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According to Bayern Munich chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, German clubs no longer have a fair chance at top European level because of the uneven distribution of television earnings on the continent.

 "There isn't a manager or coach in the world who can compensate for this competitive disadvantage," he said.

 Bayern were one of six Bundesliga teams who failed to win last week in the worst German club performance in 52 years of European competition.

 After four successive defeats, Bundesliga champions VfB Stuttgart are already out of contention in the Champions League, while Werder Bremen and Schalke 04 are struggling to survive.

 Meanwhile in the UEFA Cup, Bayern Munich were held to draw at home to Bolton Wanderers, while Nuremberg were beaten at home by Everton and Bayer Leverkusen lost at Spartak Moscow.

 The apparent wealth imbalance means the Bundesliga is buying only quantity rather than quality on the transfer market, Rummenigge complained.

 For several seasons now, the German league has been slipping down the rankings in UEFA's five-year coefficient.

 The last time a Bundesliga club reached a European final was in 2002, and of the 20 European finalists since then, Spain have had five, Italy and England four each, Portugal three, France two and Scotland and Russia one each.

 On the face of it, Rummenigge has a point. Germany, with 420 million euros (610 million dollars) in annual income from TV, is well behind the leagues in England (1.1 billion), Italy (735 million), France (618 million) and Spain (575 million).

 But this overlooks the fact that Germany earns more than all the other leagues in advertising, sponsoring and merchandising, and has the world's highest stadium attendances. It puts Germany and Italy second only behind England in overall earnings.

 The excuse of poor funding increasingly no longer seems to wash with many in the German game.

 German Football Federation (DFB) president Theo Zwanziger says more needs to be done to improve coaching and youth development.

 He is backed by Germany coach Joachim Loew, who in an interview with Kicker sports magazine said "elementary" aspects of the German game needed to be improved.

 "Possibly some other clubs have more money because they are working with incredibly good concepts, and perhaps because investors prefer to invest where they can see concepts, continuity and a philosophy," he said.

 "Money comes only if a good concept is available. And besides, you can do incredibly good work even with modest means."

   Reinhard Rauball, president of the German Football League (DFL), said: "It's too simple to point to different levels of funding for lack of success. For me the causes lie mainly elsewhere."

   Lothar Matthaeus, Germany's most capped player, also says the wealth issue is a lame excuse for Germany's woes.

 "I can't hear this any more. What we lack is heart, passion and commitment. That's what teams from France or Greece, where there isn't much more money in circulation, are showing us," he said.

 As German sports commentators point out, low-budget Norwegian team Rosenborg Trondheim have more points in the Champions League than all three Bundesliga sides together.

 Meanwhile German sides have been beaten in Europe in recent seasons by teams from Poland, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Bulgaria and elsewhere with only a fraction of their turnover.

 Bayern Munich, four-time European champions who were in 2001 the last German team to win the Champions League, are still regarded as one of Europe's top clubs despite their absence this season from the Champions League.

 Bayern themselves changed club policy ahead of the current season by splashing out some 70 million euros in quality players of the like of Franck Ribery, Luca Toni or Miroslav Klose and are regarded as being among the favourites for this season's UEFA Cup.

 The German national team also qualified easily for Euro 2008 and will go into the tournament as one of the top sides.

 At the end of the season, the picture may well be much brighter.

 Rauball told the Sunday newspaper Bild am Sonntag he would meanwhile like the league to revive a commission of experts to look at the apparent weaknesses in club football.

 "We all allowed ourselves to be blinded by international success in the 90s - the Schalke 'Eurofighters', Borussia Dortmund's Champions League win in 1997, Bayern's successes. We thought we were almost unbeatable," he said. By Barry Whelan, dpa