Bundesliga Final

Wolfsburg finished at the top of the standings with 69 points in 34 games, two points ahead of Bayern Munich, which clinched second place and an automatic Champions League berth by defeating VfB Stuttgart 2-1.

Stuttgart ended up in third with 64 points, but can still qualify for the Champions League.

Wolfsburg went up 3-0 after just 26 minutes of play with goals from Zvjezdan Misimovic, Grafite and an own goal by Werder's Sebastian Proedl.

Bremen pulled one back through Diego before Wolfsburg's striker duo Grafite and Edin Dzeko sealed the title with two second half goals.

"It's completely mad to have won the championship," said Dzeko. "It's a great feeling -- We are going to do a lot of celebrating tonight."

Wolfsburg coach, Felix Magath, who was fired by Munich only two years ago, led the team to its maiden title. Magath however won't be around to coach Wolfsburg for the Champions League -- he's decided to move to Schalke next season.

"I knew that we were good enough," said Magath. "We put in some good performances all season and we deserved to be champions. Of course, it will be hard to leave now."

It has been an astonishing turn around for Wolfsburg, which almost faced relegation last year. Few would have expected their side to have a chance at the trophy, the team was clearly an outsider at the start of the season.

Saturday's win over Bremen wrapped up one of the biggest sensations the Bundesliga has ever seen -- and the credits for the success go to the coach, says soccer analyst Paul Chapman.

"Some people say Magath took a middle of the road team, but he didn't. He took a really bad and struggling team that had finished close to relegation for two seasons running."

"Magath started with nothing and he brought in lots of new players, a lot of young exciting talent. Wolfsburg has played wonderful attacking football this season. They absolutely deserve to be champions."

The UEFA qualifiers in the Bundesliga for next season are Hertha BSC Berlin and the Hamburger SV, which finished 4th and 5th respectively.

At the bottom end of the German league standings, Arminia Bielefeld finished last, followed by Karlsruhe SC, with both now relegated to the second division. Karlsruhe, at least, went out in style thrashing a hapless Hertha BSC Berlin 4-0 in its final first division game.

Despite beating Leverkusen 3-0, Energie Cottbus, which ended the season in 16th place as the third worst team, faces a relegation round against either Mainz or Nuremberg of the second division, to decide who gets the last remaining spot in next season's Bundesliga.

gb/dpa/SID/Reuters
Editor: Andreas Illmer