When the new Bayern 2015-16 Home Kit will be revealed next month, it will only feature four stars above the Bayern München crest, despite Bayern Munich winning their 25th German title last weekend. But why?
Why Bayern's 2015-16 Kit will only feature four stars
The four stars seen on Bayern Munich's 2014-15 Home Kit are the maximum a team can reach in Germany.
When the German football league introduced championship stars for Bundesliga teams ahead of the 2004-05 season, they decided to set unusual rules about how teams would earn stars. This was due to the league's nature with one super-dominant team in Bayern Munich and several other teams with relatively low numbers of titles.
They decided that a first star was awarded for three titles, a second for five titles, a third for ten titles and a fourth for 20 titles. Four stars are also the maximum number of stars a team can be awarded.
Additionally, the rules state that only German titles won since the Bundesliga era (1963 to now) are counted towards the stars tally, meaning that Bayern Munich only has 24 titles according to the official Bundesliga rules.
What do you think about the complicated procedure used to awards stars to teams in Germany? Should leagues like England or Spain introduce championship stars?