Bundesliga

It is the highest football competition in Germany. The full German name is Fußball-Bundesliga. The league was founded in this form on 28 July 1962 in Dortmund. Football is the number one sport in Germany, so the history of German football as such is of course older.

At the beginning of the 20th century, 86 football clubs agreed to form the German Football Association. This was in 1900. First the Victoria Cup was played for, from 1903 until 1944. The division into West Germany and the GDR also brought about the division of the league. Gradually, however, it all led to the formation of the Bundesliga, which East German teams have participated in since 1991.

The clubs in the Bundesliga

The Bundesliga is played by 18 teams, with Bayern Munich being the most successful club at the top level. Its dominance within the league is absolutely overwhelming, even in recent years. It has a total of 28 titles in the Bundesliga. These fall under the current format of the game, but it has a total of 29 titles from the top league competition.

After Bayern, Borussia Dortmund is the most successful in the Bundesliga. The club has 5 titles in the Bundesliga, some of them from modern history. However, in total they have 8 first league titles, so 3 from before the Bundesliga. If we were to look at it in terms of most premier league titles, Nuremberg are still above Borussia, who have 9 titles in total, but only one of those is in the Bundesliga. And that was back in 1968.

Competition format

From the 2011/12 season onwards, the top three qualify for the UEFA Champions League and the club in fourth position then qualifies for the preliminary round. The fifth and sixth-placed clubs play in the UEFA Europa League. The last two clubs, on the other hand, are relegated to the second highest German competition, the 2. Bundesliga. They will be replaced in the first Bundesliga by the top two from the 2nd Bundesliga.

In Germany, of course, the league cups are also played for. The winner of the top competition will play for the DFL-Supercup. The winner of the German national cup, the DFB-Pokal, will play for it.