So I've followed EPL and MLS for most of my life but I'd like to start following Bundesliga as well. This is partially motivated my close friend who is a Bayern Munich supporter(Was born in Germany and lived by the club). I want to follow a club with a great atmosphere/place other clubs dread to come to, nice history, and entertaining playing style. I just love clubs with great atmospheres/tradition thus why I think I would really enjoy having a Bundesliga team. I mean could always support Bayern with my bud but I wouldn't mind having a rivalry either. So I'd love some input from the supporters here
Dont know if Bundesliga has to mean 1st Buli only but if you ask someone about Bundesliga in Germany this generally means 2nd Buli too. Pick the team that meets your requirements the most: great atmosphere(place other clubs dread to come to): 1. Bundesliga: Dortmund, Schalke, Gladbach, Frankfurt 2. Bundesliga: Dresden, Kaiserslautern, St. Pauli, 1860 München, Braunschweig history: clubs to avoid cause they are hated for being "retort clubs": 1. Buli: Hoffenheim, Wolfsburg and Leverkusen, Augsburg 2.Buli: Paderborn, Ingolstadt entertaining playing style: "entertaining" does not have to mean tiki-taka, but okay: 1. Buli: Bayern, Dortmund, Schalke, Hannover 2.Buli: Kaiserslautern, Hertha Berlin, 1860 München rivalry: a bit hard to reduce this to a few teams as everybody hates Bayern but themselves 1. Buli: Dortmund, Schalke, Stuttgart, Nürnberg, Bremen 2.Buli: Kaiserslautern, 1860 München(local rival)
Lots of great information, thanks. I should have been more specific on what I meant by entertaining style. One thing annoys me with some EPL teams is the way they sit back all game and rely on counter attacking(Then once they score they just play defense for the rest of the game). I like teams that strategically pick apart teams. I noticed Bayern didn't make the list of great atmospheres. I found that shocking because my friend talked about how great it was. Did the atmosphere fall off or it is just not very good?
I think he was talking about teams other than Bayern. If you really want atmosphere, the biggest rivalry in Germany is Schalke/Dortmund. In terms of playing style, you don't have to worry about many teams parking the bus. Currently, teams like Schalke, Dortmund, and Bayern will score many more goals than the average team for obvious reasons, but most teams play pretty entertaining styles. I would choose 4-5 teams, watch some games, and talk to fans of the respective teams. Get a feel for things.
Then your friend has never ever seen a real crowd. Some weeks ago they did a survey and they came last in 1st Buli. That's because they have a very "spoilt" crowd. They often say their fans just sit there with a glass of champagnes. If Bayern plays crap you will hear a pin dropping. If they win 6-1 it is like an average game of other clubs. In fact I can name you many people that left Bayern since AllianzArena opened for 1860 cause the support is better and louder with just around 20.000 as when Bayern sold it out. There are not so much teams you speak of in Buli as in PL cause financially the teams are more even(apart from Bayern). Yeah would advise you to follow a few match-days and then decide.
Saw this flowchart some time ago here on this forum. Now, it's a bit dated (since some teams got relegated in the meantime) and I don't agree with every statement, but I still chuckled a bit. Maybe it helps?
Thanks guys for all the advice and input. I'll definitely be sitting down watching some games coming up to figure out who I want to support. Honestly, the idea of having a rivalry with my Bayern friend sounds kind of cool.
Bayern's biggest rivals are....the other 17 team teams in the Bundesliga lol But realistically, Bayern Munich's biggest rivals are whoever can realistically challenge them for the title. Right now and for the foreseeable future, that means Dortmund and Schalke, but that can always change. Nuremberg is a more traditional rival of Bayern Munich if you want to go that route, although I don't think that they'll be very fun to watch this season.
Mönchengladbach (70s), Schalke (2000s) and Leverkusen (early 2000s) are more of a rival to Bayern than Kaiserslautern I'd say. Possibly even Hamburg with their success in the past.
Guys, that's ridiculous to speak in all those terms of "rivals" to Bayern. If I speak about rivalry then it's about the whole club, the people who work there, their fans, their stadium, even their sponsors are subject of hate and rejection. All those other teams you name were once competitors of Bayern and that's why Bayern is hated there but Bayerns fans, if you can call them fans, dont ever "hate back" cause they have no reasons for that. For example Dortmund and Schalke are dont even call their else cities by their names. The quality that lies in that could only be seen between Bayern and 1860. It is about where you're from, your way of thinking, a decision in principle. I mean since the 70ies the hooligan scenes of both clubs even had to make city-wide(Munich) agreements of "not beating up each other all the time". Two weeks ago a new square was opened in Untergiesing - a city district that clearly "blue" cause it is close to 1860 training grounds and Grünwalder Stadion. The problem was the benches they've build up there were painted red. Then in one night this happened. And now they will stay blue.
Yes, but they rarely ever play each other (and never in league play). The OP had a number of requirements, and I don't think he can fulfill every one. He's going to have to pick and choose. 1860 is Bayerns biggest rival, but they won't meet in league play. Dortmund is Bayerns biggest challenger in the league at the moment, but they aren't real rivals. I'd even say there's more hate between Schalke and Bayern with the Neuer thing last season Point is, there's no perfect solution.
Ask any Kaiserslautern fan and any Bayern fan and they will disagree with you. This is also why Kaiserslautern and 1860 are friend clubs.
Okay. It does not seem like a very famous rivalry to me then. What is the background to it? 'lautern's championship in the 90s? Or their success in the 60s/70s?
It is older than that. I always took it that Kaiserslautern did not have a regional rival and while Bayern had some clubs close to them those teams were not consistently in the top flight. On top of that, there were a lot of big games in the 60s, 70s, and 80s and Bayern has always had a tough time winning in the Betzenberg (later Fritz Walter). This is not a one sided rivalry, and least not amongst Bayern fans who are older than 10.
Think Zak is right. Maybe you could also construct a even more back-going rivalry in Pfalz' and mainland Bavaria's common history. To be governed from far away Munich wasnt really much appreciated there. The big successful "unbeatable" Bayern was a replicate of that. The common roots and the rivalry to Bayern is the common ground 1860 and Lautern had for making friends back then. There were times fan groups of each other supported the other team, for example when played Bayern or Unterhaching in Munich, or when 1860 played other teams in the West such as Karlsruhe.
Not to be that guy, but you really should pick Union Berlin. The team plays a fun high tempo game, are putting some promising young players out right now, as I see a 1st division futures for Quiring and Jopek, and the fan-relationship is like nothing you find in the US. I mean how many clubs any where, in any sport, renovate their stadium not just with fan donations, but with fan labor? It's true love that drove those fans to volunteer their time and skills to work on the stadium. I've still never experienced anything like seeing a game at the Alten Försterei. So don't you want to be cool?
Hey... I have been watching the Buli for many years now, without any preference or favorite team... I do know wich teams i dont like... But the the start of this season, Eintracht Frankfurt has really caught my eye... My thougts are, young, fast and full of potential and a great stadium (really importen as i am a big stadium freek) So i would like to get all the informations u guys can give me... Fans, Finans, Youth, City etc. etc. Iam supporting Southampton, so winning or titles is not that important;-)
Well let's start with the stadium. If the stadium issue is so important for you I would suggest you should take a look at stadionwelt's guide on each and every stadium in Germany. Any preferences? Maybe then we can get more into details....... Is finance too? ^^ There are some German Southamptons to be found.
Stadiums i really like is, Frankfurt and Gladbach... and got a little crush on Hannover and Hoffenheim... Things there are important for me is the youth setup and that the club have big ambitions. I also like the "underdog" thing. The club must be well driven and not loaded with debt. But then again sometimes the team finds u, and u have to compromise on your ide of what the perfect club is But overall its important for me that the club has a long term plan and a idea of what road to take to have a bright future...
Well, unfortunately many of the "well driven" teams are loaded with debt. Schalke and Dortmund both have sizable debts; Schalke for the retractable roof stadium (and massive training facility/museum), and Dortmund for player spending prior to 2004 and 2006 stadium. Also "big ambitions" and "underdog" is another contradiction.
If any can light up things on Frankfurt, Hannover and Hoffenheim regarding, youth setup, finances and any other informations u feel is important to know it would be great...