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Week 32 started with four teams in the hunt for the Bundesliga championship, but ended with only two teams atop the standings. On Friday, Borussia Dortmund tied its game against Stuttgart, who tries to avoid relegation. And Bayer Leverkusen missed the chance to take a lead role in the championship race by losing to Bayern Munich. After this loss, Leverkusen may even lose its Champions League qualifying spot. Besides its fourth place in the standings, head coach Berti Vogts and his coaching staff, who became the laughing stock of the league in the last two weeks, received a lot of criticism. And to nobody’s surprise, the media and Leverkusen’s fans already think about Vogts’ successor.

Not a laughing stock became VfL Wolfsburg’s decision to suspend its striker Jonathan Akpoborie because of child labor accusations. On April 17, “The Guardien,” a Nigerian newspaper, reported that authorities under the suspicion of child smuggling confiscated the “Etireno,” a ship bought by Akpoborie in 1998. Because Nigerian authorities discovered 43 children on board and started an official investigation, Wolfsburg asked Akpoborie to fly to Nigeria to assist the authorities and clear up this matter. The 32-year-old striker denied any involvement and said that he bought this ship as an investment for his family. As for other news:

· Besides the current crisis, Bayer Leverkusen continues to improve its squad for next season. Zoltan Sebescen signed a three-year contract with the Rhine club hoping to win the national championship and regain his spot in the German national team. The 25-year-old midfielder, who currently plays for Wolfsburg, cost Leverkusen $6 million.

· Vfl Bochum already started planning for the second division, signing midfielder Dietmar Berchtold from Alemannia Aachen. The 26-year-old Austrian will try and help Bochum get back to the first division.

· Hertha BSC Berlin’s general manager Dieter Hoeneß announced last Friday the singing of Roberto Pinto, currently playing for Stuttgart, for the new season. The 22-year-old midfielder signed as a free agent and becomes Hertha’s fifth signing of the year.

At last, check out all the stats for Week 32 in the German Bundesliga:

German Bundesliga Results
Borussia Dortmund – VfB Stuttgart 0:0
Bayer 04 Leverkusen – FC Bayern Munich 0:1
TSV 1860 Munich – 1. FC Cologne 3:1
FC Schalke 04 – VfL Wolfsburg 2:1
Eintracht Frankfurt – VfL Bochum 3:0
Hansa Rostock – Energie Cottbus 1:0
Hamburger SV – 1. FC Kaiserslautern 1:1
Werder Bremen – SpVgg Unterhaching 0:0
SC Freiburg – Hertha BSC Berlin 1:0

German Bundesliga Standings
Position (Last week) TEAM GP W L T PTS
1. (1.) FC Schalke 04 32 17 7 8 59
2. (2.) FC Bayern Munich 32 18 9 5 59
3. (3.) Borussia Dortmund 32 15 8 9 54
4. (4.) Bayer 04 Leverkusen 32 16 11 5 53
5. (5.) Hertha BSC Berlin 32 17 14 1 52
6. (6.) 1. FC Kaiserslautern 32 15 12 5 50
7. (7.) SC Freiburg 32 13 9 10 49
8. (8.) SV Werder Bremen 32 13 11 8 47
9. (9.) 1. FC Cologne 32 12 11 9 45
10. (10.) VfL Wolfsburg 32 11 10 11 44
11. (11.) TSV 1860 Munich 32 12 13 7 43
12. (13.) Hansa Rostock 32 12 14 6 42
13. (12.) Hamburger SV 32 10 12 10 40
14. (14.) VfB Stuttgart 32 8 13 11 35
15. (15.) SpVgg Unterhaching 32 8 13 11 35
16. (16.) FC Energie Cottbus 32 10 19 3 33
17. (17.) Eintracht Frankfurt 32 9 18 5 32
18. (18.) VfL Bochum 32 7 19 6 27

German Bundesliga Top5-Scorers
NAME (CLUB) POINTS GOALS ASSISTS GP
Ebbe Sand (FC Schalke 04) 29 21 8 31
Emile Mpenza (FC Schalke 04) 26 13 13 25
Claudio Pizarro (Werder Bremen) 24 19 5 29
Sergej Barbarez (Hamburger SV) 24 19 5 29
Giovane Elber (FC Bayern Munich) 21 15 6 25