The Bundesliga returns on Friday night and, ahead of the new season, we’re highlighting five things for fans to look out for, offering pre-season betting tips.
Can anyone deny Bayern Munich a 12th consecutive meisterschale?
The big news ahead of the new Bundesliga season is Harry Kane’s arrival at Bayern Munich, joining from Tottenham for a reported €116 million.
Even without England’s all-time record goal-scorer, die Roten were odds-on favourites to lift a 12th meisterschale in a row, but this appears to be a formality now.
Although, perhaps not, given that last season, Bayern’s streak of titles very nearly came to end, going into the final day of the season second in the table.
It was only thanks to Dortmund messing it up at home to Mainz, and Jamal Musiala bagging an 89th minute winner at Köln, that Bayern retained yet another Bundesliga crown.
Just two months earlier, Julian Nagelsmann had been sacked, somewhat out of nowhere, but Bayern knew they wanted Thomas Tuchel, with this set to be his first full-season in charge.
It’s hasn’t started well, with Bayern smashed 3-0 by RB Leipzig in Saturday’s DFL-Supercup at Allianz Arena, showing this team does have a few shortcomings.
Nevertheless, Kane’s arrival makes it inconceivable that anyone else will win the Bundesliga, with Bayern appeared to be one of the favourites to win the Champions League at Wembley on 1 June.
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Bayern Munich to win the Bundesliga, DFB-Pokal and Champions League treble- 20/1!
Back Bayern to win a third treble, after 2013 and 2020, at 20/1!
Who will secure Champions League qualification?
What about Borussia Dortmund, having missed out on the meisterschale on goal difference, can they challenge again?
Last season really did seem like their chance to end the club’s long wait to be Germany champions, with Bayern’s tally of 71 points the lowest recorded by any Bundesliga title winner since 2010.
So far this summer, die Schwarzgelben have lost Jude Bellingham and Raphaël Guerreiro, the latter taking the well-trodden path from Dortmund to Bayern.
Marcel Sabitzer, from Bayern, Ramy Bensebaïni and Felix Nmecha have all arrived, while BVB will be hoping to enjoy a full season of Sébastien Haller, following his cancer diagnosis and recovery this time last year.
234 miles east in Leipzig, it’s been a summer of upheaval at RB.
Christopher Nkunku, Joško Gvardiol, Dominik Szoboszlai, Konrad Laimer, Alexander Sørloth, Angeliño and André Silva have all departed, recouping over €240 million.
As usual, die Roten Bullen have raided RB Salzburg for their brightest talents, with Nicolas Seiwald and Benjamin Šeško arriving.
Meantime, Loïs Openda, Christoph Baumgartner, El Chadaille Bitshiabu and Castello Lukeba have all arrived for bigs fees, with Xavi Simons and Fábio Carvalho joining on loan.
Saturday’s emphatic Supercup victory over the Champions will certainly raise hopes and expectations in Saxony.
To summarise, Marco Rose certainly has a very talented squad at his disposal and, even if this team does take time to jell, RB Leipzig are amongst the front-runners to qualify for the Champions League yet again.
Borussia Dortmund to qualify win the Bundesliga WITHOUT BAYERN- 5/6!
Back BVB to finish best of the rest, something they've done in 9 of the last 13 seasons, at 5/6!
Can the overachievers continue to punch above their weight?
One of the most enjoyable aspects about the Bundesliga in recent seasons has been smaller clubs over-performing, specifically talking about Union Berlin and Freiburg.
Union’s rise has been astronomical, starting by gaining promotion to the top-flight for the first time ever in 2019, beating Stuttgart on away goals in the play-offs.
Since then, die Eisernen have continued their upward trajectory by coming 11th, seventh, fifth and then, last season, fourth.
Thus, next month, Urs Fischer will lead his team into the Champions League, which really is a modern-day footballing fairytale.
Union have rather overshadowed what Christian Streich has achieved over at Freiburg.
Since taking over 12 years ago, Streich has taken Breisgau-Brasilianer down, only to win the 2.Bundesliga title at the first attempt, before qualifying for Europe on three occasions.
Last season, Freiburg reached the Europa League round of 16, their best-ever run in UEFA competition, and they’ll be back in the group phase of that tournament in a few weeks time.
Both will be aiming to challenge for the top four once again, although they’ll face competition from Leverkusen, Frankfurt, Wolfsburg, Mönchengladbach and potentially others.
Will the newly-promoted clubs stay up?
This season the Bundesliga waves goodbye to two giants, Hertha BSC and Schalke, while two clubs with rather more modest histories taking their spots.
Zweite Bundesliga champions Heidenheim have been promoted to the top division for the first time in their 177-year history, achieving this just nine years after getting into the second-tier for the very first time.
Given their modest background, Frank Schmidt’s team are everyone’s favourites to finish bottom, but Heidenheim will believe they can upset one or two.
Darmstadt 98 meantime are back after six seasons away.
Die Lilien have previously featured in the Bundesliga four times, three of which (1979, 1982 and 2017) resulting in relegation, their best-ever season coming in 2016, ending up 14th, two points clear of the drop zone.
So, it stands to reason that Torsten Lieberknecht’s team too will be scrapping towards the wrong end of the standings.
Heidenheim to be relegated- 10/11!
Back Heidenheim, in their first-ever Bundesliga season, to go down at 10/11!
Which giants are most likely to struggle?
Did you know: there are more teams who’ve previously been Germany champions currently in 2.Bundesliga than in the Bundesliga.
Eight of the 18 top-flight clubs have their name engraved on the meisterschale, while 11 of the 18 second-tier teams have previously been crowned champions.
Between them, the 2.Bundesliga clubs have 37 league titles to their names, with Nürnberg, HSV, Schalke and Kaiserslautern the key contributors.
In contrast, excluding Bayern Munich, the other 17 Bundesliga teams have won just 26 league titles.
Smaller clubs such as Augsburg, Hoffenheim, Bochum and Mainz continue to be significantly more well-run that traditional giants.
Stuttgart were almost the latest juggernaut to drop out of the Bundesliga, ultimately smashing Hamburg 6-1 in June’s two-legged relegationsspiele.
So, will die Schwaben be involved in the relegation scrap once again, or will any other traditional giants get sucked into the dog-fiight?
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