The German Bundesliga has traditionally been among the top five European Football Leagues, along with the English Premier League, Spain’s Primera Division or the la Liga, the Italian Serie A and French Ligue 1. While the English Premier League, by far, is the most talked about and full of highly competitive teams, Bundesliga scores over all others in match attendance. German stadiums are big and ticket prices are not as steep as those in other European leagues. You can watch a league game if you can afford to spend about € 22. The 2013-14 is the 51st season for Bundesliga, the first match of which was played on August 9, 2013. The league matches are played by 18 teams and this season’s final has been scheduled for May 10, 2014. As a tradition there will be no football between December 20, 2013 and January 26, 2014. Bayern Munich are the defending champions and in this season too, they are already way ahead of others having already accumulated 32 points. They are followed by Borussia Dortmund and Bayer Leverkusen, with both teams notching up 28 points each.
Robbie Kruse
Earlier in the season Bayern Munich played wretchedly though they went past Nuremburg 2-0 in a match, which saw a soft penalty squandered. In sharp contrast, another title contender, Bayern Leverkusen had a great start to the season in defeating Mönchengladbach 4-2. The start of the season also saw some entertaining games, one among which was a contest between Hoffenheim and Freiburg. Hoffenheim began with an early lead through a penalty, but Freiburg equalized only to lag behind again by a goal from Kevin Volland. Soon afterwards, Freiburg equalized once again. Then two more goals came in the second half from either side. Though it was drawn game at 3-3, fans enjoyed the lively proceedings. The season did not bode so well for Hamburg who had a humiliating 5-1 thrashing from Hoffenheim and then lost 1-0 to Hertha. The 2011-12 champions, Borussia Dortmund had to sweat out in the 1-0 win against Werder Bremen to record their third straight victory of the season from three matches.
The league also featured some unusual results. While Hoffenheim’s 5-1 victory against Hamburg has been mentioned above, Wolfsburg handed a stunning 4-0 defeat to Schalke. For Hoffenheim Brazilian playmaker Roberto Firmino scored two goals and played a major role in other three goals. For Wolfsburg, the goals were scored by Robin Kncohe, Stefan Kutschke, Naldo and Vieirinha. Table topper Bayern Munich also had some tense matches, one of which involved a hard-fought encounter with Frankfurt, though Bayern finally won 1-0. Bayern also had a tough game against Leverkusen, which ended in a 1-1 draw. Bayern Munich’s rise to the top was also helped by two losses by Dortmund, one among which was a 2-0 shock defeat by Gladbach.
But this Bundesliga season will probably be known for a famous record, which Bayrn Munich has created. More than thirty years ago, Hamburger SV, one of Bundesliga’s top football teams at that time, set a record which appeared too difficult to be broken. During the period between January 1982 and January 1983, they made history by winning 36 matches on the trot. In German league football no club had ever achieved such distinction. In this context, it is noteworthy that last week, Bayern Munich, outperformed Hamburger SV, while winning their 37th game in a row by beating Ausburg 3-0. This victory will go down in the history books, since it is new record for most consecutive victories in Bundesliga. In the game against Ausburg, Bayern Munich played dominant football through 90 minutes and their goals came from Jerome Boateng, Franck Ribery and Thomas Müller.
Just like the English Premier League, the Bundesliga is also one league, which have equally competent teams and with a lot of time remaining, it is still anybody’s game.