Bayern Munich travels to Wolfsburg in Bundesliga

Instead of competing in the Champions League or the Europa League, however, Wolfsburg usually has ended trying to avoid relegation.

Financially supported by Volkswagen, Europe's biggest automaker, Wolfsburg has gone through scores of players and half a dozen coaches since 2009 seeking that elusive success, to no avail, despite millions spent. Former England manager Steve McClaren lasted half a year.

This season was no different. Wolfsburg's proclaimed goal of qualifying for Europe quickly turned into another season to forget. The club fired coach Felix Magath, who had been brought back in an attempt to repeat his coaching success from 2009.

Wolfsburg lured Klaus Allofs from Werder Bremen to become its manager and he in turn persuaded Dieter Hecking to leave Nuremberg and sign on as coach. Hecking has the reputation of being a solid, long-term coach.

The team has slowly climbed up to 12th and will try to slow Bayern Munich's seemingly inevitable progress to the title when they face off on Friday.

According to a recent report in the newsmagazine Der Spiegel, Wolfsburg has the second biggest annual salary bill in the Bundesliga after Bayern. Brazilian midfielder Diego — once chased away by Magath for refusing to be a substitute, only to be accepted back by the coach — reportedly earns €8.2 million ($11 million) a year. That's more than Javier Garcia Sanz makes in his capacity as a board member of Volkswagen in charge of procurement and who runs the football club enterprise.

Another media report said Volkswagen spent €67.5 million ($91 million) on the club just in the year after it won the championship. Under Magath, the squad grew to nearly 40 players — and had little to show for it.