistakes defensively and was a wall in one-on-ones. Meanwhile, he averaged 1.8 tackles, 2.3 interceptions, and 3.5 clearances per game. An incredible player, the 25-year-old Greek defender should be one of the hottest names in the coming transfer market, even though it seems like many don’t understand his level.
RB Jeremie Frimpong, Bayer Leverkusen
Jeremie Frimpong is an absolute attacking dynamo, and while he is more of a right-sided midfielder than a true right back in a back four, nobody can ignore his offensive output. It is astonishing and on the level of the best wingers in European football.
In 2022/23, Frimpong played a crucial role for Leverkusen both when they were struggling to stay above the relegation zone and then later when they joined the European football fight under top young manager Xabi Alonso.
Frimpong scored eight goals with seven assists, even though he was the one starting almost every attack with his tireless dribbling. The Dutch international averaged 4.2 combined dribbles completed and fouls drawn per game, even exceeding Davies’ importance as a progressor to Bayern München.
A hot name on the transfer market, Frimpong is a great signing for any team that understands how to harness the full qualities of his attacking skill set, just as Alonso has done since stepping into the managerial role in Leverkusen.
CM Jude Bellingham, Borussia Dortmund
Jude Bellingham is the best player in the Bundesliga, though that status will be short-lived, given he is set to join Real Madrid in a well-deserved blockbuster transfer. There isn’t a player Madrid would rather have building on Luka Modrić’s legacy as the right-sided midfielder.
The 19-year-old England international averaged more than five combined dribbles completed and fouls drawn per game while providing legitimately world-class defensive output in an otherwise pedestrian midfield. Bellingham is a young leader who demands excellence from his teammates, and that ended up pushing Dortmund over the edge to victory in several matches they would have otherwise blown.
Without Bellingham in the XI, it is only fitting that BVB stumbled on the final day of the title race. He will be sorely missed and impossible to directly replace. Dortmund need to sign two or three great midfielders to replace him.
CM Joshua Kimmich, Bayern München
Before Jude Bellingham became a true Bundesliga superstar, Joshua Kimmich was the unquestioned best midfielder in the Bundesliga, and that is the title he will reclaim once the teenage sensation makes his way to the Spanish capital.
Kimmich produced another fine season as the maestro of the Bayern midfield, fulfilling multiple roles as partner Leon Goretzka struggled in a season that clearly frustrated incoming manager Thomas Tuchel.
There were many games in which, like Bellingham, Kimmich lifted Die Roten to victory with his individual brilliance. Kimmich is a top-class passer, an over-hated defender in midfield, and a technician who can change the game with just one kick. He averaged 2.6 key passes per game in 2022/23 as one of the Bundesliga’s top creators – and certainly the best from deeper positions.
AM Jamal Musiala, Bayern München
As amazing as Joshua Kimmich was in 2022/23, you will pretty much find nobody arguing against Jamal Musiala’s status as the new face of Bayern München and of German football as a whole. Like Kimmich, Musiala will get a “best of” superlative once Bellingham joins Madrid, as Musiala will be the new clear best player in the league (and another candidate, Christopher Nkunku, will also be leaving for a bigger club from RB Leipzig to Chelsea).
Musiala scored 12 goals with 10 assists, stunning Bundesliga defenses with his technical quality, close control, and willingness to take absolutely anybody on. The German youngster never stops working, even contributing positively on the defensive end despite being an elite attacker in a variety of roles. Musiala has the quality to change games with his end product, as we saw on the game’s final day when his brilliant winning goal lifted Bayern to title victory.
LW Florian Kainz, FC Köln
Vincenzo Grifo is a free kick maestro and is one of the Budnesliga’s elite players on his day, but the Freiburg man misses out on this position because of Florian Kainz’s superior chance-creation from open play and, above all else, consistency.
Kainz is an underrated gem of German football, proving emphatically that he can be a top player at the 1. Bundesliga level after plenty of great seasons in the second division.
After a solid 2021/22 season for Köln with four goals and four assists, Kainz became one of the true stars of Effzeh in 2022/23 with 6 goals and 10 assists. Kainz is one of the best wide creators in Europe right now when you look at the quality of his deliveries.
In 2022/23, Kainz averaged 2.2 key passes, 1.3 fouls drawn, and 1.0 dribbles completed for the Billy Goats. The 30-year-old Austrian deserves more plaudits than he gets for the difference he makes in the final third.
ST Niclas Füllkrug, Werder Bremen
Only Christoper Nkunku scored as many goals as Niclas Füllkrug, who became the best striker in the Bundesliga and in German football as a whole in 2022/23. Granted, the competition wasn’t exactly stiff with Sébastien Haller struggling for Borussia Dortmund and Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting the new 9 in München after Robert Lewandowski’s departure, but take nothing away from the free-scoring Füllkrug.
The 30-year-old elevated Werder Bremen in so many ways, scoring game-winning goals from nothing and providing a high level of all-around quality that went seriously underrated around European football.
Look at these numbers. Füllkrug had 5 assists, 1.7 fouls drawn, 1.2 key passes, and 1.1 dribbles completed per game in the 2022/23 Bundesliga season. He is the undisputed striker in this Team of the Season.
RW Jonas Hofmann, Borussia Mönchengladbach
As with the left wing, there were not many options on the right side. Wolfsburg’s underrated youngster Patrick Wimmer, Bayer Leverkusen’s explosive left-footer Moussa Diaby, and Bayern’s clinical Serge Gnabry all merited consideration. However, former Borussia Dortmund prospect and current Borussia Mönchengladbach star Jonas Hofmann could not be denied.
Hofmann is legitimately one of the best attacking players in European football from a chance-creation and technical perspective. He can do it all for Gladbach, and had his teammates been more consistent this season, Hofmann could have had even more than 9 assists, given he averaged a league-high 3.2 key passes per game.
Those are outstanding numbers, made all the more impressive by Hofmann’s 12 goals. He showed quality in every phase of attacking play and should be revered as one of the absolute top superstars of the Bundesliga. It’s too bad Gladbach players never quite get the love they deserve, unless if they have good agents who can manipulate the transfer rumor mill.
The managing editor of The Trivela Effect, Kevin has 15 years of experience in digital media. He covered Real Madrid from 2019-2022 for The Real Champs as a site manager. You can contact him at the site’s official Twitter handle @TrivelaEffect or via the site’s official email thetrivelaeffect@gmail.com.