By Mike Tuckerman
September 15th 2009 @ 2:18am
Related coverage
Bundesliga is Europe’s most exciting league
Stuttgart's Serdar Tasci, left, and Berlin player Andrey Voronin, right, challenge for the ball during the German first soccer Bundesliga match between VfB Stuttgart and Hertha BSC Berlin in the stadium in Stuttgart, Germany, on Saturday, March 21, 2009. AP Photo/Christof Stache
Manchester City and Tottenham fans may disagree, but the English Premier League table already has a familiar look to it. Meanwhile there’s an altogether different outlook in what is, in my opinion, the most exciting league in Europe: the Bundesliga.
Traditionsverein Hamburger SV are locked in a dogged duel with the relatively unloved Bayer Leverkusen at the top of nascent Bundesliga standings.
Hamburg were forced to replace coach Martin Jol at the end of last season, after the Dutchman decided to join Amsterdam giants Ajax in his homeland.
However, Hamburg remain unbeaten under new coach Bruno Labbadia – who ironically joined the northern club from Bayer Leverkusen.
Leverkusen’s most recent 3-2 win away at reigning champions VfL Wolfsburg was a typically frenetic Bundesliga affair.
It featured two red cards, two converted penalties and a superb free-kick from Wolfsburg playmaker Zvjezdan Misimovic.
It’s just a shame that the match wasn’t screened live on Channel Ten’s High Definition channel One – with AFL finals and motorsport knocking the Bundesliga out of the live schedule.
But it was at Borussia Dortmund’s incredible Signal Iduna Park where most of the attention was focused in Germany last weekend.
A capacity crowd of 80,552 fans crammed in, but the home fans were left shattered after arch-rivals Bayern Munich came from a goal down to trounce Jürgen Klopp’s side 5-1.
Bayern’s comeback was perhaps not surprising – they can, after all, call upon new Dutch arrival Arjen Robben, French wizard Franck Ribery and $50million man Mario Gómez.
But they can’t match Dortmund in the spectator stakes, with the Borussen attracting a league-best average of 73,802 fans during the 2008-09 campaign.
Across the board the league attracted an average of more than 42,500 fans – thanks in part to the cheapest average ticket prices found in any of Europe’s four major leagues.
So attractive are Bundesliga fixtures that hundreds of English fans fly over to Germany every weekend, rather than shell out their hard-earned on watching English football.
The 2006 FIFA World Cup undoubtedly helped – long gone are the days when I stood on the crumbling terraces of 1.FC Köln’s Müngersdorferstadion to watch the last ever Cologne derby against local rivals Fortuna.
Now Köln call the rebuilt 50,000-capacity Rhein Energie Stadion home, and it’s packed every weekend, despite the fact that the “billy goats” have been relegated three times this decade.
The unpredictability of the Bundesliga is arguably what makes it so special.
While the “big four” in England have usually jostled into position come the first week of October, the Bundesliga is notorious for upstart sides winning the league.
Borussia Dortmund came from nowhere to win on the final day of the 2001-02 campaign, while in 2003-04 it was the turn of Werder Bremen to shock the pundits.
Sandwiched in between are no less than five titles won by Bayern Munich this decade, however the Bavarians are usually given a run for their money – as they discovered last season when unfashionable Wolfsburg lifted a first ever Bundesliga crown.
Wolfsburg’s success came on the back of one of the most cosmopolitan squads ever assembled in Germany.
No less than twelve different nationalities represent the Volkswagen-backed club this time around, with former Urawa Reds midfielder Makoto Hasebe joining the likes of Nigerian striker Obefami Martins and Italian World Cup winner Andrea Barzagli.
There’s an Australian flavour at promoted side 1.FC Nürnberg, with Matthew Spiranovic and Dario Vidosic both calling one of Germany’s most beloved clubs home.
A common language and the familiar sight of English football on Australian TV makes the Premier League an obvious choice for discerning fans Down Under.
But with the Bundesliga receiving ever increasing exposure on our sunny shores, football fans would be well rewarded for tuning in to what has been the highest scoring of Europe’s big four leagues every year since 1989.
As much as I enjoy watching English football, when it comes to season-long excitement, I turn to the Bundesliga every time.
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Kurt said | September 15th 2009 @ 2:45am | Report comment
The Bundesliga is the most exciting and unpredictable league in the world (and I’ll have to take Mike’s word for it) because we Germans are the most exciting and unpredictable people in the world.
Freud of Football said | September 15th 2009 @ 5:52am | Report comment
The Bundesliga is definately not the most exciting league in the world. It is sub-standard football played out largely in the media. Every manager is a personality, everyone from the chariman to the groundsmen makes his views public and all-in-all one team or the other captiulates, hence the high games-goal ratio, you might call that excitement but I find it pathetic to see such “mood swings” in professional footballers that can see teams win 4-0 one week against top of the table opposition and lose 3-1 the following to a team battling relegation.
That’s why so few German’s make the move abroad to the now bigger leagues (let’s face it, the EPL and La Liga are neck and neck at the top of the pile, then Serie A, then Daylight, then the Bundesliga). Only Ballack has done so with any real success. Odonkor was meant to be the next big thing after the World Cup but he’s largely been a flop and Metzelder couldn’t even get on the pitch for large spells at Real Madrid.
Schweinsteiger attracted interest from England, as did Podolski but they preferred to stay on in Germany, knowing that the move abroad would mean they were no longer the stars of the team with the latter deciding to rot away on the Allianz Arena pine rather than get extra playing time (admitedly Bayern’s 3 amigo’s made it tough for him to transfer but he obviously believed his own hype after the World Cup and opted to transfer to Bayern).
The only thing the Germans can lay claim to is having some of the best refereeing in the world. I’d love to see them take charge of an EPL match, finally we’d get the penalties that truly are and only the card’s that really should be issued.
Art Sapphire said | September 15th 2009 @ 9:36am | Report comment
Freud – In your first paragraph you actually present an excellent argument as to why the Bundesliga is so exciting. High goals to games ratios, mood swings, unpredictable results.
To you these are negatives and you would much rather prefer predictable EPL fodder.
I’d rather pay 12 Euro to stand and watch a team like Dortmund or Schalke with a big crowd and great atmosphere than pay 30 – 40 pounds to watch an EPL game.
Freud of Football said | September 15th 2009 @ 4:54pm | Report comment
A high goals-game ratio isn’t automatically an indicator of an entertaining league. The stats in the Bundesliga are skewed as when teams go 2-0 down, it often very quickly becomes 4-0. Yes there are some games like the Hoffenheim-Werder Bremen one last year which ended 5-4 was absolutely enthralling but as much as anything, that was down to poor defending, not fantastic attacking football.
The EPL is certainly still predicatable in that we are a long way off a team outside the Big 4 winning the title but over the last 2-3 years mid-table teams have been putting together squads that are genuinely going to be challenging for honours, definately in the cup competitions and on their day they are able to trouble anyone.
I most certainly would rather watch an EPL game, the fans are more entertaining to begin with, the football is faster and of a higher quality (although the Bundesliga is back on the rise) and you know that both teams are going to be giving it their all, in Germany, it depends on what side of the bed the players got out off, invariably it was the wrong one.
Art Sapphire said | September 15th 2009 @ 5:32pm | Report comment
Freud – you seriously have no idea do you?
How are EPL fans more entertaining than the Bundesliga fans?
Do the German chants get lost in translation for you.
Are the flags and the choreography in the terraces that you see in in the Bundesliga are too much for you. Get off your English highhorse, your crediblity is taking a battering.
Freud of Football said | September 15th 2009 @ 7:29pm | Report comment
I live in Germany and speak fluent German.
Back in your box
Wilson_D said | September 15th 2009 @ 2:08pm | Report comment
I think the quality of the Bundesliga is clearly on the rise. It went down after the TV rights holder Leo Kirch went bust in 2002, but since 2006 things are looking very promising. It certainly helps that most German players stay in the Bundesliga. You must understand that the Bundesliga is a buyer and not a feeder league. The teams invest more money in new players than they generate from sales. And it doesn`t make sense to judge the quality of a buyer league by its exports. You do not judge the quality of the Premier League by the performances of former PL players in other leagues either.
If you look at the young players in the Bundesliga you will find that they don`t have to hide behind those of the other leagues. In fact, one could argue, that those young players are better than their peers in the other top leagues.
And while La Liga and Premier League are indeed the best leagues at the moment, it is likely that the Bundesliga will get the 4th CL spot from Serie A within the next 2 years.
Ben of Phnom Penh said | September 15th 2009 @ 5:31pm | Report comment
“That’s why so few German’s make the move abroad to the now bigger leagues”
in stark contrast to all the successful Englishmen in La Liga and Serie A
The Bishop said | September 15th 2009 @ 7:02pm | Report comment
Ben, an easy throwaway line, but stop and think – why would Englishmen bother moving to an inferior league elsewhere if they are already playing in (objectively) the best League in the world? Apart from lower tax rates of course…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UEFA_coefficient#League_coefficient
http://www.iffhs.de/?b6e28fa3002f71504e52d17f7370eff3702bb1c2bb11
Freud’s point is therefore valid.
Ben of Phnom Penh said | September 16th 2009 @ 6:44pm | Report comment
Why would you want to play for Sheffield Wednesday instead of Fiorentina or Hull instead of Real Madrid? I can’t decide if it’s the weather or the food that would keep me in England.
I agree, The Bishop, that it was a throw away line however one throw away line deserved another.
Freud of Football said | September 15th 2009 @ 7:37pm | Report comment
England has had one of the top leagues in the world for the last decade or so hence the lack of Englishman moving abroad. Beckham did so with success but they generally want to play in England.
If I could also make a generalisation which won’t apply in all cases but is pertinent nonetheless – People from continental Europe have to learn foreign languages in school and it is stricter than in England. What this means is that your average English EPL Player probably only speaks English which will make the move abroad less appealing whereas the Dutch for example are more or less all fluent in English and a high percentage speak very good German.
The Eastern Europeans are the same, many learn German and that’s why there are so many Polish/Czech/Bulgarian etc players in the Bundesliga as that’s what they often learn in school, it makes the transition so much easier.
Of course this isn’t the only reason but it’s certainly part of it. Lucas Neill recently had this problem even.
Wilson_D said | September 17th 2009 @ 12:06pm | Report comment
“you might call that excitement but I find it pathetic to see such “mood swings” in professional footballers that can see teams win 4-0 one week against top of the table opposition and lose 3-1 the following to a team battling relegation.”
I would say that this is not only exciting but also a sign for a balanced league.
And again, the excitement and quality of the league wouldn`t improve if the German players went abroad. And neither will the reputation of the Bundesliga. If they fail to produce in another league, it would be depicted as a sign of weakness of the Bundesliga – if they succeed, people will say that the Bundesliga has lost quality due to his departure. The exodus of French players hasn`t helped the French league and neither will the Russian league profit from the ongoing departure of its best players. If you want to understand the developments of the different leagues you need to dig into the underlying football economics. The Bundesliga has improved financially and is now on par with Serie A and La Liga – athough the wealth in the Bundesliga is more evenly distributed than in those two leagues. If you consider that Germany has the biggest sponsorship market in Europe it is only logical that members of the German national team usually earn more in their homeland than they might do abroad.
And Odonkor has never been regarded as the next best thing in Germany – only by Germans who followed football for the first time during the WC in 2006.
“Every manager is a personality, everyone from the chariman to the groundsmen makes his views public”
I totally agree on this one. Bayern are probably the worst of the lot, but unfortunately it can be seen across the league.
albe said | September 15th 2009 @ 6:01am | Report comment
Its a very competitive league which is why i love it. Bayern obviously are the standout most seasons, but there’s always four or five other teams that can genuinely push for the title. And not always the same ones each year.
Whether its more exciting than the EPL … who knows? But its certainly a great league in its own right, and the one i watch most of aside from the A-League. Arsenal (and now maybe Man City) are the only two i can bear to watch in the Golden Balls League.
The coverage has been very good here the last few seasons, though a little late to see much of my fave player Rafa vdV going round for Hamburg. Great to see them coming good under Labbadia. Elia is looking like a fine successor (finally) to the great Dutchman van der Vaart.
thankfully (given they’re the two teams i follow) the HSV-Stuttgart clash was replayed sunday morning on Setanta … they actually pick up the bulk of the games, OneHD gets the scraps + highlights show.
albatross said | September 15th 2009 @ 9:56am | Report comment
Should we run a sweep on how long it will take for Micky C to get here and tell us how teams in the HBL are converting AFL real soon now?
BigAl said | September 15th 2009 @ 1:42pm | Report comment
I’m sure the author is crossing his fingers.
Vicentin said | September 15th 2009 @ 1:54pm | Report comment
He can get in on the Indan Football/Scuola Calcio blog too …they’re crying out for our indigenous code TM you know…
cab711 said | September 15th 2009 @ 12:24pm | Report comment
They are getting decent attendances so they must be doing something right. Nice to see a more open playing field.
Freud of Football said | September 15th 2009 @ 4:57pm | Report comment
They will always get decent attendences, the German teams aren’t like those in Australia.
Thats a problem with the A-League, it seems people lack identification with the clubs, Sydney FC in particular whereas in Germany, people growing up support their local team from the time they can walk and do so with a passion. You could put out teams the quality of the Malaysian leagues and still fill a stadium
Art Sapphire said | September 15th 2009 @ 5:36pm | Report comment
What do you expect Einstein. Oops I mean Sigmund.
The A-League is 5 years old. Generational support has not quite kicked in yet.
Freud of Football said | September 15th 2009 @ 6:29pm | Report comment
Oh really, I hadn’t realised that was the reason, I thought it was the ignorance of people such as yourself.
Art Sapphire said | September 15th 2009 @ 11:41pm | Report comment
Come, come now Fraud. I am off to Adelaide on Friday to meet meet some wonderful AUFC supporters. They might be a bit slow but even they know that when someone makes an astute observation, you should thank them for correcting your oversight. Bad Form
Pippinu said | September 15th 2009 @ 8:54pm | Report comment
Just checked the EPL Fantasy League – with a lazy 70 points this week I’ve absolutely rocketed up the Roar standings.
Simone` said | September 15th 2009 @ 2:26pm | Report comment
I’ve always loved the Bundesliga. But mainly because the defences are so shabby that you’ll always see a lot of goals.
melbvictory87 said | September 15th 2009 @ 5:13pm | Report comment
easily my favourite league has so many advantages over other leagues. ie.
epl: predictable as hell only worth watching when the big 4 play each other (LITERALLY)
serie a: so many problems its unbelievable
la liga: well not as much criticism here coz la liga is good too.
eitherway, attendances are amazing even when your teams getting relegated there unpredictability about it as seen by tsg hoffenheim and wolfsburg (imagine anything like that ever happening in epl……i dont thinxo BORING) and the passion and atmosphere at these matches would blow any1 away.
no league has better atmosphere than the bundesliga, no league in any sport in the world that is
Freud of Football said | September 15th 2009 @ 6:34pm | Report comment
Hoffenheim has the backing of a squillionaire, they managed to refurbish their current stadium while building a new one at the same time, that sort of money splashing is seen everyday in the EPL so of course you can see it happening, 2 years ago Man City had no hope, now they can afford any player in the world. Just because it’s not so common in Germany due to the stricter regulations on ownership doesn’t make the league entirely different.
As for a team like Wolfsburg winning, well they had the ex Bayern Manager at the helm, very good financial backing from local sponsor VW and assembled a good squad, it was as much other teams falling apart around them that led them to the title as their own good play.
Ben of Phnom Penh said | September 15th 2009 @ 5:34pm | Report comment
The uncertainty of who is going to be on top at the end of the season alone makes the Bundesliga a more exciting league for me than the other three. Yes, there is more talent in the EPL however I find the relegation battle in the EPL far more exciting than the title chase. I cannot say the same for the Bundesliga.
Freud of Football said | September 15th 2009 @ 7:40pm | Report comment
Last year the title challenge in the EPL was brilliant. Given, some years its a farce but when Bayern are at full strength it’s the same in Germany, just because Wolfsburg won it last year doesn’t mean it’s like that every year. Bayern are known as “Rekordmeister” having won the most titles in Germany by a long long way, they are far more dominant domestically than any othe team I can think of.
Barcelona and Real Madrid are generally very close.
The EPL has Chelsea and Man Utd and previously Liverpool who are getting up there again.
Serie A with Juve, Inter and Milan
Who competes with Bayern? No other club has their prestige in the land, it’s probably the only team supported across the country.
Just because they haven’t been successful of late doesn’t make the league more uncertain.
Wilson_D said | September 15th 2009 @ 9:19pm | Report comment
“Who competes with Bayern? No other club has their prestige in the land, it’s probably the only team supported across the country.”
But you seem to think that clubs compete for prestige and fans rather than titles. As far as the Bundesliga is concerned, I wouldn`t be surprised if Hoffenheim, Leverkusen or Hamburg win it this time. But in your way of thinking that wouldn`t be exciting as it would constitute Hoffenheim`s/Leverkusen`s first title and Hamburg doesn`t come close to Bayern`s trophy collection either. And it won`t be exciting as long as none of those teams wins 20 titles in a row.
But I have some serious issues with your understanding of excitement…
Freud of Football said | September 15th 2009 @ 10:23pm | Report comment
Clubs obviously don’t compete for presitge, they compete for titles. What I meant was quite simply that Bayern are in a league of their own when it comes to prestige and are pretty much the only club with nationwide support.
I would be surprised if Hoffenheim or Leverkusen win it this time round, Hamburg maybe but the former are simply not equipped for the marathon of a league campaign as evidenced by Hoffenheims 2nd half to last season.
When I think of excitement I think of football I don’t think of players who can’t keep their heads together for two weeks in a row, as I said, the only reason there is such a high goals-game ratio is poor defense and players who are mentally weak in comparison with those in the top leagues where a 2-0 becomes a 4-0 because the players lose their heads.
Defensive mistakes aren’t exciting to me at least and no-one has come up with any reason as to why the Bundesliga is so exciting other than the amount of goals scored and SUPPOSEDLY the fans, I asked a friend about this before, an avid supporter of Karslruhe and he even said himself that the German’s pale in comparison to english fans.
German fans are loyal, well-informed and passionate but in England it seems to be on another level all together and the football, well it’s certainly of a higher quality, it’s somewhat a personal thing. I have some Italian friends and they find defensive football beautiful and while they concede that the EPL is currently of a better standard, they find a cagey 1-0 more exciting than Arsenal romping Everton 6-1
Art Sapphire said | September 16th 2009 @ 12:08am | Report comment
I agree Wilson D.
I think Freud has over-analysed thing judging by the amount of words he has contributed on this subject. I also have trouble understanding his concept of “excitement”
Freud conveniently does not mention Man U have won 11 titles in the same time that Bayern have won 9. Based on that statiscal fact you can quite confidently say that the EPL is less exciting.
It must have been more exciting for a Man U supporters went 25 years without winning a title.
Don’t you agree SigMan U Freud?
Freud of Football said | September 16th 2009 @ 1:00am | Report comment
Art, go ahead and have the last word, you’re talking rubbish about a topic you obviously have no idea about.
You quite obviously have no first hand experience of the Bundesliga or the EPL and have just tried to back up you’re comments with a statistic which means very little.
Wilson_D said | September 17th 2009 @ 9:17pm | Report comment
“When I think of excitement I think of football I don’t think of players who can’t keep their heads together for two weeks in a row, as I said, the only reason there is such a high goals-game ratio is poor defense and players who are mentally weak in comparison with those in the top leagues where a 2-0 becomes a 4-0 because the players lose their heads.”
But the fans in the top leagues – at least those from abroad – are in 99% of cases fans of teams who finish regularly at the top and don`t qualify for the CL once in 10 years at the most – as does Bayern in Germany. But it depends upon your point of view: you could regard the players of other teams as mentally weak and the players at the elite clubs as mentally strong. But aren`t the fans of clubs who are in a constant rollercoaster ride between qualifying for the CL, fighting against relegation, relegation, promotion, mid-table mediocricy and challenge for the Europa League themselves mentally stronger than fans of a stable club. If you prefer chaos over stability and enjoy reading Nietzsche the Bundesliga is your paradise.
I don`t think that the weakness of defences in the Bundesliga is the sole reason for the high scores. And I don`t think that the low scores in the French league are solely the product of good defending. There is also a mentality to finish off the opponent and score another goal after going ahead instead of sitting back. The Bundesliga defences used to be top-class in Europe until they were tactically outdated at the end of the 90s. It took almost ten years to change the “German” libero system to a defence with 4 defenders. But now the output of young defenders is fine again, although they still lack experience.
“and SUPPOSEDLY the fans, I asked a friend about this before, an avid supporter of Karlsruhe and he even said himself that the German’s pale in comparison to english fans. ”
England in general and also English football has always had a positive reputation in Germany. The resentments coming from England and even the football rivalry are rather one-sided. So there is nothing surprising about a German saying something positive about England/English football. But whether it is justified is another question…
Mike Tuckerman said | September 16th 2009 @ 8:13am | Report comment
I think you’re being a little bit disingenuous here, our dear Dr. Freud.
It was you who insinuated that the Bundesliga was dominated by Bayern and therefore not exciting, but when Mr Sapphire pointed out that the Premier League has been dominated just as much by Manchester United, you’ve now changed your tune?
One rule for some and another for others, eh?
Ryan Steele said | September 16th 2009 @ 12:26pm | Report comment
Mike, everyone on The Roar is an expert, and can never be wrong.
Surely you’ve noticed this, by now.
Midfielder said | September 15th 2009 @ 7:29pm | Report comment
I have started watching the Bundesliga on Ch 10 and it is good and ya I kinda agree with Mike it is a better league to watch than the EPL…
Brian Munich said | September 16th 2009 @ 8:36am | Report comment
Interesting Simon Hill raised this topic last night on Fox Sports, speaking for the Bundesliga’s attractiveness. Mark “EPL” Bosnich weighed in with a stereotypical but hopelessly uninformed view that the Bundesliga was boring because it was all about slow build-ups from the back. Cue footage of goal after goal going in from last weekend’s fixtures.
Vicentin said | September 16th 2009 @ 11:34am | Report comment
I wish I could see boring goals like Petric’s. That was perfectly executed …..and hammered. Yes well football quality is terribly subjective – I’m in the opposite camp to Bozza, where build-ups are certainly preferable to goalkeeping hoofs and continually contested aerial ball. It may not have the intensity of the premier league, or the tactical nous of Serie A but there are plenty of quality players around and it seems pretty entertaining for the most part. Much like the AFL many get very defensive if you have anything vaguely negative to say about the Premier League.
Oh and if anyone was wondering was Pim was doing on the weekend the highlights package showed that he was watching Nurnberg (Spiranovic et al) and chatting to other managers in the stands.
AndyRoo said | September 16th 2009 @ 11:55am | Report comment
Hmm Fox sports promoting One HD’s Bundisliga over their own EPL product…interesting.
albe said | September 17th 2009 @ 4:45am | Report comment
was shocked to see them cover a non-EPL league on the second segment of Fox FC too… even Russia got a mention but they did say the league gets little coverage here.
(Setanta show a game or two most sundays.)
Colin N said | September 17th 2009 @ 12:44am | Report comment
Sorry, I just don’t find German football entertaining. Being English, I’m a huge fan of the EPL, and find it very entertaining. I use to watch a lot of Italian football 6 years ago, and thought it was fantastic. Now that I again have regular access to it, I have found it hugely enthralling to watch. The Roma-Juventus game was superb.
Also, when I can, I will make the effort to watch Spanish football on the internet, and there are some great games there.
I also found the English Blue Square Premier more entertaining than the Bundesliga. Being a fan of a lower league club, I enjoy that type of football anyway, but it was more physical and intense than the German league.
This is how I see it, less quality than the big three (Serie A, La Liga and the EPL), and less intense and physical than the other football I enjoy (Lower league and the Blue Square Premier).
Mike Tuckerman said | September 18th 2009 @ 11:50am | Report comment
Sad to see the Bavarian derby between Bayern and Nürnberg knocked out of the live schedule but it’s on at 2am and 9am on One HD this Sunday morning, for those hoping to see Dario Vidosic in action.