The great English forward Gary Lineker said these famous words years ago: "Football is a simple game. Twenty-two men chase a ball for 90 minutes, and at the end, the Germans always win.". If we are about to mention the German First Bundesliga, for sure, the first club we put the spotlight on will be Bayern Munich.
With 33 titles from the German league, 11 of them won in the 2013-2023 period, the Bavarians are the absolute hegemon in the competition. The Munich team has been the face of German football for so many years, and its supremacy has no glimpse of coming to an end. Though Bayern won the title almost at the last minute in season 2022/2023, it seems there is no club even near the level of the Munich team.
The elite German competition was established in 1963, which makes it one of the most recent European elite divisions. The German Bundesliga is a bit different to all top-tier leagues in Europe. Only 18 teams (not 20 as the Premier League, Bundesliga, La Liga and Ligue 1) play in the championship, which forms a competition with only 34 rounds (in comparison to the 38 in the leagues mentioned above). Moreover, the Bundesliga has its own charm related to its tournament structure. A direct rivalry in two playoff matches between a team from First Bundesliga and a team from the Second Bundesliga determines the last participant in the next year's elite division.
Though Bayern Munich is out and out hegemon in the country, the most supported team, judging by the match attendance, is Borussia Dortmund. Since the 2007-2008 season, the Dortmund team has always enjoyed the highest average attendance at its matches, averaging over 75,000 people. BVB are not only great on the stands but also on the pitch - they have been the main opponent of Bayern for the Bundesliga crown in recent history.
Bundesliga Statistics:
A team with most titles - Bayern Munich (33)
A player with most goals - Gerd Muller (365)
A player with most matches - Karl-Heinz Körbel (602)
Most expensive incoming transfer - Harry Kane (€100 million from Tottenham to Bayern Munich in 2023)
Most expensive outgoing transfer - Ousmane Dembélé (€135 million from Borussia Dortmund to Barcelona in 2018)
