Introduction to the New Bundesliga Season
The Bundesliga begins its 63rd season this Friday, August 22nd, with defending champion Bayern Munich facing RB Leipzig in the Allianz Arena.
Who are the Favorites to Win the Bundesliga?
Based on the Wetten Offenities, the reigning master Bayern Munich will successfully defend their title if everything goes as planned next May. If you submit a bet of €1 to Bavaria to win the title, you can assume that the bookmakers will only receive €1.30 when Bayern actually win the league again. Bayer Leverkusen, Borussia Dortmund, and RB Leipzig are far behind in the betting odds.
Most experts also see Bavaria as a clear favorite. Leverkusen, the champions of the 2023-2024 season, are in transition. Xabi Alonso, who led the team to their first Bundesliga championship, has left for Real Madrid, and Erik Ten Hag, formerly of Manchester United, is his successor. Bayer also lost four important players in the summer: Florian Wirtz and Jeremy Frimpong are now in Liverpool, Granit Xhaka has moved to Sunderland, and Jonathan Tah now plays for Bavaria.
Bayern, on the other hand, avoided such a radical bloodshed, although they lost Leroy Sane, Kingsley Coman, and Thomas Müller from their attacking ranks. Sane moved to the Turkish team, and Coman left under coach Vincent Kompany. Bayern decided not to extend the 35-year-old Clublegende Müller’s contract. The man who played more games for Bavaria than any other (756 competition games) has started a Canadian adventure with the Whitecaps in Vancouver.
Which Clubs have been Promoted?
Two founding members of the Bundesliga are back. Hamburg (HSV), the club that lasted the longest without being relegated from the Bundesliga, spent seven long seasons in Bundesliga 2 after finally declining in 2018. Cologne was relegated in 2023-2024 and managed to get back to the top flight of Germany on the first attempt.
Both clubs have a long history in the Bundesliga and bring huge fan support. Cologne has around 150,000 members, HSV more than 125,000 – and takes them to the fourth and fifth among German clubs in terms of membership. In the second season 2024-25, the Hamburg Stadium was sold out for 13 of its 17 home games, while Cologne had 11 sell-out.
Heidenheim stays in the Bundesliga after surviving at the last minute and defeating the second outfit Elversberg in the post-season exit playoffs.
Which New Foreign Stars can Fans Look Forward to?
The most prominent and expensive signing of the league is the Colombian international Luis Diaz. Bayern Munich paid around 70 million euros (81.8 million US dollars) to ward off the Liverpool striker.
Dutch international goalkeeper Mark Flekken from the English Association of Brentford and the USA middle field player Malik Tillman was joined in the competitor Bayer Leverkusen. Borussia Dortmund enters the season with a familiar name in her squad: Bellingham. Jobe, 19, is the younger brother of Jude Bellingham, who spent three seasons in Dortmund before moving to Real Madrid in 2023.
Have there been Remarkable Changes to the Rules?
Several rules that had been tested in a test phase in the Bundesliga have now been permanently written in the rule book. This includes the determination that only the captain of a team can argue with the referee.
Another new feature is that the goalkeepers can only hold the ball in their hands for eight seconds before distributing it instead of six – although this is rarely strictly enforced. Now the referee has to count the last five seconds with the fingers of an elevated hand. If the goalkeeper still has the ball in his hands after eight seconds, the opposing team gets a corner. This should prevent time-wasting.
This is also the intention of a further provision in which referees are instructed to be stricter if they add time due to interruptions such as goal celebrations, substitutions, and injuries.
Another innovation concerns the penalty kicks: If a player touches the ball twice during a penalty – like the ball against his standing leg – twice – the penalty will be recaptured. If the ball does not run into the goal due to the second touch, the opposing team is given an indirect free kick.
And what other Changes Come?
In order to promote fair play, the referees should meet 70 minutes before the start of a game with the coaches and captains of both teams. According to the German Football League (DFL), this should promote "respectful interaction between everyone who is involved in the game".
In all matches, the referee must announce decisions about the stadium -pa system after each video check. This had been tested in the nine Bundesliga stadiums last season.
The use of semi-automatic offside technology (Saot) is to be introduced. In this system, data from high-resolution cameras are analyzed by artificial intelligence (AI) in order to calculate the exact positions of the players and the ball. The AI decision is then transferred to the referee in front of the pitch by the Var. However, the final decision is still on the field with the referee.
