The Bundesliga has been in existence since 1963. The current format for the top league in German football, and arguably one of Europe's best leagues, is for eighteen clubs to compete for the title. At the end of the season the bottom two teams are automatically relegated and replaced by the top two finishers from the 2. Bundesliga (second division). Interestingly, the team that finishes 16th in the top division then has a playoff with the team that finishes 3rd in the second division. The winner of that playoff gets to play top flight football the following season.
2009/10 records show that 12.79 million spectators attended Bundesliga games, which means that stadiums were 10% short of being at full capacity. In 2010/11, with Germany once again making a huge impact on the World Cup stage, an increase in spectators and supporters is expected as fans flock to see home grown talent who nearly all play in Germany as opposed to plying their trade in other leagues.
In the 2009/10 season with only four games left, six teams were all still in the running to become overall winners. There is tremendous parity in this league, which leads to a great deal of betting excitement. In 2010/11 the title of Bundesliga League Champions will be contested by Bayer Leverkusen, Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund, Eintracht Frankfurt, Freiburg, Hamburg, Hannover 96, Hoffenheim, Kaiserslautern, Koln, Mainz, Monchengladbach, Nuremberg, Schalke 04, St. Pauli, Stuttgart, Werden Bremer and Wolfsburg.
The league runs from August until May the following year, and although the league has historically been dominated by Bayern Munich, who have won the championship an astonishing 21 times, they are unlikely to have matters all their own way this time around. Bundesliga betting is a fascinating alternative to the more popular English Premier League and La Liga, and often there is better value to be found in the odds. Check out our live feeds of odds, results, and latest Bundesliga news to help you make informed betting decisions throughout the season!
Betting on the leading goal scorer in a league as competitive as the one in Germany is never easy but a short list of ten players to watch in the Bundesliga would have to include Frank Ribery (Bayern Munich), Luca Toni (Bayern Munich), Rafael Van Der Vaart (HSV), Torsten Frings (Werder Bremen), Miroslav Klose (Bayern Munich), Bastian Schweinsteiger (Bayern Munich), Ze Tobert (Schalke), Juan Pablo Sorin (HSV), Lukas Podolski (Bayern Munich) and Fernando Meira (Stuttgart).
Players such as Marko Arnautovic (Bremen), Robert Lewandowski (Dortmund) and Simon Kjær (Wolfsburg), have all chosen to stay on with their respective clubs and partake in the Bundesliga, over joining another Top European League.
Other players who will make an impact but who probably won't score enough goals for this market include Bastian Schweinsteiger, Sami Khedira, Mesut Özil, Thomas Müller, Michael Ballack (Bayer Leverkusen) and Christoph Metzelder (Schalke 04)
Christian Fuchs has been signed up by FSV Mainz 05, Marcus Berg is now chasing goals for Eredivisie and Edin Dzeko and Zvjezdan Misimovic will be staying on with VfL Wolfsburg. Dezko was the leading scorer in the league in 2009. In 2008 that honour was scooped by the Brazilian player Grafite. Both men lined up for Wolfsburg.
This upcoming season promises to be one of the most exciting Bundesliga Leagues that has been held to date. All the top teams are so closely matched that it is hard to predict which individual player will emerge as the leading goal scorer.