At the centre of the season was the head-to-head battle for the title between Bayern and Bayer 04 Leverkusen. The Christoph Daum-coached works club took over the top spot on matchday 30 with a 4-1 win over Arminia Bielefeld. Defending champions FC Bayern, meanwhile, suffered a surprise 1-2 derby defeat to 1860 Munich.
Leverkusen and FCB won all remaining matches before matchday 34 (Leverkusen 3-1 in Bremen, 2-0 at HSV and 4-1 against Frankfurt; Bayern 1-0 in Dortmund, 4-1 against Rostock and 3-0 in Bielefeld).
Leverkusen went into the away match at SpVgg Unterhaching with 73 points and a goal difference of +40; Bayern had 70 points and a difference of +43 before the finale against Werder. Three fewer points, but a better goal record.
A draw would have been enough for Leverkusen. Manager Reiner Calmund was already planning the title celebrations; the DFB had brought the trophy to Sportpark Unterhaching.
But the Werkself fell behind through a Michael Ballack own goal after 20 minutes; FCB were already leading 3-1 at half-time. Leverkusen pressed but could not score. In the 72nd minute, Markus Oberleitner headed in to make it 2-0 for Unterhaching.
FCB were champions — and once again Christoph Daum was left empty-handed.