August 20, 2010
Bundesliga – Bayern Munich is the team to beat
The current champions shouldn’t find a pleasant road on their way to repeat the title, since their rivals will put a lot of pressure and the slightest of mistakes can be sufficient to end up the season with empty hands.
By Andrew Hill
The best-supported league in the world is ready for the kick off on August 20th, which will officially begin the 48th season of the German tournament, where 18 teams will be fighting for the title. And things couldn’t start better, with games like: Bayern Munich against Wolfsburg, Borussia Dortmund vs. Bayern Leverkusen, or Hamburg receiving Shalke 04 as opening games. Also two teams of great tradition are back to the division of honor: St. Pauli and Kaiserslautern, which will definitely spice up things a little bit more with all of their fans.
In the past years the Bundesliga has become one of the most contested leagues in the world, where several teams have been reaching the final games of the season with real chances of winning. If we take a quick look at what has been going on during the last five years, we would see how Bayern Munich has faced tough opponents and has not always been able to walk away victorious, as they did the past season. Stuttgart in 2007 and Wolfsburg in 2009 where able to proclaim themselves as champions, giving the league more variety, compared to other elite leagues such as the Premier League, where it has been a matter of two: Chelsea and Manchester United. That is the same scenario that has been going on in Spain between Barcelona and Real Madrid. And what could we say about Italy? The Serie A has only known one champion in the last five years: Inter, making it monotonous.
Besides having more teams fighting for the first place, there are more ingredients in this league, like the return of Michael Ballack to Bayern Leverkusen after his English adventure in Chelsea. The talented midfielder, that led them once to the UEFA Champions League final in 2002, is back with hunger to win more titles and put Leverkusen on top of the league. This will also be the first season of the successful former Real Madrid’s sticker, Raul, in the Bundesliga, who will be responsible for leading Schalke on their race for the title. After 16 seasons in Madrid, he was being overshadowed by younger stars like Cristiano Ronaldo and Kaka, not only losing the media’s attention, but also his place in the starting line up. Both of these leaders’ experience will be very positive for the league, and the fans will be able to enjoy their exquisite technique.
The Bundesliga can be proud of having the best average on goals per game between the top European leagues, with 2.83
In football it is all about the goals, that is what makes the fans go wild, and the Bundesliga can be proud of having the best average on goals per game between the top European leagues, with 2.83. This is a really important fact since it beats countries like England, that has a 2.77 average, and which is known for being offensive. But what is more relevant of this whole situation is that they do not regularly invest multimillionaire sums of money in famous foreign players. Most of the Bundesliga’s stars are Germans, or if they are not, they were acquired at a young age before they become internationally recognized.
European Competitions
Last season Bayern Munich was able to dispute the UEFA Champions League final, unfortunately for them, Inter won the match. This year six teams will be representing Germany in European competitions: Bayern Munich, Schalke and Werder Bremen in the Champions League, and Bayern Leverkusen, Borussia Dortmund, and Stuttgart in the Europa League. These teams will try to put German soccer on the highest place of the podium.
About the Author
Andrew Hill has been a prominent writer on regular International Football games, sports news and the sportsbetting industry for many exceptional sports web sites. You may reprint this article in its full content, please note no modifications to it are accepted.