Bundesliga Information Kit

Transcription

F A C T S
&
F I G U R E S
SEASON 2015-16 I THE LEAGUE I THE CLUBS
M O R E FA N S .
MORE GOALS.
M O R E F O OT B A L L .
G E R M A N Y ’S M O ST E XC I T I N G E X P O RT.
THE BUNDESLIGA.
Bundesliga Facts & Figures
CONTENTS
Preface
This Information Kit is designed to provide key facts,
historical background and practical information about
the Bundesliga, an overview of the core functions of DFL
Deutsche Fußball Liga, the body tasked with organising
and marketing professional football in Germany, and an indepth look at the 18 clubs contesting the championship.
1. The Bundesliga ____________________________________________________________________ 4
2. Bundesliga Trophies __________________________________________________________ 6
3. Bundesliga History ____________________________________________________________ 8
4. Bundesliga Champions _____________________________________________________ 10
5. DFL / The League Association _______________________________________ 12
6. DFL Sports Enterprises ___________________________________________________ 13
7. DFL Digital Sports ______________________________________________________________ 14
8. Sportcast ______________________________________________________________________________ 16
9. Bundesliga Foundation _____________________________________________________ 17
10. The Clubs 2015-16 ____________________________________________________________ 18
11. Club Portraits ______________________________________________________________________ 20
12. Trends & Technology _________________________________________________________ 56
13. Youth Concept _____________________________________________________________________ 58
14. Stadia & Fan Culture _________________________________________________________ 60
15. Derbies & All-Time Classics ____________________________________________ 62
16. Mascots _________________________________________________________________________________ 64
17. Contacts ________________________________________________________________________________ 66
3
THE BUNDESLIGA
With its rich history and excellent
standard of play, the Bundesliga has
developed into one of the world’s
premier sporting competitions.
After the Bundesliga’s foundation
in Dortmund in 1962, 1. FC Köln
became the first ever Bundesliga
champions in the inaugural season
of 1963-64. The Bundesliga has
played a tremendously important
role in football-mad Germany and
grown its global appeal ever since.
The league structure
and entities
German professional football consists of 36 professional clubs in the
Bundesliga and the second division,
4
Bundesliga 2, (18 clubs in each division). All clubs are organised in the
Ligaverband (League Association),
Die Liga – Fußballverband e.V., which
delegates its operational business to
the company DFL Deutsche Fußball
Liga GmbH. Core functions of the
German Football League DFL are
the organisation and marketing of
professional football in Germany.
The DFL is also responsible for the
scheduling of all 612 regular-season matches in the Bundesliga and
Bundesliga 2 and for the organisation of the promotion-relegation
play-offs and the Supercup, ensuring
smooth-running, well-balanced and,
above all, exciting competition in
Germany’s professional football
leagues. The Bundesliga’s commer-
cial rights are licensed by DFL Sports
Enterprises.
The German Football Association
DFB is an important and worthwhile
partner of the League Association
and has overall responsibility for
referees, the coaching system and
disciplinary procedures. The League
Association is a member of the DFB.
Fixtures
Both in the Bundesliga and Bundesliga 2, each club plays against the
other 17 teams twice, home and
away, in a total of 306 matches
per league per season. The match
schedule is mirrored: the teams who
contest matchday 1 meet again for
the third-from-bottom team in the
Bundesliga table and the third-placed
team of Bundesliga 2 meet in two
home-and-away play-off fixtures
at the end of each season in order
to decide which team will play in the
Bundesliga in the upcoming season.
The same criteria as in the knockout
phase of UEFA club competitions
applies to the promotion-relegation
play-offs:
1. First, the total score in both
matches is the main criteria.
2. In the event of a tie, away goals
are taken into consideration.
3. If the clubs are still tied, the second match will go to extra time (2 x
15 minutes).
4. If, during extra time, both teams
score the same number of goals,
the away team wins. If no goals are
scored during extra time, penalty
kicks determine which club will be
relegated/promoted.
Final league table of Bundesliga season 2014-15
the reverse fixture on matchday 18,
and so on. Teams are awarded three
points for a win, one point for a draw
and no points for a loss.
Bundesliga champions
and European competition
qualification
Eighteen clubs compete against
each other to win the Bundesliga title
each season. The team with the most
cumulative points over the course
of the 34-game season is crowned
“Deutscher Meister” (German Champions). Currently, the top three teams
of the final table gain automatic
qualification for the group stage of
the following season’s UEFA Champions League. The fourth-placed team
enters the third qualification round
of the UCL. The teams that finish in
5th and 6th place and the winners
of the national cup competition
(DFB-Pokal) gain entry to the UEFA
Europa League. If the DFB-Pokal winners have already qualified for one of
the two European club competitions
via their league position at the end
of the Bundesliga season, the team
finishing seventh in the league is
awarded the starting place.
Promotion
and relegation rules
The Bundesliga employs a promotion-relegation system. Teams that
finish in 17th and 18th place are
automatically relegated and replaced
by the top two teams promoted from
Bundesliga 2. The same relegation
process applies between Bundesliga
2 and the third division. In addition,
German Supercup and
DFB-Pokal
Aside from the Bundesliga, the DFL
also runs the German Supercup, a
competition that is played out in a
single match between the reigning
Bundesliga champions and the cup
holders before the start of each season. In the event of a team winning
the “double”, i.e. both the league title
and the national cup in a single season, the Bundesliga champions take
on the runners-up of the respective
Bundesliga season. The DFB organises the national cup competition, the
DFB-Pokal, where matches between
Bundesliga/Bundesliga 2 sides and
clubs from lower divisions are drawn
by lot. Sixty-four teams, including
all 36 clubs of the Bundesliga and
Bundesliga 2, plus 28 amateur clubs
participate in the DFB-Pokal, which
employs a knockout format.
5
BUNDESLIGA TROPHIES
The Bundesliga, Bundesliga 2 and
the German Supercup all have their
own, prestigious trophies.
Meisterschale
The Meisterschale is the most significant symbol of competition in
Germany’s top flight. It represents
success, ambition and the highest
level of football performance. Every
footballer in Germany aspires to lifting the legendary silver trophy.
The names of all the German football champions are engraved on
the shield. The insurance sum of
€50,000 covers the material value of
the trophy but it is impossible to put
a price on its symbolic value.
Bundesliga 2 Meisterschale
Championship
presentation
ceremony
The Meisterschale is handed to
the new champions in a festive
ceremony. If the title race is still
undecided on the final day of
the season, the original trophy
is sent to the stadium where
the league leaders are playing.
If another team win the title, a
provisional replica of the shield
is presented.
German Supercup
The German Supercup is contested before the season starts by the Bundesliga champions and the
DFB-Pokal winners. The trophy is 53
cm tall and weighs more than 6
kg. A silver ball is held up by
two symbolic arms, with
the silver one representing the Meisterschale
and the golden one the
DFB-Pokal.
Owing to the success story of the Meisterschale, the
DFL decided to introduce a separate shield for the
champions of Bundesliga 2. It has a design similar to
the Bundesliga model. The first club to lift the 8.5 kg
trophy was SC Freiburg in the 2008-09 season. The
Bundesliga 2 shield is 50 centimetres in diameter. It
is made of polished 925 sterling silver and features a
1.2 kg rock crystal in the centre of a heptagram.
6
In the centre of the Meisterschale there is the circular
inscription “DEUTSCHER FUSSBALLMEISTER” – the
ultimate goal for every German club.
The names of all German Champions are
engraved on the Meisterschale with the
first being VfB Leipzig in 1903.
The “Meisterschale”
Since 1981, five 71.98 carat
tourmaline cabochons with
golden frames were attached
to the Meisterschale.
As there was no space for further engravings of the German Champions’
names in 1981, the Meisterschale was expanded by an additional silver
ring. In 2009, another revision created space for future Bundesliga
Champions until 2027.
7
BUNDESLIGA HISTORY
The Bundesliga has delighted generations of domestic and international football fans since its
foundation in 1963. Each decade
had its own heroes and stories that
could fill bookshelves. Here is just a
short summary of some remarkable
moments in more than 50 years of
Bundesliga.
Eintracht Frankfurt. The decade is
often characterised as the golden
era, in view of the German national
team winning the 1974 World Cup in
Germany as well as the 1972 European championship.
Notable players: Paul Breitner,
Uli Hoeneß, Franz Beckenbauer,
Gerd Müller, Klaus Fischer, Günter
Netzer, Kevin Keegan, Jupp Heynckes, Allan Simonsen
The 60s –
The lively early years
The establishment of the new single
top league in place of several regional leagues had been a drawn-out
process, but one that had an enormous impact on the future. The first
Bundesliga matches kicked off on 24
August 1963. Borussia Dortmund’s
Friedhelm “Timo” Konietzka did not
waste any time as he scored the
opener for his team in the first minute
of the match against Werder Bremen.
1. FC Köln, with their inspirational
young playmaker Wolfgang Overath,
became the first ever Bundesliga
champions and entered the history
books. Until 1970, no club was able
to win the prestigious championship trophy for a second time. Most
spec tacularly, 1. FC Nürnberg were
relegated as reigning champions in
1968-69, a reversal of fortune that
has remained unique to this day. Uwe
Seeler who played for Hamburger
SV from 1953 to 1972 was the first
top-scorer of the new league. He is
an iconic figure, not only in Hamburg,
due to the humbleness and diligence
he showed off the pitch paired with
his genius and fair play on it.
Notable players: Wolfgang Overath, Uwe Seeler, Lothar Emmerich,
Petar Radenkovic, Franz Brungs,
Hans Schäfer, Rudolf “Rudi”
Brunnenmeier
8
Bundesliga
legend:
Kevin Keegan
The 70s –
The first golden era
The 70s were dominated by the
duel of Borussia Mönchengladbach
vs FC Bayern München. Borussia
Mönchengladbach’s team of stars
such as Günter Netzer, Jupp Heynckes, Berti Vogts and Allan Simonsen
were crowned Bundesliga champions
five times. The “Foals” delighted the
fans with their unpredictable attacking style. In the early 70s, Bayern
München, with German internationals Gerd Müller, Franz Beckenbauer,
Uli Hoeneß and Paul Breitner, laid the
foundation for their outstanding position in German football with three
consecutive titles in both the Bundesliga and the European Cup, the
precursor to the UEFA Champions
League. The Bundesliga also found
success internationally through
European titles for Hamburger SV,
Borussia Mönchengladbach (2) and
The 80s – Duel between
North and South
In the 1980s, Hamburger SV developed into the biggest competitor
of FC Bayern München by winning
the Meisterschale in two consecutive seasons, 1981-82 and 198283, - having already won the title in
1978-79. Head coach Ernst Happel
also guided the team to European
Cup in 1983 with the help of Horst
Hrubesch, a tall and powerful striker
who seemed unstoppable when it
came to converting a tremendous
number of Manfred Kaltz’s so-called
“banana-crosses”.
Bayern fought back with the next
“Meister” treble in seasons 1984-85
through 1986-87. Head of the team
was world player of the year (1990)
Lothar Matthäus, who played an
important role in Bayern’s success
after transferring from Borussia
Mönchengladbach to Bavaria in
1984. The 1989-99 season saw Norwegian Jörn Andersen score 18 goals
for Eintracht Frankfurt, he was the
first international player to become
the Bundesliga’s top scorer.
Notable players: Horst Hrubesch,
Felix Magath, Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, Lothar Matthäus, Andreas
Brehme, Rudi Völler, Cha Bum-Kun,
Jean-Marie Pfaff, Søren Lerby, Jörn
Andersen, Jürgen Klinsmann
The 90s – A reunited
(football) nation
In the early 90s, Bundesliga football
was transformed by a number of
factors. Most importantly, German
reunification led to the integration of
the former East German league system into the DFB structure. Dynamo
Dresden and Hansa Rostock qualified to participate in the Bundesliga,
which was enlarged to feature 20
instead of 18 teams in the 1991-92
season. The same year, Bundesliga
2 welcomed six clubs from former
Eastern Germany and was increased
to 24 teams. Growth in the television sector and the achievements
of the German national team (World
Champions 1990, runners-up at Euro
1992 and winners of Euro 1996) further increased the popularity of the
Bundesliga in Germany and beyond.
Smaller clubs such as SC Freiburg,
with their refreshing playing style,
enriched the competition.
Borussia Dortmund were crowned
German Champions in the 1994-95
and 1995-96 seasons and also
became the first German club to
win the UEFA Champions League in
1997 with manager Ottmar Hitzfeld
and key player Matthias Sammer.
Sammer, one of a number of great
Bundesliga players educated in
the former GDR, was voted European Player of the Year in 1996. In
1997-98, 1. FC Kaiserslautern were
responsible for an unforgettable
Bundesliga moment as they managed to become German Champions
straight after their promotion to
the top flight. Bayern München were
once again the team to beat, winning
the league four times.
Notable players: Matthias Sammer,
Ulf Kirsten, Lothar Matthäus, Andreas Möller, Jürgen Kohler, Anthony Yeboah, Carlos Dunga, Jorginho,
Krassimir Balakov
The 2000s –
Decade of surprises
The new millennium was influenced
by the founding of Die Liga Fußballverband e.V. (DFL), the body that is
today responsible for the operational side of the Bundesliga. Borussia
Dortmund, SV Werder Bremen, VfB
The Best of the Best
Goal machine Gerd Müller won the award for leading
goal-scorer seven times and still holds the league record with 40 goals in 1971-72.
International goal machine Peruvian Claudio Pizarro
is the most prolific foreign goal-scorer with a total of
176 goals, followed by Giovane Elber (Brazil, 133), Ailton (Brazil, 106) and Stéphane Chapuisat (Switzerland,
106).
Goalkeepers turned strikers Marvin Hitz (FC Augsburg) became only the third goalkeeper to score from
open play in the league’s history in 2014-15, after Jens
Lehmann (Schalke 04, 1997) and Frank Rost (Werder
Bremen, 2002).
Stuttgart and VfL Wolfsburg could
lift the Meisterschale once each in
the 2000s, while Bayern München
claimed the titles in the remaining
seasons and were also able to lift the
UEFA Champions League trophy in
2001.
A number of magnificent international goal-getters such as Marcio Amoroso, Giovane Elber, Grafite and Edin
Dzeko delighted the ever-growing
number of fans, in stadiums that were
newly-built or modernised for the
2006 World Cup. As the first international player in Bundesliga history
Bremen’s Ailton was voted “Footballer of the Year” in 2004. To complement the growing number of foreign
stars in the league, DFB, DFL and the
clubs introduced a new concept for
youth development. Top talents, educated in the new youth academies,
established a fresh attack-minded
playing style in the Bundesliga and
the German national team (see chapter “Youth Development”).
Notable players: Oliver Kahn, Michael Ballack, Miroslav Klose, Lukas
Podolski, Giovane Elber, Marcio Amoroso, Claudio Pizarro, Raúl
Longest goal: Moritz Stoppelkamp of SC Paderborn
found the net - and his way into the records - with a
strike from 82 metres.
Coaches with the silver touch: The late Udo Lattek was
the Bundesliga’s most successful manager, having won
eight championships, one more than Ottmar Hitzfeld.
Hennes Weisweiler lifted the trophy four times.
Biggest wins: Borussia Mönchengladbach beat Borussia Dortmund 12-0 in 1977-78. The biggest away win
was notched by Meidericher SV with a 9-0 at Tasmania
Berlin in 1965-66.
Quick fire Karim Bellarabi of Bayer 04 Leverkusen
scored the quickest goal in Bundesliga history when
he netted against Borussia Dortmund after only nine
seconds.
9
Season
German Champion
Season
German Champion
1963-1964
1. FC Köln
1989-1990
FC Bayern München
1964-1965
Werder Bremen
1990-1991
1. FC Kaiserslautern
1965-1966
TSV 1860 München
1991-1992
VfB Stuttgart
1966-1967
Eintracht Braunschweig
1992-1993
SV Werder Bremen
1967-1968
1. FC Nürnberg
1993-1994
FC Bayern München
1968-1969
FC Bayern München
1994-1995
Borussia Dortmund
1969-1970
Borussia Mönchengladbach
1995-1996
Borussia Dortmund
1970-1971
1996-1997
FC Bayern München
1971-1972
FC Bayern München
1997-1998
1. FC Kaiserslautern
1972-1973
FC Bayern München
1998-1999
FC Bayern München
1973-1974
FC Bayern München
1999-2000
FC Bayern München
1974-1975
2000-2001
FC Bayern München
1975-1976
2001-2002
Borussia Dortmund
1976-1977
2002-2003
FC Bayern München
1977-1978
1. FC Köln
2003-2004
Werder Bremen
1978-1979
Hamburger SV
2004-2005
FC Bayern München
1979-1980
FC Bayern München
2005-2006
FC Bayern München
1980-1981
FC Bayern München
2006-2007
VfB Stuttgart
1981-1982
Hamburger SV
2007-2008
FC Bayern München
1982-1983
Hamburger SV
2008-2009
VfL Wolfsburg
1983-1984
VfB Stuttgart
2009-2010
FC Bayern München
1984-1985
FC Bayern München
2010-2011
Borussia Dortmund
1985-1986
FC Bayern München
2011-2012
Borussia Dortmund
1986-1987
FC Bayern München
2012-2013
FC Bayern München
1987-1988
SV Werder Bremen
2013-2014
FC Bayern München
1988-1989
FC Bayern München
2014-2015
FC Bayern München
10
BUNDESLIGA CHAMPIONS 2015
DFL / THE LEAGUE ASSOCIATION
Professional structures for a professional league
Professional football must be organised professionally. That is why
in 2000, the 36 clubs of the Bundesliga and Bundesliga 2 founded the
League Association, with the entire
organisation of both professional
leagues being undertaken by its
executive arm, the DFL Deutsche
Fußball Liga. The League Association, in which all 36 clubs have equal
voting rights, is managed by a currently eight-strong executive board
chaired by its president, Dr Reinhard
Rauball, and two vice presidents. The
League Association is also a member
of the German Football Association
(DFB) and closely cooperates with
Germany’s football governing body.
On behalf of the League Association, the DFL Deutsche Fußball Liga
manages the operational side of the
Dr Reinhard Rauball
Bundesliga and Bundesliga 2 and is
primarily in charge of organising and
marketing professional football in
Germany. Christian Seifert has been
at the helm of the DFL and CEO of
the DFL Executive Board since 2005.
The DFL’s main tasks include setting
up and staging all 612 fixtures of
the season in the Bundesliga and
Bundesliga 2, as well as organising
the Supercup and all relegation/promotion play-off matches. The licensing of the 36 clubs is a central part of
Christian Seifert
the DFL’s responsibilities. Only clubs
that have been awarded a licence are
permitted to play in the Bundesliga
or Bundesliga 2. The DFL examines
the ability of all 36 clubs to fulfil
the requirements for professional
football in sporting, administrative,
infrastructure, media and, in par ticular, financial terms. The Bundesliga
licensing system is considered to be
the most stringent and exemplary in
Europe. As a prerequisite for an exciting competition, it has also played
a decisive role in ensuring that no
club has been forced into administration in 52 years of Bundesliga history.
The DFL’s core business includes the
centralised marketing of national
media rights held by the Bundesliga.
Since its foundation, the DFL has
succeeded in achieving a six-fold
increase in that field. The current
contract ensures that an average
total of €628 million is split between
all League Association members in
seasons 2013-14 through to 201617. That constitutes an almost 50 per
cent increase compared to the previous licensing period.
The DFL also continues to promote
the development of the Bundesliga
brand. Today, the Bundesliga is one
of Germany’s best known brands.
Surveys indicate it is recognised by
98 per cent of Germans.
12
DFL SPORTS ENTERPRISES
International TV rights sales; marketing, licensing and digital media
Founded in 2008, the wholly-owned
subsidiary DFL Sports Enterprises,
based in Frankfurt, is responsible
for the international and domestic
marketing of the Bundesliga through
its two business units of Audiovisual
Rights and Sponsoring, Licensing and
Digital Media.
multi-media networks (Fox International Channels, Eurosport and
beIN SPORTS among others) that
ensure visibility on all five continents.
Further media presence comes
courtesy of onboard entertainment
on flights and cruise ships, via the
International Bundesliga Radio and
multi-territorial highlights and news
access packages.
The Audiovisual Rights division manages the sale of media rights for all
612 fixtures of the Bundesliga and
Bundesliga 2, as well as the relegation/promotion matches and the
Supercup on all platforms, including
TV, the internet and mobile devices.
The company’s Sponsoring, Licensing
and Digital Media unit enables media
and commercial partners to target
millions of Bundesliga fans at home
and abroad in specific, authentic and
emotive ways. The focus is firmly on
the specific objectives of each particular partner.
Audiovisual Rights oversees the
Bundesliga TV rights sales in 209
FIFA member states, through licensing agreements with leading global
The unit’s remit includes the marketing of league-wide sponsorships,
such as a league-wide shirt-sleeve
badge and graphic inserts in
broadcasts, as well as the leaguewide allocation of licensing rights
that allows partners to use the
Bundesliga’s logo and championship
trophy imagery. Increasingly, Digital
Media (see pages 14-15) has become
an important additional avenue to
connect legions of Bundesliga fans
worldwide with their favourite clubs
and stars and support broadcasting
partners.
With its own Asia-Pacific branch, DFL
Sports Enterprises strives to further
promote the Bundesliga’s successful
international market strategy. The
Bundesliga became the first European top league to open a dedicated
office in Singapore in 2012.
DFL Audiovisual Rights – National /
International Product Management and Anti-Piracy
The DFL Directorate Audiovisual
Rights bears the overall responsibility for the audio-visual Bundesliga media product, the cornerstone
of the DFL Sports Enterprises’
marketing activities. One if its top
priorities is product management,
encompassing the development of
the content and the technology of
the product, as well as the initiation
and quality control of the various
audio-visual productions.
The department also coordinates
the domestic rights tender, the
production of the base signal, onsite accreditation for TV crews
and the league’s extensive rights
protection/anti-piracy measures,
by taking action against illegal live
streams and the posting of unauthorised clips on social media.
International TV Product
Portfolio
All 306 Bundesliga matches, as
well as the relegation play-offs
and the German Supercup, are
produced as fully international
HD live programmes with English
commentary and international live
match graphics. There are also
two Bundesliga preview formats
(Bundesliga Weekly and Pre-Match
Update), two Bundesliga Highlights
Shows per matchday and Digital
Highlights Clips. In addition, the
International Product Portfolio is
supplemented by various additional formats such as Promotion Trailers and Special Shows offering
unique insights into the Bundesliga
beyond live games and Bundesliga
club guides.
Furthermore, DFL Audiovisual
Rights handles the product-related
customer service for Bundesliga’s
broadcast partners, including supplementary matchday information
(“commentator packs”) and the
Bundesliga Media Kit.
13
ENGLISH
BUNDESLIGA.COM/EN
JAPANESE
BUNDESLIGA.COM/JP
DFL DIGITAL SPORTS
A service for fans around the world
Millions of people tune in to watch the
action of Germany’s top league every
week. To satisfy this ever-growing
interest in the Bundesliga, the DFL
has been rapidly expanding its digital
presence via its subsidiary, DFL Digital Sports. 50 employees and many
freelance contributors are based at
the Cologne office, set up in 2012, to
produce digital content and distribute it across multiple platforms. DFL
Digital Sports is divided into three
departments: Content, Technology
and Visual Design.
The starting point for news, indepth previews, match reports
and exclusive interviews with German and international stars is the
14
English-language site Bundesliga.
com. Up to one million unique visitors
per month benefit from the 24-hour
and 360-degree coverage of Germany’s top league. The site includes statistics, video clips, infographics and
high resolution picture galleries that
cater to a diverse audience. During
the season, Bundesliga.com provides
around 6h of video-content a week
to fans around the world. Innovative
applications such as minute-by-minute reports and links to broadcasters
showing the games on television are
also on offer. Members of the media
and broadcasters also enjoy access
to a separate section with preview
kits, match-day reports and details,
as well as official DFL publications
and points of contact. Additionally
the Bundesliga offers their partners
a vast product portfolio containing
Digital Highlight-Clips, Bundesliga
Weekly, Highlight Shows and much
more.
selected friendly matches in early
2014 have underlined the sheer endless possibilities afforded by digital
distribution.
In addition to the English-language
site, there are dedicated Bundesliga websites for different markets
in their respective languages (for
example Japan) produced by native
speakers who focus on the provision
of specific content for these target
markets.
On Instagram, Bundesliga_en posts
spectacular photos from matches,
infographics and information about
top players. The English-language
channel is geared towards providing mobile device users with quick,
insightful updates on matchdays.
The Bundesliga also talks in 140
characters to its fans. Three Twitter
feeds - @Bundesliga_de (more than
one million followers and growing), @
Bundesliga_EN (already half a million
followers) und @BL_Live_EN - deliver interesting bite-sized facts and
exclusive photos. The editorial team
tweet in English and German 365
days a year to bring followers closer
to the action in the players’ tunnel,
the media production areas or at the
press conference. Since the start of
last season, content has also been
specifically pushed out to various
Asian social media platforms.
Even mobile international fans are
catered for. Information, live-scores
and videos are made available as
soon as possible with the dedicated
Bundesliga App.
To link up with fans all over the world,
the Bundesliga utilizes and runs
other digital platforms as well. It
has, for example, its own dedicated
Bundesliga channel on YouTube.
The hugely popular youtube.com/
Bundesliga went live in autumn 2013
and has generated up to 4,500,000
views for a single clip by well over
650,000 of its subscribers. 20 videos that range from archive footage
to the lighter-hearted moments in
the league are uploaded each week.
The majority comes with English
voice-over but the editorial team also
produce content in other languages
for specific clips. Live streams of
Visual Design is responsible for the
concept and implementation of the
clubs’ media days. Before the start of
the season, extensive video and photographic content is produced at all
18 Bundesliga teams, for the distribution to national and international
TV partners, licensees and the clubs
themselves. The Bundesliga is the
only league worldwide to produce its
own, centralized and uniform photo
and video content in such scope.
BUNDESLIGA OFFICIAL APP
available on iOS and Android
DFL Directorate Interactive Media
The DFL Directorate Interactive
Media is the strategic lead for the
Bundesliga’s digital presences such
as Bundesliga.com, twitter, Instagram and the Bundesliga’s dedicated YouTube channel. It drives the
development of audiences on these
channels and defines the Bundesliga’s approach to potential new
platforms in today’s ever-changing
digital landscape.
DFL Interactive Media is also the
point of contact for all broadcasters looking to extend the Bundesliga brand experience in the digital
realm, online or on mobile devices.
Its aim is to help media partners
build audiences online and mobile,
with a focus on turning Bundesliga
fans into viewers and subscribers
of their channels. This is achieved
through the creation of digital
products and content packages
for social media, as well as the development of co-promotional campaigns and new business models
for partners.
15
SPORTCAST
Top-quality TV production
Founded in 2006, the TV media service provider Sportcast GmbH, led by
CEO Jupp Nehl and COO Alexander
Günther, is another wholly-owned
subsidiary of the DFL that produces
the basic TV feed for all matches of
the Bundesliga and Bundesliga 2,
for the national and international TV
licensees. Sportcast also produces
the relegation play-offs and the
Supercup, as well as all fixtures of
the DFB-Pokal since 2008. Sportcast ensures that the Bundesliga can
be seen anywhere in the world. The
production of 440 hours of international programming per season
makes for over ten hours of footage
per matchday. Nine matches per
matchday are produced in HD as
high-quality programmes with English commentary and international
16
graphics distributed live via satellite.
Match days are also summarised in
the highlight shows and in magazine
programmes specifically produced
for international partners.
Sportcast coordinates the contribution and international distribution of
the basic TV feed in over 200 countries. With the use of a proprietary
customer service tool, international
TV licensees can easily go online and
book the matches and programme
formats they are interested in. Satellite data for distribution as well as upto-date information on the matchday
are also provided.
The central role of the tool is reflected by the figures: each matchday
around 400 feed bookings are made
and around 2,700 system mails
are sent. Both international and
national broadcasters benefit from
a high-quality basic TV feed, which
meets the highest demands with different camera standards and the use
of state-of-the-art technology.
On top of all that, Sportcast manage
the Deutsche Fußball Archiv, the
biggest digital football archive in the
world. It documents the entire history of German football in the form of
moving images in the best possible
quality for future generations. The
facility consists of a media library
and data library - where data is
saved, maintained and made available to all media partners, licensees
and clubs - and a quality centre to
provide live quality checks and centralised support for data users and
service providers.
BUNDESLIGA FOUNDATION
The Bundesliga Foundation, set up
by the League Association and the
DFL Deutsche Fußball Liga in 2008,
is a charitable organisation tasked
with complementing the professional
clubs’ and players’ deep commitment
to social responsibility, through the
championing of selected partners
and projects. Under its guiding principle of ‘creating opportunities’, the
Bundesliga Foundation has initiated,
financed and supported more than
170 different schemes, investing
more than €9 million over the last
six years, in addition to the approximately €15 million invested by the
36 top clubs each year. One of the
leading charities in sport, the organisation focuses on four areas of
development: children, people with
disabilities, integration and athletes
in sports other than football. The
game’s popularity and reach in Germany is utilised to help those in need
and provide active support for social
programmes promoting integration
and the prevention of violence.
Whether it was helping kids with
homework, improving the living conditions in the favelas or supporting a
rubbish collection initiative, the work
was not designed to merely deliver
instant results but to leave lasting
legacies.
Key projects of the Foundation’s
work, the so-called ‘lighthouse projects’, focus on one or two themes.
The Bundesliga travel guide, for example, provides disabled people with
information on easy access to stadiums. The ‘Football meets Culture’
scheme has allowed football and education to be combined on the playing
field and the ‘Classroom Stadium’
project aims at the addition of integration to school curricula. Youths
and club supporter groups also come
together regularly to engage in political discussion. Tens of thousands of
people are directly affected by the
work of the Bundesliga Foundation
each year.
disciplines in their effort to become
the world’s best, through its partnership with the youth elite development programme of Deutsche Sporthilfe (German Sports Foundation).
The Bundesliga Foundation’s team,
comprising members of the board
as well as officials from the League’s
headquarters, are supported by
high-ranking, well-known figures
from politics, sport and public life.
The intertwining of financial, media-based and human development
of charitable causes around the
globe ensures that the ethics of the
foundation’s work - taking responsibility, creating opportunities and
promoting solidarity - are always
adhered to. They also act as a guarantee for the immense amount of good
that Germany’ professional game can
do for society.
In the world of sport beyond football,
The recent World Cup saw the
the foundation supports around
Bundesliga Foundation widen the
160 young athletes from various
scope of its activities to
include various projects
in Brazil. It wasn’t just the
German national team
that left their mark on the
Responsibility. Solidarity. Opportunities.
country - German football
as a whole sent a clear mesIntegration
Children
Disability
sage that underlined its
commitment to social improvement through charitPromotion of
Provision of access
Promotion of
universal values with
to active and passive
activities geared
able endeavours. As many
a focus on healthy
sporting experiences
towards creating
as fifteen projects enjoyed
living and exercise
equal opportunities
the support of the Bundesin our society
liga Foundation, the German Football Association
and the national team that
summer, in cooperation
with the children’s charity
Kindermissionswerk.
Athlets from
other sports
Support of athletes
at Olympic elite level
17
THE CLUBS 2015-16
FC Augsburg _________________________________________________________________________________ 20
Hertha Berlin ________________________________________________________________________________ 22
SV Werder Bremen ____________________________________________________________________ 24
SV Darmstadt 98 ______________________________________________________________________ 26
Borussia Dortmund ___________________________________________________________________ 28
Eintracht Frankfurt ___________________________________________________________________ 30
Hamburger SV _____________________________________________________________________________ 32
Hannover 96 ________________________________________________________________________________ 34
TSG 1899 Hoffenheim ____________________________________________________________ 36
FC Ingolstadt 04 _________________________________________________________________________ 38
1. FC Köln _______________________________________________________________________________________ 40
Bayer 04 Leverkusen ________________________________________________________________ 42
1. FSV Mainz 05 __________________________________________________________________________ 44
Borussia Mönchengladbach ___________________________________________________ 46
FC Bayern München __________________________________________________________________ 48
FC Schalke 04 ______________________________________________________________________________ 50
VfB Stuttgart ______________________________________________________________________________ 52
VfL Wolfsburg _____________________________________________________________________________ 54
18
Hamburg
Bremen
Hannover
Gelsenkirchen
Berlin
Wolfsburg
Dortmund
Leverkusen
Mönchengladbach
Köln
Frankfurt
Mainz
Darmstadt
Sinsheim
Stuttgart
Ingolstadt
Augsburg
München
19
FC Augsburg
Club portrait
FC Augsburg, founded in 1907,
first became famous for their successful development of German
internationals Helmut Haller and
Bernd Schuster. Their subsequent
ascent from the lower divisions to
the German football elite began in
the early 2000s. After reaching the
Bundesliga 2 in 2006, the club finally
gained promotion to the Bundesliga
in 2011.
Playing in a brand new stadium, the
SGL-Arena, FC Augsburg have since
been a fresh breath of air in the
Bundesliga with their dynamic and
well-organised style of play and formidable results. A hugely impressive
fifth place finish at the end of the
2014-15 season under coach Markus
Weinzierl has seen the team from
southern Germany qualify for the Europa League for the very first time.
Instead of a club pennant, opponents
are presented with a puppet from the
world-famous Augsburger Puppenkiste, a puppet theatre.
Player in focus
It is quite an achievement to play
over 300 games in any top European
league, and Halil Altintop is one of
those elite professionals to have
done so. Away at Bayern München
last May, where his twin brother
Hamit used to play, Altintop made his
300th appearance in the Bundesliga.
What’s more, Augsburg went on to
win the match at the Allianz Arena
against their illustrious Bavarian
neighbours. Their debut win in Munich was just one part of a historic
campaign, however. Altintop’s contribution in getting his team into Europe
was very important.
Having played in the Bundesliga
with 1. FC Kaiserslautern, Schalke
04 and Eintracht Frankfurt, the
German-born Turkish international
moved to Augsburg from Trabzonspor in 2013. Altintop has since given
Augsburg some valuable poise in the
final third. Perhaps most memorably,
he netted an impudent chip in his first
season against Eintracht Braunschweig. Even though it was ten years
since his breakthrough campaign
with Kaiserslautern, Altintop showed
in that moment alone that he had not
lost his flair.
20
Club
Facts and Figures
Address
Chief Executive Officer
Titles/Club Successes
FC Augsburg 1907
GmbH & Co. KGaA
Donauwörther Straße 170
D-86154 Augsburg
W fcaugsburg.de
@fcaugsburg
facebook.com/FCAugsburg
instagram.com/fcaugsburg1907
youtube.com/FcAugsburg
google.com/+FCAugsburg
Klaus Hofmann
Promotion to Bundesliga in 2011
Members
Bundesliga affiliation (since 1963)
5 years
13,000
Fan Clubs
76
Highest win (H) Bundesliga
4-1 vs Eintracht Braunschweig
(14/12/2013)
Worst defeat (A) Bundesliga
0-4 vs Borussia Dortmund
(01/10/2011)
City
Impressions
First mentioned
Augsburg’s origins lie in Roman
times. It was an Imperial Free City in
the Holy Roman Empire for over 500
years. Today, it is the third-largest
city of the free state of Bavaria, with
a population of 284,000, and located
between southern Germany’s biggest towns: Stuttgart to the west
and Munich to the East.
15 BC
Things to know and see
Augsburg is also called the Fuggerstadt, after the Fugger family, patrician bankers who were Europe’s
most influential lenders in the 16th
century. The Fuggerei, a social housing complex from the same era, is the
oldest of its kind still in use today.
Stadium
Name
SGL arena
Capacity
30,660
Built
2009
Address for sat nav
Bürgermeister-Ulrich-Straße 90
86199 Augsburg
21
Hertha Berlin
Club portrait
As the biggest club of Germany’s
capital, Hertha Berlin has a long tradition in German football. Crowned
as German Champions in 1930 and
1931, the founding members of the
Bundesliga later became a considerable force in the top flight.
Since the foundation of the Bundesliga, ‘Old Lady’ Hertha enjoyed her
biggest success in the 1970s, finishing second in 1975 and progressing
all the way to the semi-finals of the
UEFA Cup in 1979. After several
years of playing in the lower divisions,
the 1990s rang in another successful
spell in the club’s history. Hertha BSC
not only reached the DFB-Pokal final
in 1993 - with their second team
- but they were successfully promoted to the Bundesliga in the 1996-97
season once again. The club gained
further attention internationally with
the qualification for the Champions
League in the 1999-2000 season.
Following their latest promotion
from Bundesliga 2 to Bundesliga in
2013, the club have been providing
more than 74,000 spectators with
the opportunity to watch excellent
Bundesliga football in the Olympic
stadium, Germany’s second-biggest
arena, once more.
Player in focus
As a UEFA Champions League winner with Chelsea FC in 2012, striker
Salomon Kalou is one of the biggest
names to wear the striped Hertha
Berlin shirt in recent years. The
29-year-old has found further international success since his move to
the German capital in the summer of
2014 from Ligue 1 side LOSC Lille,
albeit with his national team, the socalled ‘Elephants’. Kalou helped Ivory
Coast lift the Africa Cup of Nations
after a tense 9-8 penalty shoot-out
in the final against Ghana in Equatorial Guinea this February to add to
his burgeoning collection of winner’s
medals.
While his first campaign in the
Bundesliga could have gone better, as
he himself has admitted, six goals in
27 games hinted at his ability to find
the net at any given moment during
a game. Now that he’s become used
to Hertha’s playing style under coach
Pal Dardai, and the different pace in
the league compared to the Premier
League, France and the Netherlands,
where he started his European career at Feyenoord in Rotterdam, Kalou is well placed to leave his mark on
the German top division as well.
22
Club
Facts and Figures
Address
Managing Board
Hertha BSC GmbH & Co. KGaA
Hanns-Braun-Straße/Friesenhaus 2
D-14053 Berlin
W herthabsc.de
@HerthaBSC
facebook.com/herthabsc
instagram.com/herthabsc
google.com/+herthabsc
Michael Preetz, Ingo Schiller
German Champion (2)
1930, 1931
German Cup Finalist (2)
1977, 1979
German League Cup Winner (2)
2001, 2002
Members
32,600
Fan Clubs
338
33 years
(18/04/1970)
Worst defeat (H) Bundesliga
0-6 vs Hamburger SV (05/04/1980)
City
Impressions
Founded
Germany’s capital since reunification
in 1990 is home to 3.5 million people,
the nation’s biggest city and a federal
state of its own. Berlin, in north-eastern Germany, was first mentioned in
the thirteenth century and rapidly
developed into a European metropolis that is today one of the most
visited cities in the world.
1244
Berlin is a hot spot for electronic
music but also oozes history. Remnants of the wall that divided the city
into an eastern part under socialist
control and liberal West Berlin from
1961 until the fall of communism in
1989 are but one of countless tourist attractions.
Stadium
Name
Olympiastadion Berlin
Capacity
74,475
Built
1934 – 1936
Address for sat nav
Olympischer Platz 3
14053 Berlin
23
SV Werder Bremen
Club portrait
SV Werder Bremen, named after a river island where the club was founded,
is one of the most successful teams in
Bundesliga history. They are second
in the all-time Bundesliga table, only
behind FC Bayern München. As one of
the Bundesliga’s founding members,
SV Werder Bremen have been serious
contenders in German football going
back many years. The northerners
won the Bundesliga championship
in 1965, and in the mid-1980s and
early 90s, former coach Otto Rehhagel brought plenty of silverware
to the club. Bundesliga titles in 1988
and 1993, as well as the back-toback DFB-Pokal triumphs in 1991
and 1992 underlined their domestic
prowess, and in addition, the triumph
in the European Cup Winners’ Cup
in 1992 marked an extraordinary
achievement in the club’s history.
Former manager Thomas Schaaf,
who spent 14 years at the helm in
the city on the North Sea coast,
shaped another era by creating a
team that became famous for its
attractive style of play and won the
‘double’ in 2004 . In more recent
years, Werder enjoyed a successful
run to the 2009 UEFA Cup final with
stars such as Mesut Özil, Per Mertesacker, Diego and Claudio Pizarro.
Werder’s Weserstadion is situated
next to the river of the same name
and a ship’s horn is blown every time
a goal is scored.
Player in focus
In the last decade, Werder Bremen
have been home to some of the
Bundesliga’s finest playmakers,
including stars such as Johan Micoud, Diego and Mesut Özil. Zlatko
Junuzovic is a man following in that
tradition. The Austrian attacking
midfielder has become noticeable for
his creativity at the Weser-Stadion,
and in par ticular for his set-piece
ability.
Last season was his finest to date.
Only Leverkusen’s Hakan Calhanoglu
netted more often from free kicks
than Junuzovic’s total of five. The
Austrian international, who moved
from Austria Vienna in January 2012,
also set up 19 goals for Werder Bremen with his dead-ball deliveries.
No player has managed to be that
influential from free-kicks and corners in the Bundesliga in 20 years.
Last February, Junuzovic committed
himself to the club for another three
years. Don’t be surprised, then, if in
the coming seasons the sight of Junuzovic standing over a motionless
ball is followed by cries of joy from
those supporting the Green and
Whites.
24
Club
Address
SV Werder Bremen
GmbH & Co. KG aA
Franz-Böhmert-Straße 1c
D-28205 Bremen
W werder.de
@werderbremen ;
@werderbremenEN;
@werderservice
facebook.com/werderbremen;
facebook.com/werderbremenEN;
facebook.com/werderbremen.
espanol
instagram.com/werderbremen
google.com/+werderbremen
youtube.com/werderbremen
Facts and Figures
weibo.com/
WerderBremenOfficial
e.t.qq.com/werderbremen
Klaus Filbry
Members
more than 36,500
Fan Clubs
693
German Champion (4)
1965, 1988, 1993, 2004
German Cup Winner (6)
1961, 1991, 1994, 1999, 2004,
2009
German Supercup Winner (4)
1988, 1993, 1994, 2009
European Cup Winners’ Cup Winner
(1)
1992
German Amateur Champion (3)
1966, 1985, 1991
2006
52 years
City
Impressions
Founded
Bremen and Bremerhaven, 60 km
up the river Weser in the north-west
corner of the country, are both part
of the Free Hanseatic City of Bremen,
the smallest of the 16 federal states.
Bremen (population 550,000) is the
tenth-largest city in Germany.
845
The most famous sight is the statue
of the ‘Town Musicians’, depicting
fairytale animals. Bremen Roland and
the town hall are listed as UNESCO
World Heritage Sites.
8-1 vs Arminia Bielefeld
(29/09/2007)
2-9 vs Eintracht Frankfurt
(14/11/1981)
Stadium
Name
Weser-Stadion
Capacity
42,100
Built
1909
Address for sat nav
Franz-Böhmert-Str. 1c
28205 Bremen
25
SV Darmstadt 98
Club portrait
SV Darmstadt 98 were very nearly
relegated to the fourth division in
2012-13. Two miraculous consecutive promotions under head coach
Dirk Schuster later, however, the
‘Lilies’, who make do with a very small
budget for players, are back in the
Bundesliga for the first time in 33
years.
Their two previous stints at the
highest level, in 1978-79 and 198182, ended in relegation, and the
arguably most famous player in their
history, South Korean striker Cha
Bum-Kun, who later found success
at nearby Eintracht Frankfurt, left
after only one game. But that did not
stop Darmstadt, based in the region
of Hesse, being one of the area’s
best-loved clubs. Their atmospheric
Merck-Stadion am Böllenfalltor will
be heaving with excitement during
every home game, as the whole city
will cherish taking on the nation’s biggest sides.
Player in focus
Having spent the majority of his career in the lower leagues, Aytac Sulu
will get his chance in the Bundesliga
this season. He only joined Darmstadt in January 2013, but by the
start of the following campaign Sulu
was made club captain. Despite an
improvement in form after his arrival,
Darmstadt were initially relegated
from the third division in May 2013.
However, a late reprieve saw them
retain their place in the league.
Since then, the Lilies have gone on
to achieve back-to-back promotions,
driven on by the rugged determination of their centre-back. Playing
through the pain of injury has led to
him wearing a face mask for games
on occasions. That earned him the
nickname of ‘Teletubby’ among
some of his teammates but
don’t be fooled - the defender
of Turkish-German heritage has
developed a reputation for being an
uncompromising defender, willing to
give everything for his team’s cause.
It’s little wonder, then, that he’ll be
the man who leads out Darmstadt for
their first Bundesliga season in 33
years.
26
Club
Facts and Figures
Address
President
SV Darmstadt 1898 e.V.
Nieder-Ramstädter Str. 170
D-64285 Darmstadt
W sv98.de
@sv98
facebook.com/
SVDarmstadt1898eV
instagram.com/
svdarmstadt1898
Rüdiger Fritsch
Promotion to Bundesliga
1978, 1981, 2015
Members
6,000
Fan Clubs
30
Promotion to Bundesliga 2
1974, 2014
3 years
Highest win (H) Bundesliga 2
8-0 vs FSV Salmrohr
(30/05/1987)
1-7 vs VfB Stuttgart
(09/06/1979)
City
Impressions
Founded
Darmstadt is located in the state of
Hesse, 30 km south of Frankfurt,
and has a population of 150,000. It
was awarded the title of ‘City of Science’ in 1997, in recognition of the
high number of research institutes
and schools of higher education. A
chemical element, darmstadtium
(110), was named after the city of its
discovery.
1330
Darmstadt was one of the German
centres of Art Nouveau architecture
in the early 20th century. Mathildenhöhe, a rose garden, and nearby
Rosenhöhe, with its iconic ‘Wedding
Tower’, are regarded as two of the
best preserved examples of the
style.
Stadium
Name
Merck-Stadion am Böllenfalltor
Capacity
16,150
Built
1921
Address for sat nav
Nieder-Ramstädter Straße 170
64285 Darmstadt
27
Borussia Dortmund
Club portrait
Borussia Dortmund is one of the
most popular clubs in Germany and
well-known internationally for the
SIGNAL IDUNA PARK, where just
over 80,000 fans, and in par ticular
those standing in Europe’s largest
terrace called the ‘Yellow Wall’,
create an incredible atmosphere at
every home game, come rain or shine.
No other football club attracts as
many fans on average each week.
As one of the founding members of
the Bundesliga, Borussia Dortmund
experienced fluctuating fortunes,
but enjoyed truly glorious spells in
the 1960s and mid-90s, when several domestic and international titles
such as the UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup
in 1966 and the UEFA Champions
League trophy in 1997 were brought
home.
Under former manager Jürgen
Klopp, Dortmund once became a
powerhouse on the national and
international scene, winning backto-back Bundesliga titles in 2011
and 2012, along with the DFB-Pokal
in 2012. The Black and Yellows also
finished as runners-up in the 2013
UEFA Champions League after an
enthralling campaign that won them
many new followers at home and
abroad. This season will see new
head coach Thomas Tuchel trying to
advance the successful formula.
Player in focus
Playing for Borussia Dortmund is a
source of immense pride for Marco
Reus. In the face of much interest
from abroad, Reus signed a new
deal with Dortmund last February
to ensure he’ll stay at the club until
2019. Earlier in his career, though,
the elegant winger was released
by his boyhood club as a youngster.
That didn’t deter him, however. He
went away to Rot-Weiss Ahlen in
the third division before earning a
move to the top flight with Borussia
Mönchengladbach.
His immense close control and clinical finishing came to the fore as he
helped to prevent Gladbach from
going down. That was followed by
a top-four finish in the very next
season, in 2011-2012. Dortmund
came calling and Reus jumped at the
chance to go home. In his first season
back, the club reached the Champions
League final, where they narrowly
lost out to Bayern. Reus was desperately unlucky to pick up a late injury
that denied him a place in Germany’s
World Cup-winning squad in Brazil,
but given his exceptional talent,
major honours are surely just around
the corner for this attacking star.
28
Club
Address
Borussia Dortmund
GmbH & Co. KGaA
Rheinlanddamm 207–209
D-44137 Dortmund
W bvb.de
@bvb
facebook.com/BVB
instagram.com/bvb09
youtube.com/bvb
google.com/+BorussiaDortmund
weibo.com/
BVBorussiaDortmund09
e.t.qq.com/BVB
vine.co/u/920808898703798272
Facts and Figures
soundcloud.com/
borussiadortmund
Hans-Joachim Watzke
Members
122,500
Fan Clubs
700
German Champion (8)
1956, 1957, 1963, 1995, 1996,
2002, 2011, 2012
1965, 1989, 2012
1989, 1995, 1996, 2013, 2014
UEFA Champions League Winner
(1)
1997
(1)
1966
Intercontinental Cup Winner (1)
1997
49 years
City
Impressions
Founded
Dortmund, population 576,000, was
first officially mentioned in 880.
Known as the ‘Green Metropolis’ due
to its many green spaces, it is the
largest city in North-Rhine Westphalia, Germany’s most populous state,
and situated near the Ruhr river in
the west of the country.
880
There are six universities with over
40,000 students. The newly built
German Football Museum (near the
central station) will open its doors for
the first time in October.
11-1 vs Arminia Bielefeld
(06/11/1982)
0-12 vs Borussia Mönchengladbach
(29/04/1978)
Stadium
Name
SIGNAL IDUNA PARK
Capacity
81,359
Built
1974
Address for sat nav
Strobelallee 50
44137 Dortmund
29
Eintracht Frankfurt
Club portrait
Established in 1899, Eintracht Frankfurt are one of Germany’s best-supported and most storied clubs. The
so-called ‘Eagles’ - whose live mascot
‘Attila’ takes flight before kick-off at
home games at the Commerzbank
Arena - were founding members of
the Bundesliga, champions in 1959,
and mainstays in the top flight until
1996.
Their greatest achievements are
four DFB-Pokal titles (1974, 1975,
1981,1988), one UEFA Cup triumph
in 1980 and the appearance in the
1960 European Cup final, one of best
games in football history. Eintracht
Frankfurt’s colourful Bundesliga history has seen several stars such as
‘Charly’ Körbel, the Bundesliga record
player with 602 appearances, Bernd
Hölzenbein (160 goals from 1967
to 1981), the Korean international
Cha Bum-Kun and striker Anthony
Yeboah from Ghana wearing the famous black, white and red shirt.
After relegation in 2011, the club returned to the Bundesliga in 2012 and
immediately qualified for the UEFA
Europa League. 12,000 fans accompanied them to a group game in
France against Girondins Bordeaux in
November 2013 to set a new record
for away support in the competition.
Player in focus
Football supporters don’t always hail
one of their favourites a ‘football god’
with an entirely straight face. But in
the case of Alexander Meier, those
who loudly pronounce him a deity
at every Eintracht Frankfurt home
game truly mean it. The 32-year-old
inspires unbridled adulation like
very few of his fellow pros in the
Bundesliga.
Meier, who will contest his 13th consecutive campaign for the ‘Eagles’
this coming season, isn’t just loved
for his loyalty and longevity at the
highest level, however. The tall forward consistently delights Frankfurt
supporters - and quite a high number
of neutrals - with his instinctive finishing skills and very fine shooting
technique. He had already notched
up a total of 82 strikes ahead of
last season, which saw him crowned
top goal-scorer of the league with
19 goals, ahead of such luminaries
as FC Bayern München’s Robert
Lewandowski. The award was won
despite him missing the tail end of
the season with injury. And with it,
some long-overdue recognition for
his extraordinary performance has
come at last as well.
30
Club
Facts and Figures
Address
Eintracht Frankfurt Fußball AG
Mörfelder Landstraße 362
D-60528 Frankfurt/Main
W eintracht.de
eintracht.tv
@eintracht_news
facebook.com/eintracht
youtube.com/EintrachtMedia
google.com/+eintracht
vine.co/Eintracht_News
Heribert Bruchhagen
German Champion (1)
1959
1974, 1975, 1981, 1988
UEFA Cup Winner (1)
1980
Members
30,000
Fan Clubs
700
47 years
9-1 vs Rot-Weiss Essen
(05/10/1974)
0-7 vs 1. FC Köln (29/10/1983)
City
Impressions
Founded
Dynamic and international Frankfurt,
the home of the European Central
Bank and the financial centre of
Europe, is situated on the Main
river in the state of Hesse in central
Germany. Its population numbers
714,000, and it was first settled
in Roman times. Owing to its many
skyscrapers, Frankfurt’s nickname is
‘Mainhattan’.
794
The first democratically elected parliament in Germany met in St. Paul’s
Church following the revolution of
1848. Classical writer and statesman Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
is the town’s most famous son. The
local delicacy is ‘Ebbelwoi’ - cider.
Stadium
Name
Commerzbank-Arena
Capacity
51,500
Built
2005
Address for sat nav
Mörfelder Landstrasse 362
60528 Frankfurt
31
Hamburger SV
Club portrait
Hamburger SV are rightly considered
an institution in German football,
oozing tradition and popular appeal.
The so-called ‘Rothosen’ (red shorts)
are the only founding members of
the Bundesliga who have never been
relegated from the top flight. Former
international striker Uwe Seeler, one
of Germany’s best-loved players, is
the club’s most iconic figure.
Hamburger SV enjoyed its most successful years on the national scene in
the 1970s and 80s, when stars such
as Kevin Keegan, Felix Magath and
Horst Hrubesch won a total of three
Bundesliga titles. In 1983, the team
of legendary coach Ernst Happel
added the greatest prize in club football, the European Cup, to the trophy
cabinet.
HSV’s appearance in two semi-finals
of the UEFA Cup, in 2009 and 2010,
brought them close to another title
not long ago, and in recent years,
famous players such as Netherlands
internationals Rafael van der Vaart,
Ruud van Nistelrooy and Nigel de
Jong as well as the Belgian national
team captain Vincent Kompany have
graced the famed shirt with the diamond badge.
Player in focus
It hasn’t been by choice, but preserving their Bundesliga status has been
top of Hamburg’s agenda for the last
two seasons. In 2014, the man who
almost single-handedly kept them
afloat was striker Pierre-Michel
Lasogga. On loan from Hertha Berlin,
Lasogga scored thirteen goals, crucially netting away at Greuther Fürth
in the promotion-relegation play-off.
That was ultimately the goal that
kept Hamburg in the Bundesliga for a
record 52nd consecutive season.
The following campaign saw Lasogga
purchased permanently by Hamburg, but the powerful forward
couldn’t quite find the net with the
same regularity as he had done in
his first season with HSV. The club
pulled off a second play-off escape,
meaning Lasogga will have another
crack at the Bundesliga next term.
The 23-year-old striker has shown
enough in his career to date to suggest that Hamburg may have more
to look forward to from him, given
his predatory instincts in front of
goal. After four strikes in 2014-15,
the former Germany Under 21 international will be fancied to improve on
that tally this season.
32
Club
Facts and Figures
Address
HSV Fußball AG
Sylvesterallee 7
D-22525 Hamburg
W hsv.de
hsvtotal.de
@HSV
facebook.com/HSV
instagram.com/HSV
youtube.com/HSV
google.com/+HSV
Dietmar Beiersdorfer
Members
73,791
Fan Clubs
880
German Champion (6)
1923, 1928, 1960, 1979, 1982,
1983
1963, 1976, 1987
European Champions Cup Winner
(1)
1983
(1)
1977
1973, 2003
53 years
City
Impressions
Founded
The Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg on the North Sea coast is Germany’s second-biggest city with 1.8
million people. It is a federal state,
a centre for commerce, media and
transportation, and has its origins in
a medieval castle built by Emperor
Charlemagne. Hamburg’s port, also
known as the ‘Gate to the World’,
is the biggest deep-water port in
Germany.
831
8-0 vs Karlsruher SC (12/02/1966)
(20/05/1976)
Hamburg is a city of sharp contrasts:
elegant and refined on one street,
edgy and unpretentious on the next.
Tourists from all over the world flock
to sample the fabled nightlife. With
2,500 bridges, no other city in Europe can boast as many crossings.
Stadium
Name
Volksparkstadion
Capacity
57,200
Built
1953
Address for sat nav
Sylvesterallee 7
22525 Hamburg
33
Hannover 96
Club portrait
Hannover 96 are named after the
year of their foundation, 1896. At
first, the club members played rugby,
like many of their peers at the time,
but they soon switched to football
to find great success before too
long. The Lower Saxons were German Champions twice before the
Bundesliga’s inception in 1963. They
made further history when they became the first-ever second-division
side to win the DFB-Pokal in 1992.
After a period of varied success, the
‘Reds’ - Hannover traditionally play in
red shirts at home, despite their club
colours being black, white and green
- managed to establish themselves
in the Bundesliga following their promotion in 2002. Rock band The Scorpions, who also hail from the town,
are well known fans of the Team from
their hometown and are guests in the
HDI Arena as often as possible. With
302 Bundesliga games, former US
men’s national team defender Steven
‘Steve’ Cherundolo is the record holder for matches played.
Player in focus
Ten years ago, Ron-Robert Zieler
sat next to Sir Alex Ferguson as
he signed a professional contract
at Manchester United. The now
26-year-old goalkeeper has gone on
to realise his potential, but he’s done
so in Germany with Hannover 96. It’s
been over four years now since Zieler
last missed a Bundesliga game for the
club, as he’s become one of the most
reliable shot-stoppers in the country.
Germany is a nation where the position of goalkeeper is seen as crucially important, and the fact that
numerous goalkeeping talents are
currently playing in the Bundesliga
has not changed that. It is an indication, then, of how just highly rated
Ron-Robert Zieler is that he was
picked by Joachim Löw as one of
Germany’s three goalkeepers at the
World Cup in Brazil as well as at the
European Championship two years
earlier. He’s made five appearances
for the national team, impressive
given the level of competition there
is for that one spot. Zieler will have
to displace Manuel Neuer to become
the Germany No. 1, but having now
played in 142 consecutive Bundesliga games with such consistency, his
position at Hannover is indisputable.
34
Club
Facts and Figures
Address
Hannover 96 GmbH & Co. KGaA
Robert-Enke-Straße 1
D-30169 Hannover
W hannover96.de
@Hannover96
facebook.com/Hannover96
instagram.com/hannover96
youtube.com/hannover96
google.com/+Hannover96
Martin Kind
German Champion (2)
1938, 1954
1960, 1964, 1965
1992
Members
20,500
Fan Clubs
120
28 years
6-0 vs Borussia Neunkirchen
(18/09/1965)
0-7 vs FC Bayern München
(17/04/2010)
City
Impressions
Founded
Hannover is the capital of Lower
Saxony. The city was first mentioned
in 1150 and was the capital of the
former kingdom of Hannover. These
days, it has 518,386 inhabitants and
is best known for the Hannover fair
and CeBIT, the world’s largest computer expo. The city is strategically
well placed, linking east to west and
north to south.
1150
Herrenhausen Palace, the summer
residence of the Royal House of Hanover, the family who governed England from 1714 to 1837, functions
as a museum and also shines a light
on local polymath Gottfried Wilhelm
Leibniz, an important mathematician
and physicist.
Stadium
Name
HDI Arena
Capacity
49,000
Built
1954
Address for sat nav
Robert-Enke-Str. 1
30169 Hannover
35
TSG 1899 Hoffenheim
Club portrait
TSG 1899 Hoffenheim’s story is
one of impressive, rapid promotion
from the fifth division in 2000 to
the Bundesliga in only eight years.
The club from the south-west of
Germany took the first division by
storm in their debut season, when
they headed into the winter break as
league leaders, only to be thrown off
course by several injuries to their top
players such as Bosnian striker Vedad Ibiševic, who had scored 18 goals
in his first 17 Bundesliga matches.
Similar success has proven elusive
for 1899, and they had a very close
shave with relegation in the 201213 season. However, the following
two seasons have seen them bounce
back in remarkable fashion with a
thrilling style of play and plenty of
goals. Hoffenheim are well-known
for their innovative use of modern
technology, including solar energy on
the roof of the Wirsol Neckar-Arena
and the ‘Footbonaut’, a football robot
that enhances players’ technique and
cognitive abilities.
Player in focus
Hoffenheim have become renowned
for their attacking flair in recent
seasons. Others might grab the goals
and the headlines but the man giving
them the licence to thrill up top is defensive midfielder Eugen Polanski.
The Polish international signed from
1. FSV Mainz 05 in 2013 and has
rarely missed a game since, making
himself an invaluable presence in the
centre. His eye for goal was highlighted with a spectacular volley against
his former club in March 2014.
At 29 years old, he’s one of the most
experienced members of the side,
with more than 200 league appearances to his name. It was only in
2011 that he made his international
debut. Polanski was born in Poland
but moved to Germany with his parents as a child. That meant his first
international appearances came with
Germany, as he went on to captain
the Under-21s. Eventually though,
he elected to play for the country of
his birth, representing Poland when
they hosted Euro 2012. Polanski
came through the youth ranks at
Borussia Mönchengladbach. Now it’s
Hoffenheim who are able to rely on
his services.
36
Club
Facts and Figures
Address
Managing Board
TSG 1899 Hoffenheim
Fußball-Spielbetriebs GmbH
Dietmar-Hopp-Sportpark
Horrenberger Straße 58
D-74939 Zuzenhausen
W achtzehn99.de
@achtzehn99
facebook.com/achtzehn99
instagram.com/
tsg1899hoffenheim
youtube.com/
TSG1899Hoffenheim
Peter Rettig (chairman),
Frank Briel
Promotion to Bundesliga 2 in 2007
Members
6,578
Fan Clubs
122
8 years
Highest win (A) Bundesliga
5-0 vs Hertha Berlin (21/12/14)
(10/03/2012)
City
Impressions
Founded
TSG Hoffenheim play their matches
at the Wirsol Neckar Arena, which
is located in the neighbouring town
of Sinsheim. Sinsheim (population
35,198) is located in the south-western state of Baden-Württemberg, 22
km from Heidelberg. It was founded
in 1192 next to a tributary of the
Neckar river and has retained its medieval centre.
1192
The Sinsheim Auto & Technik Museum showcases an interesting collection of historic automobiles and attracts more than one million visitors a
year. Burg Steinsberg, an old fortress
just outside the city, offers a great
view over the Kraichgau region.
Stadium
Name
WIRSOL Rhein-Neckar-Arena
Capacity
30,150
Built
2007-2009
Address for sat nav
Dietmar-Hopp-Straße 1
74889 Sinsheim
37
FC Ingolstadt 04
Club portrait
FC Ingolstadt 04 are first-timers in
the Bundesliga after their promotion as champions of Bundesliga 2
last season. The 54th team to play
in the German top flight are also by
far the youngest: the Bavarian side
were founded in 2004, in a merger
between MTV Ingolstadt and ESV
Ingolstadt.
The new outfit - a modern, down-toearth and accessible club - began life
in the fifth division and quickly rose
through the ranks; but it wasn’t all
plain sailing. Ingolstadt, nick-named
‘Die Schanzer’ after an old Bavarian
fortress in the city, were bottom of
the table in Bundesliga 2 when Austrian coach Ralph Hasenhüttl took
over in October 2013. 19 months
later, a home win over RB Leipzig
clinched automatic promotion and
sparked wild celebrations that are
likely to continue throughout their
debut campaign in Germany’s elite
league.
Player in focus
When Australia international Mathew
Leckie moved to Germany in 2011,
he had a brief taste of the Bundesliga with Borussia Mönchengladbach.
Now at FC Ingolstadt, Leckie is one
of the club’s leading players ahead
of their maiden top-flight campaign.
Having signed last summer, the
winger helped push the Bavarian club
into the Bundesliga with seven goals
last season. The last of those strikes
was from the penalty spot
against RB Leipzig as Ingolstadt clinched promotion. That was a pressure
situation, but having performed on
the world stage as he had in the previous summer, it wasn’t something
Leckie was unaccustomed to.
His Australian national team lost all
three of their fixtures at the 2014
World Cup, but against Chile, Spain
and the Netherlands Leckie showed
just why Ingolstadt had rushed to secure his services before the tournament. The 24-year-old is very quick
and not short of a trick either as he
looks to get past his man. Any slower
defenders in the division will discover
this when competing against him
next season. Leckie will be a player to
watch in the new campaign.
38
Club
Facts and Figures
Address
Chief Executive Officer:
FC Ingolstadt 04 Fussball GmbH
Am Sportpark 1b
D-85053 Ingolstadt
W fcingolstadt.de
@fussballclub
facebook.com/
FussballclubIngolstadt
instagram.com/
fussballclubingolstadt
youtube.com/FCIn04
google.com/+fcingolstadt04
fcingolstadt04.tumblr.com
fcingolstadt04
Peter Jackwerth
Champion Bundesliga 2 in 2015
Members
1.500
Fan Clubs
1 year
25
Highest win (H) Bundesliga 2
4-0 vs SC Freiburg (02/11/2008)
4-0 vs SC Paderborn (17/03/2012)
Worst defeat (A) Bundesliga 2
1-6 vs MSV Duisburg (19/10/2008)
1-6 vs Greuther Fürth (01/02/2009)
City
Impressions
Founded
Ingolstadt is an independent city,
the second-biggest in Upper Bavaria
behind Munich (77 km to the south)
with 132,000 inhabitants. In 806,
Emperor Charlemagne described
the town on the River Danube as ‘villa
Ingoldestaat’, a place of gold. The picturesque city is also known for gold
of the liquid kind: the Bavarian beer
purity law of 1516 was conceived in
Ingolstadt and has been fondly remembered ever since.
806
Sections of Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein novel are based in Ingolstadt’s
18th-century medical faculty, Alte
Anatomie. Audi Forum, the museum
and car delivery centre of the local
carmakers, attracts half a million visitors annually.
Stadium
Name
Audi Sportpark
Capacity
15,800
Built
2010
Address for sat nav
Am Sportpark 1
85053 Ingolstadt
39
1. FC Köln
Club portrait
1. FC Köln, the very first winners of
the Bundesliga title in 1963-64, can
look back on a rich history in German
football. The club, located in the city
of Cologne in the west of Germany,
were among the most successful
sides between 1964 and 1983,
when they celebrated two league
championships and four DFB-Pokal
titles. Their founding president,
Franz Kremer, was one of the masterminds behind the introduction of the
Bundesliga and the implementation
of professional football in Germany.
Köln are placed eighth in the alltime Bundesliga table; a ranking
that reflects their status as one of
the league’s blue-chip names and
best-supported sides. Over 70,000
club members make for a famously
passionate fan base, turning every
game at the RheinEnergieStadion
into a memorable occasion with a
carnival atmosphere.
Several excellent players such as
Hans Schäfer, Wolfgang Overath,
Toni Schumacher, Pierre Littbarski
and Lukas Podolski have made their
mark with the Red and Whites. But
Köln have also experienced less successful times. They were relegated
to the second division five times in
the past 16 years. However, they
managed to bounce back every time
and are now well on their way to becoming an established force in Germany’s top flight following their promotion in 2013-14. Another famous
feature of the team nicknamed the
‘Billy Goats’ is their official mascot,
a real billy goat called Hennes. The
current one is Hennes VIII, and can be
followed in the stadium via his own
live web cam in the zoo as well as his
dedicated Facebook page.
Player in focus
After relegation to Bundesliga 2 in
2012, younger talent was given more
of a chance at 1. FC Köln. Full-back
Jonas Hector was one of the players
to flourish. As is expected of the
modern wide defender, the 25-yearold loves to maraud forward but is
equally adept at keeping up with
quick, tricky wingers in his own half.
Holger Stanislawski was the first
coach to take a chance on the defender in the year that followed
their relegation, but it was under his
successor, Peter Stöger, that Hector
truly started to make progress. In
the Austrian coach’s first season,
Cologne were promoted from the
second division as champions, with
Hector missing only 111 minutes as
part of a defence that kept 16 clean
sheets. Having made only a handful
of top-flight appearances, his impressive displays saw him called up
for his Germany debut in November.
He’s Cologne’s only player in the German national team, and the potential
he continues to harbour was shown
with a magnificent goal against Hoffenheim, having dribbled his way past
five opponents.
40
Club
Facts and Figures
Address
President
1. FC Köln GmbH & Co. KGaA
Postfach 45 04 56
50879 Köln
W fc-koeln.de
fc-connect.de
fc-tv.de
@fckoeln; @fckoeln_live;
@fckoeln_en; @fckoeln_jp
facebook.com/FCKoeln
youtube.com/fckoeln
google.com/+1fcköln
soundcloud.com/fckoeln
Werner Spinner
German Champion (3)
1962, 1964, 1978
1968, 1977, 1978, 1983
Members
71,000
Fan Clubs
1,500
45 years
8-0 vs FC Schalke 04 (08/11/1969)
8-0 vs Eintracht Braunschweig
(08/09/1979)
(15/05/1971)
City
Impressions
First mentioned
Cologne, as Köln is called in English,
is named after a first century Roman
colony (Latin: colonia) on the river
Rhine. Over a million people live in
Germany’s fourth-largest city, the
biggest in North-Rhine Westphalia.
Cologne has been an important European centre of trade and culture for
1,700 years.
38 BC
The imposing cathedral, constructed
over 600 years, is one of the continent’s most important landmarks. Cologne is also famous for its perfume
(Eau de Cologne), the colourful Carnival and for the tolerant and sunny
disposition of its inhabitants.
Stadium
Name
RheinEnergieSTADION
Capacity
50,000
Built
2002-2004
Address for sat nav
Aachener Straße 999
50933 Köln
41
Bayer 04 Leverkusen
Club portrait
Bayer 04 Leverkusen, situated at the
Rhine river directly opposite their
fierce local rivals 1. FC Köln, began
life as an after-hours sports club set
up by workers of the local pharmaceutical and chemical company Bayer
in 1904. Bayer has remained the only
stakeholder in the club to this day.
Leverkusen have made a name for
themselves with excellent scouting,
especially in South America, and
have also regularly been one of the
league’s top clubs over the last three
decades, winning the UEFA Cup in
1988 and the DFB-Pokal in 1993.
The so-called ‘Werkself’ (factory
team) also finished runners-up five
times in the Bundesliga between
1996-97 and 2010-11. They have
had several outstanding players
such as Rudi Völler, Michael Ballack
and Brazilian defender Lúcio in their
ranks, and in 2002 they were only
beaten by Real Madrid in the Champions League final. In recent years,
regular participation in Europe’s top
club competition has demonstrated
the consistency of an attacking side
bursting with plenty of talent such as
Heung-Min Son, Karim Bellarabi and
Bernd Leno.
Player in focus
He is only 23 years old but already
the player at Bayer 04 Leverkusen
with the highest international profile:
Heung-Min Son is treated like a pop
star at home in his native South Korea; admired and almost worshipped
wherever he goes. The fast and dangerous attacking midfielder has even
been compared to famous Beatles in
Seoul.
However, ‘Sonni’ - as his teammates
love to call him - is not just Asia’s
Player of the Year, but also a top
performer among many key players
in a very strong Werkself side. He
came to Germany at the age of 16
to play for Hamburger SV. Playing an
important role in the team coached
by Roger Schmidt and already in his
third season at Bayer 04 Leverkusen, Sonni always looks to improve
his game. He modestly refers to the
fact that his father, a former professional, has shaped and supported
him in his career. Alongside German
international Karim Bellarabi and the
Turkish international Hakan Calhanoglu, Son is part of a great trio of
forwards capable of posing a threat
to any defence.
42
Club
Facts and Figures
Address
Bayer 04 Leverkusen Fußball GmbH
Bismarckstraße 122–124
D-51373 Leverkusen
W bayer04.de
@bayer04fussball
facebook.com/bayer04fussball
Instagram.com/bayer04fussball
google.com/bayer04fussball
Managing Director
Michael Schade
Members
1993
UEFA Cup Winner (1)
1988
27,500
Fan Clubs
37 years
356
9-1 vs SSV Ulm 1846 (18/03/2000)
1-6 vs Hannover 96 (26/03/1988)
City
Impressions
Founded
The club is based in a very young
city, first founded in 1930, between
Cologne and Düsseldorf, the state
capital of North-Rhine Westphalia.
With a population of over 160,000,
Leverkusen is home to an industrial
giant: the Bayer group, Germany’s
most valuable company by market
capitalisation (approximately €44
billion).
1930
Most of the area was rural land before chemist Carl Leverkus built a
factory that was taken over by the
Bayer company in 1891. To this day,
thousands of the Group’s employees
keep their fingers crossed for former
workers’ team.
Stadium
Name
BayArena
Capacity
30,210
Built
2007-2009
Address for sat nav
Bismarckstraße 122
51373 Leverkusen
43
1. FSV Mainz 05
Club portrait
1. FSV Mainz 05 gained promotion
to the Bundesliga for the first time
in 2004, with Jürgen Klopp in charge
as manager. Since their comeback to
the Bundesliga in 2009, Mainz have
established themselves as a force to
be reckoned with in Germany’s top
division. 2010-11 was a landmark
season for the club from Hesse, as
they finished fifth to secure qualification for a European competition
for the first time in their history. This
tremendous success was repeated
in similarly impressive fashion in the
2013-14 campaign under former
manager Thomas Tuchel.
The city of Mainz is famous for its
Carnival celebration, and 1. FSV Mainz
05, the first climate-neutral club in
Germany, have become widely known
as the ‘Carnival Club’. The special atmosphere during these lengthy festivities reverberates in their stadium, the
Coface Arena, where a popular Carnival song is played as the goal anthem.
Player in focus
That Ja-Cheol Koo became FSV
Mainz’s record signing in January
2014 is a good indicator of how his
career has developed since making
the decision to move from his native
South Korea to Germany in 2011.
Before he arrived at VfL Wolfsburg,
he was the top scorer at the Asian
Cup and helped his country finish
third. Koo wasn’t afforded much
playing time with the Wolves but an
18-month loan move to Augsburg in
January 2012 allowed the attacking
midfielder to shine.
In his first season, he netted five
times in 15 appearances to help
preserve the Bavarians’ Bundesliga
status in both of his campaigns at the
club. Koo is a robust figure but has
the ability to play a delicate through
ball and drive forward when necessary. It was for these qualities that
Mainz paid a record sum to get the
South Korea captain at the start of
last year. He also skippered his country at the 2014 World Cup. It’s a sign
of how settled Koo is in Germany that
in August of last year, his wife and
child moved from his native South
Korea to join him in Mainz.
44
Club
Facts and Figures
Address
President
1. FSV Mainz 05 e. V.
Isaac-Fulda-Allee 5
D-55124 Mainz
W mainz05.de
05er.tv
@1fsvmainz05; @mainz05en;
@mainz05_kr; @mainz05_jp
facebook.com/1fsvmainz05
instagram.com/1fsvmainz05
youtube.com/05ertv
google.com/+1fsvmainz05
de.foursquare.com/1fsvmainz05
Harald Strutz
1982
Promotion to Bundesliga (2)
2004, 2009
Members
14,200
Fan Clubs
230
10 years
5-0 vs SC Freiburg (05/03/2005)
1-6 vs Werder Bremen (27/10/2006)
City
Impressions
First mentioned
Mainz (population 200,000) is the
capital of Rhineland-Palatinate in
central Germany. Founded by the Romans as a fort city on the west bank
of the Rhine, it is one of Germany’s
oldest cities. It is well known for the
invention of the movable-type printing press by Gutenberg in the early
1450s and for its impressive cathedral, built in 911.
13 BC
Mainz’s culture is inseparably linked
to wine, with wine-growing in the
region going back to Roman times.
Carnival, the fifth season, is the main
tourist attraction and culminates in a
big parade that takes place on Rosenmontag, ‘Shrove Monday ’.
Stadium
Name
Coface Arena
Capacity
34,000
Built
2011
Address for sat nav
Eugen-Salomon-Str. 1
55128 Mainz
45
Club portrait
No club in Germany enjoyed as much
domestic success in the 1970s as
Borussia Mönchengladbach. With
five Bundesliga championships, two
UEFA Cup triumphs and one DFB-Pokal title under their belts, the team of
1974 World Cup winning stars such
as Jupp Heynckes, Günter Netzer,
Berti Vogts and Rainer Bonhof is
remembered as one of the greatest
ever in German club football.
The spirit of those golden times
is still prevalent in the BORUSSIA-PARK stadium, where close
to 55,000 spectators create an
electrifying atmosphere on every
matchday. The current ‘Foals’ team
stand for a modern and fresh style
of play. Steady progress under Swiss
coach Lucien Favre, who saved them
from relegation in 2011, has been
rewarded with a return to Europa
League football in 2012-13 and last
season’s remarkable qualification for
the UEFA Champions League as the
third-best team in the league.
Player in focus
In the space of four years, Borussia
Mönchengladbach’In the space of
four years, Borussia Mönchengladbach’s rise from relegation strugglers
to Champions League group stage
contenders has been remarkable. In
this transition, coach Lucien Favre
has been greatly aided by the purchase of Granit Xhaka. Ahead of the
club’s first appearance in the main
stage of the competition in 37 years,
the 22-year-old central midfielder
is one squad member who already
boasts experience in the tournament.
At previous club FC Basel he made his
professional debut in a Champions
League qualifier, scoring two minutes
after coming on as a substitute. He
was only 17 at the time. Two Swiss
league titles later, a move to Gladbach
beckoned in 2012. In the Bundesliga he
has carved out a reputation as a tough
tackler with a great range of passing.
You give him time and space on the
ball at your peril: Xhaka’s long-range
shooting caused opposition goalkeepers problems on countless occasions
last season. Capped by Switzerland
over 30 times to date, Xhaka is another
young Bundesliga talent with an extremely promising future ahead of him.
46
Club
Facts and Figures
Address
President
Borussia VfL 1900
Mönchengladbach GmbH
Hennes-Weisweiler-Allee 1
D-41179 Mönchengladbach
W borussia.de
@borussia; @borussiaLIVE;
@borussia_en
facebook.com/borussia.mg
instagram.com/borussia
youtube.com/borussiatv
google.
com/+BorussiaMönchengladbach
soundcloud.com/borussia
vine.co/borussia
weibo.com/borussiamg
e.t.qq.com/borussia-mg
Rolf Königs
German Champion (5)
1970, 1971, 1975, 1976, 1977
1960, 1973, 1995
UEFA Cup Winner (2)
1975, 1979
1977
Members
67,200
Fan Clubs
950
48 years
(29/04/1978)
0-7 vs VfB Stuttgart (18/09/2010)
City
Impressions
Founded
The independent city (255,000 inhabitants), 16 km from the river Rhine,
takes its name from a narrow brook
(Gladbach) near an abbey built in the
tenth century. The prefix ‘Mönchen’ is
medieval German for monks and was
added in the 19th century to avoid
confusion with another town, Bergisch Gladbach. Mönchengladbach is
close to the Dutch border at the western end of the country.
974
Museum Abteiberg hosts exhibitions
of modern art, whereas Schloss
Rheydt, a former castle and palace,
showcases Renaissance art and
stages an annual medieval festival.
Stadium
Name
BORUSSIA-PARK
Capacity
54,010
Built
2004
Address for sat nav
Hennes-Weisweiler-Allee 1
41179 Mönchengladbach
47
FC Bayern München
Club portrait
The Bundesliga’s record title-holders FC Bayern München have been a
dominant force in German football
for nearly five decades. The Bavarians have only gone more than two
years without getting their hands on
the championship trophy three times
since 1969. 25 German Championships and 17 DFB-Pokal wins attest
to the extraordinary prowess of the
league’s most successful club.
As the main supplier of players for the
national team, FC Bayern München
are synonymous with superstars
such as Arjen Robben, Thomas Müller
and Bastian Schweinsteiger, and also
boast club membership in excess
of 250,000 people - more than any
other sports club in the world.
Their trophy cabinet is packed with
international silverware, too. Bayern
won three consecutive European
Cups in the mid-70s, the UEFA Champions League in 2001 and secured
the most prestigious prize in club
football once more when a triumph at
Wembley against fellow Bundesliga
side Borussia Dortmund capped off a
historic treble in 2013. Last season’s
league title was the second in a row
under Spanish coach Pep Guardiola.
Player in focus
Standing squarely at the front of
the ‘sweeper-keeper’ revolution
is Germany’s number one, Manuel
Neuer. At times, he has looked less
like a goalkeeper and more like an
11th outfield player for both club and
country. Neuer has demonstrated
the remarkable ability of knowing exactly when to race out of his goal and
clear the danger. It’s testament to his
style that seeing the German international head the ball is now nothing
you wouldn’t expect.
His all-action style has been rewarded, par ticularly since he moved from
his boyhood club Schalke to the Allianz Arena in 2011. At Bayern, Neuer
has won the Bundesliga three times,
the DFB-Pokal twice and the Champions League and last summer he lifted the World Cup. Neuer’s influence
in all of these successes shouldn’t
be underestimated, as he allows his
team to push up high from the back.
He’s racked up 66 clean sheets in
Munich in four seasons, a figure that
can only rise in the coming years. Expect the medal count to rise, too, for
the man widely acclaimed as the best
goalkeeper in the world.
48
Club
Address
FC Bayern München AG
Säbener Straße 51–57
D-81547 München
W fcbayern.de
myfcb.de
@fcbayern; @fcbayernEN;
@fcbayernES; @fcbayernUS
facebook.com/FCBayern;
facebook.com/FCBayern.en;
facebook.com/FCBayern.es;
facebook.com/FCBayernUS
instagram.com/fcbayern
youtube.com/fcbayern
google.com/+fcbayern
vine.
co/u/1022155519324016640
soundcloud.com/fcbayernofficial
Facts and Figures
weibo.com/fcbayern
e.t.qq.com/FCbayern
i.youku.com/fcbayern
We Chat:
vk.com/fcbayern
Chairman Executive Board
Karl-Heinz Rummenigge
Members
255,000
Fan Clubs
3,900
City
Impressions
Founded
Munich is the capital of the free state
of Bavaria, situated just north of the
Bavarian Alps in south-east Germany. First mentioned in 1158, it is
the third-largest city in the country
with 1.5m people and best known
for its annual Oktoberfest (beer
festival).
1158
The former seat of the Bavarian
kings is today a centre of commerce,
culture, car manufacturing and new
technology and regularly rated one
of the world’s most liveable cities.
German Champion (25)
1932, 1969, 1972, 1973, 1974,
1980, 1981, 1985, 1986, 1987,
1989, 1990, 1994, 1997, 1999,
2000, 2001, 2003, 2005, 2006,
2008, 2010, 2013, 2014, 2015
1957, 1966, 1967, 1969, 1971,
1982, 1984, 1986, 1998, 2000,
2003, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2010,
2013, 2014
UEFA Champions League Winner (2)
2001, 2013
European Supercup Winner (1)
2013
European Champions Cup Winner (3)
1974, 1975, 1976
(1)
1967
UEFA Cup Winner (1) 1996
FIFA Club World Cup Winner (1)
2013
Intercontinental Cup Winner (2)
1976, 2001
1983, 1987, 1990, 2010, 2012
1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2004,
2007
51 years
(27/11/1971)
0-7 vs Schalke 04 (09/10/1976)
Stadium
Name
Allianz Arena
Capacity
75,000
International 70,000
Built
2005
Address for sat nav
Werner-Heisenberg-Allee 25
80939 München
49
FC Schalke 04
Club portrait
Based in the industrial city of Gelsenkirchen in the west of Germany, FC
Schalke 04 are one of the Bundesliga’s best-supported clubs and second only to FC Bayern München in
terms of official members, with more
than 130,000 paid-up ‘Royal Blues’
fans. The club’s identity is informed
by a strong blue-collar work ethic and
a sense of belonging to the Ruhr area.
The players’ tunnel is made to look
like a mining shaft - a reference to the
local coal mines.
Schalke have a hugely successful history with seven championships dating back to the 1930s, 40s and 50s.
More recent years have seen them
excel in cup competitions: They won
the DFB-Pokal three times between
2001 and 2011, and a famous team
dubbed the ‘Eurofighters’, including
local hero Olaf Thon and Belgium’s
star player Marc Wilmots, achieved
the club’s greatest triumph by winning the UEFA Cup in 1997.
FC Schalke 04 and their incredibly
passionate supporters have been a
fixture at the top end of the Bundesliga table, qualifying for the UEFA
Champions League six times in the
past ten years, and going as far as the
semi-finals in the 2010-11 campaign.
Player in focus
The coming season will be Benedikt
Höwedes’s fifth campaign as Schalke
captain. His talent matches the commitment he has shown to the club, having been in Gelsenkirchen since 2001,
when he was still a teenager. With over
250 appearances for the Gelsenkirchen outfit, the defender has been a
sturdy presence on the Schalke teamsheet, never afraid to put his body on
the line for the Royal Blues.
Centre-back is his natural role but
his versatility across the defence
has been an asset for both club and
country. He was an integral part of
Germany’s World Cup win last summer, though few expected Höwedes
to excel as he did in a makeshift role
at left-back. Only he and goalkeeper
Manuel Neuer played in every minute of every game for Joachim Löw’s
national team in Brazil, showing the
trust placed in him and also just how
well he did. That the burly defender,
mentally strong leader and powerful header of the ball has become a
World Cup winner isn’t too surprising.
This is a player, after all, who made
his professional debut in the Champions League aged 18.
50
Club
Address
Fußballclub
Gelsenkirchen-Schalke 04 e. V.
Ernst-Kuzorra-Weg 1
D-45891 Gelsenkirchen
W schalke04.de; schalke04.com;
schalke04.jp; schalke04.ru;
schalke04.cn
@S04; @S04_en; @S04_jp
facebook.com/S04; facebook.
com/S04.en; facebook.com/
S04.jp; facebook.com/S04.ru;
facebook.com/S04.es
instagram.com/S04
youtube.com/S04
google.com/+S04
s04.de/S04_Vine
weibo.com/Schalke04team
Facts and Figures
e.t.qq.com/Schalke04
vk.com/schalke04
Managing Board
Horst Heldt, Alexander Jobst
and Peter Peters
Members
130,000
Fan Clubs
German Champion (7)
1934, 1935, 1937, 1939, 1940,
1942, 1958
1937, 1972, 2001, 2002, 2011
UEFA Cup Winner (1)
1997
2005
2011
ca. 1,500
48 years
City
Impressions
Founded
Schalke are based in the industrial
Ruhr town of Gelsenkirchen, an independent city in western Germany
first mentioned in 1150. The former
mining city used to be called ‘the
town of a thousand fires’ but today
is a centre for solar power with
258,000 inhabitants.
1150
(09/10/1976)
Cultural highlights in the NorthRhine-Westphalian metropolis include the ZOOM-Erlebniswelt, one
of Europe’s most modern zoological
gardens, and the Music Theatre in the
Ruhr.
Stadium
Name
VELTINS-Arena
Capacity
61,973
Built
2001
Address for sat nav
Arenaring
45891 Gelsenkirchen
51
VfB Stuttgart
Club portrait
VfB Stuttgart hail from Swabia, in
the south-east of the country. Three
Bundesliga titles (1984, 1992,
2007) mark them out as one of the
traditional heavy-weights in the
league. They have spent 51 out 53
years in Germany’s top flight and
are revered for their excellent youth
development.
Several outstanding generations of
players have worn the white shirt
with the single red hoop, including the
1980s stars of World Cup winners
Guido Buchwald and Jürgen Klinsmann, the so-called ‘Magic Triangle’
of Krassimir Balakov, Fredi Bobic and
Giovane Elber in the 1990s and the
‘Young Wild Ones’ team of Timo Hildebrand, Kurányi, Sami Khedira and
Mario Gómez in the 2000s.
Notable achievements also include
the DFB-Pokal win in 1997 under the
guidance of the future national team
manager Joachim Löw, and the appearance in the UEFA Cup Winners’
Cup final in 1998.
Player in focus
To play in the top flight as regularly
as Christian Gentner has, you have to
perform consistently. Over the last
ten years, the Stuttgart captain has
certainly done that. Only a select few
ever win the Bundesliga but Gentner
falls into an even more unique category. The midfielder has won the
division twice in his career but not, as
has come to be expected, with Bayern Munich or Borussia Dortmund.
He was victorious with VfB Stuttgart
in 2007, even if he didn’t play a starring role.
At VfL Wolfsburg in 2009, however,
he featured in every Bundesliga
game as they completed an unlikely title triumph. Gentner has since
moved back to Stuttgart, where he’s
continued to show his ability as a
linchpin in central midfield. In each
of the last eight Bundesliga seasons,
Gentner has scored at least three
goals, displaying the sort of reliability
that makes him captain material. He
has now spent thirteen years of his
career at Stuttgart, and having been
born and bred in the region, it’s little
wonder he relishes his role as the
team’s skipper.
52
Club
Facts and Figures
Address
President
VfB Stuttgart 1893 e. V.
Mercedesstraße 109
D-70372 Stuttgart
W vfb.de; vfb.de/en
@VfB
facebook.com/VfB
instagram.com/VfB
youtube.com/VfBTV
google.com/+VfB
de.foursquare.com/VFB
soundcloud.com/
vfb-stuttgart-1893-e-v
Bernd Wahler
German Champion (5)
1950, 1952, 1984, 1992, 2007
1954, 1958, 1997
1992
Members
45,000
Fan Clubs
375
51 years
(18/09/2010)
(14/03/1964)
City
Impressions
Founded
The capital of the south-western
state of Baden-Württemberg has
a population of 600,000 and an enviable topography, spread out over
hills and vineyards in proximity to
the River Neckar. Its roots date back
to Roman times, but it was formally
established in 905 by Duke Liudolf
of Swabia, a son of Holy Roman Emperor Otto I the Great.
905
Stuttgart is rich on sight-seeing
attractions, ranging from two imposing old city palaces and the longest
pedestrian shopping street in Germany to the architecturally stunning
museums of local car manufacturers
Porsche and Mercedes Benz.
Stadium
Name
Mercedes-Benz Arena
Capacity
60,441
Built
1933
Address for sat nav
Mercedesstraße 87
70372 Stuttgart
53
VfL Wolfsburg
Club portrait
VfL Wolfsburg were set up by workers at the local Volkswagen factory
in September 1945. Green shirts and
white shorts were the only available
sporting equipment in the city in
Lower Saxony at the time - so they
became the team’s colours.
The ‘Wolves’ spent most of their
first four decades playing lower division football, but a third promotion
to Bundesliga 2 in 1992 put them
firmly on course for the big time. Six
years later, they had made it into Germany’s top flight, where the appropriately-named coach Wolfgang Wolf
turned them into a side challenging
for European places.
In 2008-09, manager Felix Magath
and his side stunned the Bundesliga with an irresistible run in the
second half of the season that culminated in a sensational first-ever
championship for VfL. Last season, a
second major trophy, the DFB-Pokal,
was won under coach Dieter Hecking,
and the team finished runners-up
in the league. Wolfsburg, with their
array of internationally well-known
players such as rising star Kevin De
Bruyne from Belgium or Brazilian
international Luiz Gustavo, are
now firmly established among the
Bundesliga’s most potent sides.
Player in focus
When it comes to the outstanding
performers last season, Kevin De
Bruyne is certainly one of the first
names that come to mind. The Belgian attacking midfielder was a huge
success in his first full season with
VfL Wolfsburg and was voted Player
of the Year in a poll of his peers. De
Bruyne was impressive on loan at
Werder Bremen in 2012-13 but the
23-year-old really has come of age
in Lower Saxony since his move from
Chelsea, racking up the most assists
in Europe’s top five divisions last season - 20 in total.
That’s no coincidence considering
he missed only thirteen minutes of
Wolfsburg’s Bundesliga campaign,
creating chance after chance. When
he isn’t carving out opportunities,
De Bruyne frightens goalkeepers
with his terrific shooting ability from
outside the box. As Wolfsburg finished second in the Bundesliga and
qualified for the Champions League,
De Bruyne rounded off a fine season in the DFB-Pokal final at Berlin’s
Olympic Stadium. He scored against
Borussia Dortmund as Dieter Hecking’s side went on to lift the trophy
for the first time.
54
Club
Facts and Figures
Address
Board of Management
VfL Wolfsburg-Fußball GmbH
In den Allerwiesen 1
D-38446 Wolfsburg
@VfL_Wolfsburg;
@VfLWolfsburg_EN
facebook.com/
vflwolfsburgfussball
instagram.com/vfl.wolfsburg
youtube.com/vflwolfsburg
google.com/+VfLWolfsburg
Klaus Allofs, Wolfgang Hotze,
Thomas Röttgermann
German Champion (1)
2009
German Cup Finalist (2)
1995, 2015
2015
Members
19,500
Fan Clubs
168
19 years
(07/11/1998)
2-7 vs Werder Bremen (19/09/1999)
City
Impressions
Founded
Lower Saxony’s fifth-largest town
was founded to accommodate workers at the newly built local car factory in 1938. Situated in the midst
of two very rural areas in the north of
Germany, Wolfsburg - as the city has
been called since 1945 - has become
a modern and cosmopolitan metropolis (124,000) in the space of two
generations.
1938
Wolfsburg is the home of Volkswagen, one of the world’s biggest car
manufacturers, who also own and
sponsor the erstwhile team of factory employees. The Autostadt, ‘city
of cars’, is famous for its futuristic
architecture.
Stadium
Name
Volkswagen Arena
Capacity
30,000
Built
2002
Address for sat nav
In den Allerwiesen 1
38446 Wolfsburg
55
TRENDS & TECHNOLOGY
A unique trend
UEFA and FIFA rankings for national
and club teams clearly show the thoroughly positive athletic performance
of German football. In contrast,
trends in other European countries
show a mixed picture. From the start
of the 2015-16 season, the Bundesliga will move ahead of England’s
Premier League as the second-best
league in the UEFA rankings.
1,900
100
FIFA world ranking points (recorded in July after a World/Euro Cup)
1,687
80
79
1,502
75
1,364
68
1,132
1,127
1,229
1085
52
1,030
48
49
900
UEFA five-year rankings (as at the end of each season, values rounded)
97
45
2005-2006
2007-2008
April 2015
2011-2012
2009-2010
GERMANY
ENGLAND
S PA I N
I TA LY
FRANCE
Bundesliga
Premier League
Primera División
Serie A
Ligue 1
League of goals
For 25 years now, the Bundesliga
has been the league with the highest
number of goals per game among top
leagues in Europe.
56
During the 2014-15 season, 2.75
goals were scored on average. With
the exception of the 1989-90 season, the Bundesliga has been the
highest-scoring league for as much
as 45 years – since its launch in
1963-64, it failed to reach the top
figure in just four of its 52 seasons.
“Hawk-Eye” to be introduced
The 2015-16 Bundesliga season will
have to make do without ‘ghost goals’
and those highly controversial ‘In or
out?’ debates, as the League introduces goal-line technology at all 18
top flight stadiums for the new campaign. The proposal to implement the
measure was submitted by FC Bayern
München and received the necessary
two-thirds majority, by a 15-3 margin,
in a vote at the DFL headquarters in
Frankfurt in December 2014.
‘Hawk Eye’, which was awarded the
contract in an open, transparent
and
non-discriminatory
tender
procedure, employs camera-based
technology to monitor the goal-line
and to calculate the ball’s exact position from a multitude of angles.
The system then sends a signal within
one second to a special receiver worn
by the referee on his wrist. A few
moments later, a video replay is made
available for the stadium crowd and
TV viewers at home, by cameras
located in line with the goal-line. The
goal will be rendered green in a 3D
computer animation if the ball fully
crossed the line for a goal and red if
it did not.
British-based ‘Hawk-Eye’ is the world
leader in ball-tracking technology.
The system first gained wider recognition due to its use in tennis Grand
Slam tournaments and has been employed at Olympic Games as well.
The Bundesliga is the second top
European league to adopt goal-line
technology after the Premier League
introduced the measure with great
success in the 2014-15 season in
England.
57
YOUTH CONCEPT
The summer of 2014 will forever
be remembered as a golden spell in
Germany’s football history. Joachim
Löw’s national team won a fourth
World Cup by beating Argentina in
Rio de Janeiro on 13 July. Just 18
days earlier, the Under-19 side had
won the European Championship in
Hungary. These international titles
have added to the sense of success
prevalent in the game in Germany,
where a vibrant, thriving league is
followed by passionate supporters
in some of the world’s most modern
stadiums. Back in the year 2000,
however, such a state of affairs
seemed inconceivable.
Germany, the defending champions,
had hit rock-bottom at Euro 2000,
where a squad described as “dull”
and derided as full of “unprecedented shortcomings” in the press had
crashed out in the group stage with
one measly point from three games.
The campaign marked the national
team’s worst performance at a major
competition since 1938 - the nadir
at the end of a systemic decline. Far
too few home-grown players were
coming through, and those who did
often lack the technical skills of their
international peers. “German football is at a crossroads. It has been
going downhill for ten years, and I’m
very worried,” remarked Karl-Heinz
Rummenigge, a former German international who serves as chairman of
the managing board at FC Bayern
München.
Fortunately, German football took
the right turn at that important junction. Former DFB president Gerhard
Mayer-Vorfelder and his team introduced wide-ranging reforms that
included the setting up of regional
centres for the coaching of youngsters and made youth academies
- complete with training grounds,
medical departments, education
facilities and certified full-time
coaches - compulsory for all Bundesliga clubs in 2001. A year later, the
scheme was extended to include
the 18 clubs of Bundesliga 2. A sea
change was under way.
By 2011, a decade on from the
revolution of youth development in
Germany, over €520 million had been
invested by clubs in the two top tiers.
The total outlay has since topped
€1 billion, and the results have been
clear for everyone to see. The investment has led to more players receiving better quality coaching, creating
a wave of technically and tactically
superior footballers that is unprecedented in the nation’s history.
In 2009, six future world champions
in Manuel Neuer, Jérôme Boateng,
Mats Hummels, Benedikt Höwedes,
Sami Khedira and Mesut Özil formed
the core of an Under-21 side that
won the European Championship Germany’s first-ever success at that
Licensed football Investments of the 36 clubs in
German professional football in their youth academies
in € million
2008-2009
2007-2008
2005-2006
2003-2004
2002-2003
47,85
58
56,92
2004-2005
57,79
60,87
2006-2007
61,63
69,20
78,24
level. The same year, the Under-19s
also won the Euros to complete a
remarkable hat-trick: twelve months
earlier, the Under-17s had already
won the European Championship.
Since 2002 the clubs
have spent more than
€ 1 billion
on their youth academies
Continuous improvement of youth
development at the academies with
the help of a highly detailed and financially incentivised certification
system has produced players such as
Thomas Müller, Mats Hummels and
Mario Götze, who were all instrumental in Germany’s triumph in Brazil.
Around 60 per cent of all Bundesliga players are eligible to play for
the national team, a statistic that
demonstrates how the improvement
has come in terms of both quality and
quantity. In 2011, Bundesliga CEO
Christian Seifert confidently predicted that the investment in youth
academies would pay off. It most
certainly has, and will continue to do
so for many years to come.
2013-2014
2012-2013
2011-2012
2010-2011
2009-2010
85,70
92,56
120,15
105,75
103,14
59
STADIUMS & FAN CULTURE
Bundesliga matches are played in
world-class stadiums. Low ticket
prices and standing terraces have
a distinct tradition within the
Bundesliga, a league famous for its
thrilling atmosphere and emotional
fans.
Record attendance
The Bundesliga’s average at tendance rate of 43,500 fans per match
is the highest in any professional
football league worldwide and only
second after the American National
Football League (NFL) if all professional sports leagues are taken into
consideration. The Bundesliga and
Bundesliga 2 attracted more than 18
million spectators to the stadiums in
the 2014-15 season, for the fourth
time in the history of German professional football.
Electric atmosphere
Bundesliga clubs are supported
by some of the most loyal, loudest
and most enthusiastic fans in the
world. Modern stadiums with huge
standing terraces and affordable
ticket prices attract huge audiences,
and in turn make for a breath-taking
atmosphere in the Bundesliga. The
average ticket price is ranked lowest
compared with all other European
top leagues. Capacity utilisation runs
at 90%.
International top-class
stadiums
Borussia Dortmund’s gigantic “Yellow Wall”, with nearly 25,000 fans on
the south end of the SIGNAL IDUNA
PARK, is the largest standing terrace
60
in the European game and widely
considered the best standing section
in any football stadium. With their
cheering, singing and flag-waving,
supporters on the “Yellow Wall” cast
a powerful spell on proceedings on
the pitch and Borussia Dortmund’s
home matches, played out in front
of more than 80,000 fans, are overwhelming, powerful experiences that
transcend football.
The special Bundesliga experience
is not limited to the SIGNAL IDUNA
PARK, however, as extensive standing areas that account for about
one-quarter of the stadium capacity are characteristic for German
grounds. At the Olympic Stadium
in Berlin (capacity: 74,244), the Allianz Arena in Munich (75,000), the
VELTINS Arena in Gelsenkirchen
(61,973) and the Mercedes-Benz
Arena in Stuttgart (60,469), players
are cheered on by lively and noisy
crowds. Even smaller stadiums – by
Bundesliga standards – such as the
SGL Arena in Augsburg (30,660),
the Coface Arena in Mainz (34,034)
and the Weser-Stadion in Bremen
(42,358) maintain the unique and exciting Bundesliga atmosphere.
61
DERBIES & ALL-TIME CLASSICS
Three points are awarded for a win
in each and every Bundesliga game.
Some matches, however, capture
the fans’ attention more than
others.
The “German Klassiker”
Borussia Dortmund vs FC Bayern
München is the German Klassiker”
– a game that attracts enormous
interest both domestically and
internationally. The rivalry is ultimately rooted in historic clashes
in the 90s and early 2000s, when
Dortmund and Bayern competed
head-to-head in the Bundesliga. The
duels between top-class players
such as Oliver Kahn, Steffen Effenberg and Giovane Elber on the one
62
side (Bayern München) and Matthias Sammer, Stéphane Chapuisat
and Tomás Rosicky on the other
(Borussia Dortmund) captured domestic and international attention.
The fans’ excitement at the huge
stadiums in Dortmund and Munich
spread to the players to create truly
thrilling games in the Bundesliga
and in the Champions League, too.
A new dynamic between these two
traditional clubs was created when
Borussia Dortmund won the German
Championship in two consecutive
seasons in 2010-11 and 2011-12
and also defeated Bayern München
in the DFB-Pokal final in 2012 with a
5-2 win. From October 2010 to May
2013, Dortmund did not lose in six
Bundesliga matches against Bayern.
The Munich outfit bounced back
impressively, however, and demonstrated their strength by winning the
treble in 2012-13, the highlight of
which was an exciting 2-1 win in the
Champions League final at London’s
Wembley Stadium - against their national rivals Borussia Dortmund.
The “Revierderby”
The “Revierderby” between Borussia Dortmund and FC Schalke 04
is by far the biggest local derby in
Germany. The distance between
Dortmund
and
Gelsenkirchen,
where Schalke 04 are based, is only
about 25 kilometres, and matches
between the two teams electrify
the whole region (also called the
“Revier”), as well as domestic and
international football fans. The history of the derby reaches back to
the 1920s when the Royal Blues of
Schalke had a clear advantage over
the Black and Yellows from Borussia
Dortmund. However, as Borussia
Dortmund evolved into serious
opponents, epic games became
regular occurrences. One of the
most notable matches was played
in Dortmund in 1997, when Schalke’s goalkeeper Jens Lehmann, one
of the few players who took to the
field for both rivals, secured a 2-2
equaliser for S04 by heading into
the BVB net in injury time. Still fresh
in the memory, for fans of Borussia
Dortmund at least, is a spectacular
3-3 draw in 2008, when Dortmund
came back from 3-0 down.
The “Nordderby”
The “Nordderby” (northern derby)
between Hamburger SV and SV
Werder Bremen is the match fans
in northern Germany wait for with
bated breath. With more than 100
games, this is the most frequently
played match in Bundesliga history,
a fact that underlines the tremendous tradition of this derby. There
have been a number of memorable
encounters since the first game in
October 1963, but the rivalry was
at its peak in 2009 when both teams
met each other four times in domestic and international competitions
within a mere 18 days.
The “Südschlager”
The distance between Stuttgart
and Munich is about 190 kilometres
– a little too far to call the match
between VfB Stuttgart and Bayern München a regional derby. Still,
clashes between the two southern
German clubs are far from ordinary.
They are eagerly anticipated by both
sets of supporters and referred to
as the “Südschlager”. Naturally, the
rivalry is at its fiercest in seasons
when both teams are competing
head-to-head and is fuelled by player
transfers between the clubs. Jürgen
Klinsmann’s bicycle kick, a goal for
Stuttgart that was later honoured as
Goal of the Year in 1987, remains unforgotten. In 2007, when Stuttgart
surprisingly secured the Bundesliga
trophy, Germany international Cacau
scored two goals in only three minutes to close the door on Bayern’s
hopes for the title.
The “Rheinderbies”
The cities of Leverkusen, Mönchengladbach, Cologne and Düsseldorf
are all situated along the river
Rhine within a radius of less than 50
kilometres. Being able to call themselves “number one on the Rhine” is
always one of the main targets for
the clubs in question; consequently,
the outcomes of these derbies play
a very important role for clubs and
supporters alike. As Fortuna Düsseldorf and 1. FC Köln have not been
a permanent feature of the Bundesliga in previous years, only Bayer 04
Leverkusen and Borussia Mönchengladbach have constantly faced
each other in the Rhine derby in the
Bundesliga. However, as FC Köln
managed to win promotion to the
Bundesliga in the 2013-14 season,
their followers can once again look
forward to winning these special
games against their numerous local
rivals.
63
MASCOTS
CUT
E RW IN
FC SCHALKE 04
H ERTH IN H O
H ERTH A BER L IN
SC H AN ZI
F C IN GO L STADT 0 4
JÜNTER
BORU S S I A M Ö N C HE N G LAD B AC H
BR IA N TH E L I ON
BAYER 04 L E V E RK US E N
64
HE R M AN N
HAM B U R G E R SV
H EN N ES VIII
1 . F C KÖ L N
AT T I L A
E I N T R AC HT FR AN KF U RT
TE
EDDI
HAN N OVE R 9 6
EMMA
B O R U SSIA DO RT MU N D
HOFF I
T S G 1899 HO F F E NH E I M
F R ITZL E
VF B STU TTGART
BER N I
F C BAYER N MÜ N C H EN
W ÖLFI
VF L WOLFSB URG
65
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67

Bundesliga Information Kit

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