Guide to the Bundesliga/German Football -Picking a club, info, etc.

Discussion in 'Germany' started by grapedog, Dec 23, 2010.

  1. grapedog

    grapedog New Member

    Jun 17, 2006
    On the ocean
    Club:
    New England Revolution
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    but I'm trying to watch more Bundesliga, the EPL is just not very appealing to watch anymore, for me. I've been trying to read up as much as I can on both teams, but I'm in a toss up between Shalke and Stuttgart, and I could use some help deciding which to go for.

    Sorry if this is a sore topic for some people, but I would appreciate any help in the matter.
     
  2. Footy Magoo

    Footy Magoo Audaces fortuna iuvat

    Mar 23, 2009
    ♫ Flugelville
    Re: You probably get this alot...

    If you can get ESPN3.com, there are quite a few replays available for both teams games. Check it out. You may even find watching a team other than those two that appeals to you more.
     
  3. Equilibrium

    Equilibrium Member+

    Sep 21, 2007
    None of your busines
    Club:
    FC Bayern München
    Nat'l Team:
    Germany
    Re: You probably get this alot...

    Sometimes you can't watch it, so you have to use streams online.

    myp2p.eu
    atdhe.net

    Those two are the best ones available. Atdhe.net is usually the best one I find, you also don't need to dl anything and it works perfectly. P2P you click either the windows media player links or other which usually have the same thing. Sometimes it asks for veetle I believe, it's the name of the program and you only have to dl it once. However it's quick & easy and it has great streaming quality!
     
  4. Lamprey

    Lamprey Member

    Jul 2, 2010
    Las Vegas
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Re: You probably get this alot...

    Schalke has a great tv service through their main site. And you can even find ways to get it for free. Highly recommended!
     
  5. 96Squig

    96Squig Member

    Feb 4, 2004
    Hanover
    Club:
    Hannover 96
    Nat'l Team:
    Netherlands
    Re: You probably get this alot...

    There are a few threads like this, maybe we should write up a 'guide to Bundesliga' and pin it or something.
     
  6. $crooge

    $crooge Member

    Jun 2, 2004
    Mainz, Germany
    Club:
    FSV Mainz 05
    Nat'l Team:
    Germany
    Re: You probably get this alot...

    What makes Schalke an interesting club is the fact that they are one of the biggest clubs in the country in terms of fans, money and expectations but yet never managed to win the league. They are notoriously unsuccessful. To some that makes them losers, to others it makes them underdog heroes or "Stehaufmännchen" or even "Meister der Herzen".

    Stuttgart on the other hand seem(ed) to be a relatively "normal", unpretentious club that somehow managed to breed and ninja buy great talent. However, in recent years (since their last championship) they go from crisis to crisis and this season it looks worse than ever. Like Bremen, they might be on the brink of disaster, i.e. of permanently dropping out of the top third of the league.

    Maybe that helps a bit (and probably starts an argument :D ).
     
  7. ForeverRed

    ForeverRed Member+

    Aug 18, 2005
    NYC
    Club:
    FC Bayern München
    Nat'l Team:
    Germany
    Re: You probably get this alot...

    Good idea. :)
     
  8. grapedog

    grapedog New Member

    Jun 17, 2006
    On the ocean
    Club:
    New England Revolution
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Re: You probably get this alot...

    How about from the fans/stadium standpoint? Good beer, lots of rowdy fans, songs, flags, good rocking stadium during the game. Which team has a better atmosphere. I understand the question is based mostly on opinion, but I'd really like some opinons on both teams from that standpoint, if possible. Thank you for the links as well, I'll certainly check them out.
     
  9. Cirdan

    Cirdan Member

    Sep 12, 2007
    Jena (Germany)
    Re: You probably get this alot...


    Not completely true... they go from crisis in autumn to firing the coach in december to playing a fantastic return round and saving the season by qualifying for Europe... this year, they tried to break the cycle by firing the coach earlier, but instead, it's worse than ever ^^

    My guide to Bundesliga fooball (a categorization of clubs that play or played 1st division in recent times via support, success and business model):

    The top dog is obviously Bayern, the only club with truly nationwide support (and hatred), by far the most successfull since Beckenbauers time in the 70s, the richest since about the 80s and the only one that really belongs not only into the national, but the international elite. No secret there, except perhaps that they only ascended to their position in the 70s, pre-Bundesliga, other clubs were bigger.

    Then, there's 9 other big Bundesliga clubs, that played the majority of BuLi seasons, have a huge local following (average attendance 40k+), and a couple of notable titles to brag about (Bundesliga, DFB-Pokal and/or European competitions). Schalke, Hamburg, Dortmund, Stuttgart and Werder had some recent success and play for international qualification, while Cologne, Mönchengladbach, Frankfurt and Kaiserslautern spent some time in the 2nd division in the last decade and therefore have a bit less money right now and currently have trouble reaching international competitions. Arguably, some (Dortmund, Schake, Hamburg) are a bit better supported than others (Weder, K'lautern), but I'd put all of them on a similar level - with a year in the CL or maybe a couple of EL participations, any of the "lower level" 4 could come back into the elite, and if Stuttgart manage to get relegated, I doubt they'll compete for European competitions for years.

    Then, there's a number of big clubs from big cities that haven't had much success in Bundesliga times, but that have a similarly big local support as the big 10 and usually one or the other title (often ancient): Nürnberg, Hannover, Hertha, 1860 Munich. Düsseldorf might belong here, too, but they haven't played Bundesliga in ages, who knows what support they could get, currently, I don't see them on a level with the others. Also, 1860 doesn't appear to be able to get back into the Bundesliga anytime soon.

    Then, there's the rich kids, who "bought" success via support of a big local company or supporter - Bayer Leverkusen (Bayer) and VFL Wolfsburg (Volkswagen) both used to be sports clubs for company workers and have the financial backing of the mother company, Hoffenheim (Hopp/SAP) was the club of billionaire Hopp and was pushed by him for the last 20 years. RB Leipzig (Red Bull) might get to be the next one in line, though they are only in 4th division yet, and it's not completely clear if they'll even get a license for the Bundesliga with their ownership structure.

    There's also a couple of "young and dynamic" clubs with good youth work and sometimes a special/unique club philosophy and who arguably play way above their weight, I'd count SC Freiburg, Mainz 05 and FC St.Pauli here (though Pauli is certainly a special case).

    Finally, we have the "best of the rest", clubs from smaller or less football-crazy cities or who compare unfavourably with local competition, with less money than the big ones but still with enough support for professional football and who occasionally show up in the Bundesliga in a good year (Duisburg, Bochum, Bielefeld, Aachen, Rostock etc), and yes, the difference between "young and dynamic" and "best of the rest" is a bit vague.. mostly club history (best of the rest tend to have more) and current philosophy (young and dynamic tend to have "more").

    A word on Eastern German clubs: Due to bad infrastructure and bad management, most of them fell quite a bit after the reunion, and the competition is tough, it's not easy to get back to the top... especially considering that few of them ever had as much support as the big Western clubs. It's probably a bit unfortunate that the clubs that coped best (Rostock, Cottbus) are hardly the biggest, while in particular the big Saxon clubs (VFB and Sachsen Leipzig, Dynamo Dresden), who probably have the most fan potencial, had huge problems with finances and later hooligans.
     
    nowherenova and cortisoljunkie repped this.
  10. Footy Magoo

    Footy Magoo Audaces fortuna iuvat

    Mar 23, 2009
    ♫ Flugelville
    Nice write-up, Cirdan.
     
  11. grapedog

    grapedog New Member

    Jun 17, 2006
    On the ocean
    Club:
    New England Revolution
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Re: You probably get this alot...

    from recent reading, are not all divisions of german soccer part of the bundesliga, just different levels of it? i'm still trying to figure out that new wrinkle with the 2nd team reserves and not being promotable, or something like that. But from the post, it almost seemed like the bundesliga was a league unto it's own, and the rest of the teams, in lower divisions were in some other race.
     
  12. RMCFkevin

    RMCFkevin Member+

    Nov 20, 2008
    Club:
    Real Madrid
    Nat'l Team:
    Germany
    One thing that worries me about the Bundesliga is the players. Not so much that they are good/bad but that all of the good players seem to leave for another club/league. It is kind of sad to see and I'm afraid it attracts less attention to the league. I honestly some day feel like I'm going to stop following the league once Schweinsteiger leaves Germany or retires.
     
  13. FCBayernDM

    FCBayernDM Member

    May 13, 2007
    Upstate New York
    Club:
    FC Bayern München
    Nat'l Team:
    Germany
    Re: You probably get this alot...

    This article should give you a better idea of how it works link
     
  14. ForeverRed

    ForeverRed Member+

    Aug 18, 2005
    NYC
    Club:
    FC Bayern München
    Nat'l Team:
    Germany
    Why the hell would you do that?? Do you watch the Bundesliga only for Schweinsteiger?
     
  15. "Eisenfuß" Eilts

    Jul 1, 2005
    In the sun ;)
    Club:
    SV Werder Bremen
    Re: You probably get this alot...

    Bremen and Stuttgart both suffer under their stadium extensions. That costs a lot of money and since both clubs managements are known to act financially greedy, they save money at transfers. Indeed this is risky, but both clubs have a good youth system to built on and there relative calm environment. So I expect a difficult time during paying the stadium biils, but then they will be back.
     
  16. Footy Magoo

    Footy Magoo Audaces fortuna iuvat

    Mar 23, 2009
    ♫ Flugelville
    Seriously? Then why follow it now? Why would a guy who plays on one of the 18 teams keep you following the whole league? This is one of the more interesting comments I've heard in a long time. :D
     
  17. grapedog

    grapedog New Member

    Jun 17, 2006
    On the ocean
    Club:
    New England Revolution
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Thanks for all the advice everyone, I decided to go with Schalke 04! I watched a few of their games on the ESPN3 channel(thanks for the heads up). I'm psyched that I'll actually be able to catch more games that way. I tried going to schalke04.com for the US version of their website, but it was some weird un/pw popup. Perhaps just a goof with the site or with the routing from america.

    Thanks again though for the info, it was much appreciated.
     
  18. Homa

    Homa Member

    Feb 4, 2008
    Aachen
    Club:
    FC Schalke 04
    Nat'l Team:
    Germany
    www.schalke04.com is the English version of the club's website. Don't know why you couldn't reach it. Maybe you could try going there via the German site www.schalke04.de. They have a link there to the English version (up at the very top) though it does lead to schalke04.com.

    The German version also has far more content than the English one which isn't surprising.
     
  19. Loddar

    Loddar Member

    Oct 12, 2009
    Herzogenaurach
    Club:
    FC Bayern München
    Nat'l Team:
    Germany
    What he actually wants to say is that clubs like Real, ManCity etc. are getting all really good players of the Bundesliga (besides Schweinsteiger).
    Therefore everyone should only watch and worship these kind of clubs, and forget about this German league, who isn´t milking its fans to the limit, faking financial statements without consequences or living from shady billionaires from extremely corrupt countries.
     
    Schoppe23 repped this.
  20. RMCFkevin

    RMCFkevin Member+

    Nov 20, 2008
    Club:
    Real Madrid
    Nat'l Team:
    Germany
    When I started following the Bundesliga, it was only because Schweinsteiger was playing in the league. Why I like the guy? I was watching a Bayern/Chelsea match in 04-05 and my dad commented that I looked A LOT like Schweini on TV when they showed a close-up of him. I thought this was the coolest thing and figured "this is my guy". I should note he also scored a goal in that match. Since then I kind of have always followed him and his progress.

    As the years progressed, other friends of mine told me I looked like Bastian (mostly during EURO 2008) and I just think its really cool I resemble an awesome world-class footballer. If I never followed him I never would have gotten into the Bundesliga or supported the National Team.

    I think I might still follow the league once he leaves/retires but it just might feel weird when he's not playing in the league.


    This ^^^

    Post of the day... wait no, post of the year :eek:

    :rolleyes:
     
  21. alkmaar67

    alkmaar67 New Member

    May 14, 2008
    Newtownards
    Club:
    AZ
    Schalke never won the Bundesliga but they were German champions before a single unified structure existed (1963 onwards). Still, like the more recent Premier League (even more so actually), it is a useful marking point in history and with the last time they were national champions being 1958, it gives rise to a chant, which I heard myself when I was at last summer's LIGA TOTAL Cup:

    Ein Leben Lang, Keine Schale In Der Hand.

    Harsh but true!

    Wish you lots of enjoyment following die Königsblauen.
     
  22. Homa

    Homa Member

    Feb 4, 2008
    Aachen
    Club:
    FC Schalke 04
    Nat'l Team:
    Germany
    There was a unified and official structure to play out the German champion before the Bundesliga. Its not as if some teams met in some obscure place year after year to play a couple of friendlies whose winner was declared champion.

    The system before the Bundesliga resembles the way US sports are organized todays. A couple of regional divisions whose champions after the "regular" season started in a play off system to decide the championship.

    I find it downright insulting how the Bundesliga only counts "its" titles todays. As if nothing before existed.
     
  23. Hobo

    Hobo Member+

    Apr 29, 2007
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    The Bundesliga didn't exist before 1963. It is like how the Bears, or even the Detroit Lions, won a bunch of NFL championships before the advent of the Superbowl. They were definitely champions but not Superbowl champions.
     
  24. Homa

    Homa Member

    Feb 4, 2008
    Aachen
    Club:
    FC Schalke 04
    Nat'l Team:
    Germany
    I don't know much about American Football but as much as I could get from reading the Wikipedia article the Super Bowl was, at first, played between the champions of two rivaling leagues which a couple of years later merged and formed the two conference of the NFL.

    A couple of regional leagues were run in Germany by their regional football (soccer) associations (as they still do) but all those associations were part of the DFB. At the end the champions of the regional leagues (and here and there the second team) went on to play in a play off or cup system to determine the official German champion. Thats were my comparison comes from.

    Now there were quite a few changes but there was no rival football association with a rival national champion. The winner WAS the official German champion. The whole structure wasn't stable with a lot of changes how the play off system was to be played out. But it still was the only and legitimate way to become German football champion.

    The whole thing really only started to get into doubt with the creation of the DFL. They of course wanted nothing to do with the former championships as that may taint the glory of the Bundesliga as the end all and be all of German football.
     
  25. Footy Magoo

    Footy Magoo Audaces fortuna iuvat

    Mar 23, 2009
    ♫ Flugelville
    The AFL was a league of rejects and border line talent that began in 1960. Until they got players like Namath to take the league seriously and sign with them, they were poor second cousins at best. To claim that the Bears, Lions, Giants, etc weren't Super Bowl champs because they didn't play the yet-to-exist AFL is silly. There was no Super Bowl for the first 40 years because the AFL didn't exist, but the NFL champs were certainly the champions of pro football.
     

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