As we did for last season, let's start the General Discussion Thread and Poll with the release of the schedule for the upcoming season. ============================= First Half Of The Season (Home Team Listed First/CL Dates Not Included/All Times CET) 23 July 2011 FC Scheisse 04 v BVB (8:30PM/German Super Cup Match) Weekend of 30 July 2011 SV Sandhausen - BVB (Date & Time TBD/First Round of German Cup) 5 August 2011 BVB - Hamburger SV (8:30PM/Bundesliga Match Day 1) 13 August 2011 TSG Hoffenheim - BVB (Date & Time TBD/Bundesliga Match Day 2) 20 August 2011 BVB - 1. FC Nürnberg (Date & Time TBD/Bundesliga Match Day 3) 27 August 2011 Bayer 04 Leverkusen - BVB (Date & Time TBD/Bundesliga Match Day 4) 10 September 2011 BVB-Hertha BSC Berlin (Date & Time TBD/Bundesliga Match Day 5) 17 September 2011 Hannover 96 - BVB (Date & Time TBD/Bundesliga Match Day 6) 24 September 2011 1. FSV Mainz 05 - BVB (Date & Time TBD/Bundesliga Match Day 7) 1 October 2011 BVB - FC Augsburg (Date & Time TBD/Bundesliga Match Day 8) 15 October 2011 Werder Bremen - BVB (Date & Time TBD/Bundesliga Match Day 9) 22 October 2011 BVB - 1. FC Köln (Date & Time TBD/Bundesliga Match Day 10) 29 October 2011 VfB Stuttgart - BVB (Date & Time TBD/Bundesliga Match Day 11) 5 November 2011 BVB - VfL Wolfsburg (Date & Time TBD/Bundesliga Match Day 12) 19 November 2011 FC Bayern München - BVB (Date & Time TBD/Bundesliga Match Day 13) 26 November 2011 BVB - FC Scheisse 04 (Date & Time TBD/Bundesliga Match Day 14) 3 December 2011 Borussia Mönchengladbach - BVB (Date & Time TBD/Bundesliga Match Day 15) 10 December 2011 BVB - 1. FC Kaiserslautern (Date & Time TBD/Bundesliga Match Day 16) 17 December 2011 SC Freiburg - BVB (Date & Time TBD/Bundesliga Matchday 17) WINTER BREAK Second Half Of The Season (Home Team Listed First/CL Dates Not Included/All Times CET) 21 January 2012 Hamburger SV - BVB (Date & Time TBD/Bundesliga Matchday 18) 28 January 2012 BVB - TSG Hoffenheim (Date & Time TBD/Bundesliga Matchday 19) 4 February 2012 1. FC Nürnberg - BVB (Date & Time TBD/Bundesliga Matchday 20) 11 February 2012 BVB - Bayer 04 Leverkusen (Date & Time TBD/Bundesliga Matchday 21) 18 February 2012 Hertha BSC - BVB (Date & Time TBD/Bundesliga Matchday 22) 25 February 2012 BVB - Hannover 96 (Date & Time TBD/Bundesliga Matchday 23) 3 March 2012 BVB - 1. FSV Mainz 05 (Date & Time TBD/Bundesliga Matchday 24) 10 March 2012 FC Augsburg - BVB (Date & Time TBD/Bundesliga Matchday 25) 17 March 2012 BVB - Bremen (Date & Time TBD/Bundesliga Matchday 26) 24 March 2012 1. FC Köln - BVB (Date & Time TBD/Bundesliga Matchday 27) 31 March 2012 BVB - VfB Stuttgart (Date & Time TBD/Bundesliga Matchday 28) 7 April 2012 VfL Wolfsburg - BVB (Date & Time TBD/Bundesliga Matchday 29) 11 April 2012 BVB – FC Bayern München (Date & Time TBD/Bundesliga Matchday 30) 14 April 2012 FC Scheisse 04 - BVB (Date & Time TBD/Bundesliga Matchday 31) 21 April 2012 BVB - Borussia Mönchengladbach (Date & Time TBD/Bundesliga Matchday 32) 28 April 2012 1. FC Kaiserslautern - BVB (3:30PM/Bundesliga Matchday 33) 5 May 2012 BVB - SC Freiburg (3:30PM/Bundesliga Matchday 34)
I voted so far. What's your vote? I think when the CL list is released let's just fit that into that post
The schedule seems pretty well balanced to me. The hardest stretch on paper probably being in November with VFB, Wolfsburg, Bayern, Schalke in a row and decision time in the group stages of the Champions League with matches 4,5,6 right around that time.
I think the Paraguayans are poisioning him because he's actually an Argie and so they can see "Useless" Valdez play! LOL!! One of the guys on our e-mail list noted that Barrios always seems to come up sick when he goes to Paraguay.........
Shinji gets it. I really like that he's more humble than many fans.... +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Kagawa: "I'm A Long Way From Proving Myself As A European Success" The Samurai Blue midfielder may have made an incredible impact at Borussia Dortmund before his metatarsal injury, but he says he can't yet be considered a European success Borussia Dortmund's star Japanese midfielder Shinji Kagawa says he has a long way to go to claim he's succeeded in Europe despite his brilliant impact in his first season in Germany. Kagawa, who is currently in negotations with Dortmund over a new deal after interest from Manchester United, was an instant hit in Germany following his move from Cerezo Osaka in mid-2010. The 22-year-old made a major contribution to Dortmund's 2010-11 Bundesliga success, scoring eight goals in 17 matches before a broken metatarsal sustained at the Asian Cup in January ruled him out until the final day of the campaign. However, Kagawa told Kyodo News that because he missed half of the season he still feels he has much to do to be considered a success in Europe. Click here for full article at Goal dot com.
Watzke says Bayern are the favorites to take the Bundesliga title in the coming season. Aren't they the pre-season favorites every season??
Thats one of the best attributes of japanese/korean players. They work very hard, are loyal and do not complain much. No wonder so many BL clubs are scrambling to sign the wealth of talented Japanese youngsters now.
“We Have To Talk” : Felipe Santana Considering Leaving Borussia Dortmund Click here for the original article in German at the Ruhr Nachrichten website. My translation of the article went out to those on our BVB e-mail list.
WROCLAW, Poland (AP) — Eleven soccer players have been fined and given suspended prison sentences for their role in fixing a top-tier game during the 2005-06 season in Poland. Among those punished Monday was Lukasz Piszczek, a midfielder who has appeared in 18 games for Poland and plays for the German champions Borussia Dortmund. He drew a one-year prison term suspended for three years and was fined $33,000 for his involvement in bribing players from Cracovia Krakow. Click here for the rest of the article at the USA Today website.
yeah, that is the same article every year. They just change the dates and switch some names to throw the reader off. I am hoping Dortmund get off to a nice start before the group stage of the CL starts up.
True. But realistically, I believe Bayern are the favorites....... I'm not so much worried about the league as I am the CL. This group needs to make a nice CL run. I don't expect a repeat of last season in the Bundesliga. Many people don't like to admit this, but we had a lot of luck last season. We will get everyone's best effort this entire season. We didn't deal with getting everyone's best effort so well for much of the second half of last season. We also shouldn't forget this team will have lots of new pieces. We'll have to be patient with them at the start.......
For those of you who were afraid that Dimitar Rangelov would be back to take up a roster spot at BVB next season, fear no longer. According to this kicker article, the Bulgarian striker, who was loaned to Maccabi Tel Aviv last season, has agreed to re-join Borussia Dortmund East on another loan deal. This club is otherwise known as FC Energie Cottbus. If I am guessing correctly, Rangelov will be the fourth former BVB Bundesliga player on Cottbus' roster. The other three being Uwe Hünemeier, Markus Brzenska and Marc-Andre Kruska. Dimitar Rangelov is contracted to BVB through the end of the 2012-2013 season.
Pre-Season Training Begins For The German Champions [29.06.] New arrivals Ivan Perisic, Ilkay Gündogan, Chris Löwe and Moritz Leitner took part in the first morning training in preparation for the 2011-12 season which took place this morning (Wednesday). However, they were not joined by the international players who only resume work on Sunday. "We start all over again," said coach Jürgen Klopp thus drawing a line under last season´s successes. The session, which was about an hour long and focussed primarily on getting aquainted with the ball again, did not, form part of a gala presentation to open the season. Click here for the rest of the article at the Official Borussia Dortmund website.
Dortmund: The German Champions Begin Training For The New Season No Provocative Talk Coming From BVB German Champions Borussia Dortmund today began training for the new season which begins on August 5th. Leitner (L), Gündogan (C) & Perisic (R) Warm Up During This Morning's Session For the training start, coach Jürgen Klopp had everyone except international players, who are expected back on June 3rd and the injured Julian Koch. Included in the players at the training start were new players Ilkay Gündogan, Ivan Perisic, Moritz Leitner (pictured above) and Chris Löwe. The new players were in focus at the training session. Click here for the rest of the story in German at the kicker website. The full translation was posted to our BVB e-mail list.
From left, Marvin Bakalorz (my best guess), Gündogan, Leitner, Löwe, Perisic I wonder if Perisic is going to stick with number 44? Klopp talking to Kagawa. Kringe brining up the rear.....
Perisic looking a bit uncomfortable; Gündogan a bit more relaxed KLOPPO!! Santana and da Silva seem to be sharing a joke.....