Don’t look now, but the Bundesliga may be the most exciting, most colourful league in Europe. There aren’t many countries where you’ll find four teams within three points at the top of the league. And, no, one of them is not Hoffenheim, Europe’s feel-good story of the year: the former village club, who were top at Christmas, have slipped to sixth place after the season-ending injury to Vedad Ibisevic, their top scorer.

Instead, the title chase features Hertha Berlin – a sleeping giant who have finished in the top three once in the past 30 years, whose top scorer is Andriy Voronin, the former Liverpool washout, and who seem to have a penchant for accumulating the namesakes of famous footballers (Kaka, Lucio, Rafael and, notably, Marc Stein) – as well as Hamburg, where Martin Jol, the former Tottenham Hotspur manager, is performing miracles despite losing three of his best players to Europe’s blue-bloods (Rafael van der Vaart is now at Real Madrid) and nouveaux riches (Nigel de Jong and Vincent Kompany were sold to Manchester City).

But it was the other two title contenders – Wolfsburg and Bayern Munich – who squared off on Saturday with first place at stake. Bayern, of course, need no introduction; Wolfsburg, however, are a rather more remarkable story. The casual fan might know the usual three snippets of trivia: Wolfsburg are sponsored by Volkswagen, they signed Andrés D’Alessandro for £7 million a few years ago – when he was hailed as another “new Maradona” – and, much to the delight of the easily amused, Wolfsburg were once managed by a Wolfgang Wolf. Ha ha.

In fact, Wolfsburg’s ascent has been remarkable when you consider that the city, let alone the football club, did not even exist until 1938. Adolf Hitler’s government built it from scratch to house workers from a near-by factory who built what would come to be known as the VW Beetle. Back then, it was known as the “Strength-through-Joy Car” (“ Kraft durch Freude-Wagen”) and the imaginative Nazis named the city “Strength-through-Joy Car City”. Mercifully, it was renamed after the Second World War and the local football club began their progress through the footballing pyramid, reaching the top flight 11 years ago.

Back to the present. Spicing up Saturday’s clash was the fact that Wolfsburg are coached by Felix Magath, who was unceremoniously sacked by Bayern some seven months after leading them to back-to-back league-and-cup doubles, in an extreme display of “player power”: they apparently resented his tough training sessions and disciplinarian ethos.

Magath’s feelings remained hidden behind his bespectacled bookish demeanour on Saturday, but it’s a safe bet he was more than pleased with the outcome. After the two sides traded goals late in the first half, via Christian Gentner and Luca Toni, Wolfsburg exploded for four unanswered goals in the space of 14 minutes after the break, as Edin Dzeko and Grafite scored two apiece. Neither is your run-of-the-mill striker.

Dzeko may be the best striker you have never heard of. A tall target man who has just turned 23, he is Europe’s top scorer in qualifying for the 2010 World Cup finals. His seasonal tally stands at 33 goals in 41 outings, counting his appearances for Bosnia-Herzegovina.

Grafite’s goalscoring exploits are even more impressive. He has 26 goals in 24 appearances this season. The 30-year-old Brazilian did not even turn professional until the age of 22 – before that, he moonlighted selling bin-liners door-to-door in his native São Paulo – and his route to the top of the Bundesliga included stops in South Korea, where he failed to score in nine games for Anyang Cheetahs, and unfashionable Le Mans in France. Until recently he was perhaps best known for, in 2005, being racially abused by an opponent, Leandro Desabato, the Quilmes defender, who, at the finish, became the first player to be arrested for hurling racist insults during a game.

The two strikers may be grabbing the headlines but Wolfsburg’s two most impressive figures, arguably, have been midfield players. They, too, have their own feel-good stories. Zvjezdan Misimovic, another Bosnian, came through the ranks at Bayern before being released on the eve of his 22nd birthday and is one of the best attacking midfield players in the Bundesliga. Josue, the Brazil midfield player, was overlooked by all before moving to São Paulo at the age of 25. Now, at 29, he is a regular for Brazil and one of the better holding players in Europe.

As for Bayern, their domestic season has been nothing short of a shambles (more good news: they visit the Nou Camp on Wednesday). It’s the second time this year that they have conceded five goals. For a club whose spending and turnover dwarf the rest of the league – imagine Manchester United competing in a Premier League without Liverpool, Chelsea and Arsenal – this campaign has been fraught with disappointment.

And maybe it’s worth reevaluating the coach, Klinsmann, as well. He went into the job with no experience, barring a two-year spell as coach of Germany culminating with third place in the 2006 World Cup and, perhaps, the learning curve is turning out to be steeper than expected. Coaching in a World Cup – especially one on home turf – is rather different to a long and grinding league season.

Whatever else occurs, the 2008-09 Bundesliga has been a thrilling ride for the neutral. And, best of all, there are another eight rounds to go.

And another thing . . .

Will Sven soon be coming to a club near you?

Sven-Göran Eriksson’s Mexican adventure has come to an end after the 3-1 defeat away to Honduras on Wednesday. Mexico, long the Concacaf powerhouse, lie fourth in their group and the Mexican FA felt that it could not risk missing out on World Cup qualification. His qualifying record was four wins, one draw and four defeats: against Honduras, twice, Jamaica and the United States. Don’t be surprised if he turns up back on this side of the pond soon. I can’t imagine him going gently into the night.