Bundesliga End of Season Awards: VfL Bochum's Player of the Season | OneFootball

The 2024-25 campaign proved to be the end of VfL Bochum’s time in the Bundesliga. Fittingly nicknamed ‘Die Unabsteigbaren’ or ‘The Unrelegatables’ seemed more than fair after last season’s heroics, but an 18th-place finish with a mere 25 points could do little to spare them this time around. A four-year run in Germany’s topflight came to an end with nothing more than a whimper. Aside from their narrow 1-0 defeat to RB Leipzig on Matchday 1, Bochum spent the entirety of the campaign in the relegation zone.

One of seldom few bright sparks on a dull season at the Vonovia Ruhrstadion was the loan signing of Myron Boadu. It was announced that the club had agreed to take the 24-year-old on a season-long loan back in August. The Netherlands striker hit the ground running with 3 returns before untimely hip and hamstring injuries forced him to miss 11 games across the campaign.

While he alone couldn’t keep Bochum afloat in the Bundesliga, an impressive return of 9 goals and 1 assist in 19 appearances is no mean feat. A return every 116 minutes shows just how clinical he was for a side under pressure and battling the drop. It becomes all the more staggering when you consider Bochum had to part ways with talented playmaker Kevin Stoger before the season commenced.

STANDOUT PERFORMANCE:

It goes without saying that Myron Boadu’s most inspiring performance came on Matchday 18 when he singlehandedly stunned RB Leipzig with a hattrick in a 3-3 draw back in January. Rooted to the bottom of the table, Bochum fell three goals behind inside a dismal first-half as Willi Orban, Xavi Simons and Christoph Baumgartner struck.

However, the hosts responded after the break when Holtmann picked off Gulacsi’s tame pass to square for Boadu’s first. After a long throw from Mathus Bero and a flick from Bernardo, Boadu scrambled home his second in the 56th-minute to give a sliver of belief. Suddenly, Nusa’s foul on De Wit afforded the Dutchman a spot-kick which he clipped past Gulacsi with a level of remarkable poise as the Ruhrstadion erupted.

HONOURABLE MENTIONS:

Our team of writers also gave votes to Bernardo (3) who, despite an injury-hit season, finished eighth with 105 aerial duels won and solidified Bochum’s rearguard under Hecking. A vote was also cast to captain Philipp Hofmann who contributed 3 goals and 2 assists, while summer signing Ibrahima Sissoko received a nomination for an industrious campaign in midfield where he emerged as the Bundesliga’s overall top duel-winner (388).