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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.