German football : German Bundesliga 2011/2012 season preview
Dortmund clinch German league titleDominant in the Bundesliga for the majority of last season, Borussia Dortmund have been crowned champions for the first time since 2002. Dortmund, with a young team largely untried and untested before last campaign, claimed their seventh Bundesliga crown with two games to spare. They finished with a 3-1 victory against Eintracht Frankfurt which consigned their guests to relegation on the final day of the Bundesliga campaign. Bayer Leverkusen clinched second place to book their automatic UEFA Champions League qualification, leaving Bayern Munich in third and with a spot in the UEFA Champions League qualifying rounds.
Fourth-placed Hannover, fifth-placed Mainz and Cup winners Schalke have earned places in the UEFA Europa League, at various stages of qualifying. Eintracht Frankfurt and St. Pauli were relegated to the second division, while Hertha Berlin and Augsburg gained promotion to the Bundesliga. Borussia Monchengladbach preserved their Bundesliga status after completing a 3-2 aggregate victory against Bochum in the promotion/relegation play-off.
The overall number of titles since 1903 for each club in German 1. Bundesliga and their league standings in the last five seasons. Heynckes set for his third stint managing BayernBayern Munich announced in March that Jupp Heynckes will be in charge of the German giants from this season. The 65-year-old returns for his third spell at the Bundesliga club after signing a two-year contract. Heynckes replaces Dutchman Louis van Gaall, who was sacked last term. Heynckes won two Bundesliga titles in his first spell as Bayern coach, between 1987 and 1991, and then led Real Madrid to 1997/98 UEFA Champions League glory. He briefly managed Bayern again, as caretaker boss, in 2009 before taking charge at Leverkusen that summer. Bayern are hoping the former Leverkusen boss can restore their winning form after a season that brought no titles. They have strengthened significantly over the summer, bringing in goalkeeper Manuel Neuer from Schalke, Jerome Boateng from Manchester City and Rafinha from Genoa among others. Bayer Leverkusen hire Robin DuttRobin Dutt has been appointed as the new man in charge at Bayer Leverkusen starting this summer. The 46-year-old, who coached Freiburg last term, receives a two-year contract, with a one-year extension option, while junior coach Marcus Sorg would succeed him at Freiburg utt started his coaching career with Ditzingen and also was in charge of Stuttgarter Kickers before taking over at Freiburg in the summer of 2007. Despite finished second last season, Leverkusen never really troubled Dortmund, and they are still looking for their first league title, having been runners up five times. Their main signing has been Andre Schurlle from Mainz. This page is introduction to the 2011/2012 German Bundesliga season. Latest news, statistics, results and predictions you can find on our main Euro Football > Germany page. Stanislawski agrees Hoffenheim dealFormer St. Pauli coach Holger Stanislawski takes over at Hoffenheim from this season after signing a three-year deal. The 41-year-old takes over from Marco Pezzaiuoli who will return to his former position of assistant coach. Stanislawski steered St. Pauli into the top division from the regional league after taking over in 2006. He has been with St. Pauli for 18 years, first as a player, then manager and then taking over as coach. However, St. Pauli were relegated after finishing bottom of the Bundesliga. Holger had accepted new position before the relegation. Koln confirm Stale Solbakken as new coachStale Solbakken has been named as the new coach of Koln after last season guiding Kobenhavn to a fifth Danish title under his leadership. The 43-year-old had agreed to take over as coach of Norway in 2012 but Koln reportedly paid an undisclosed fee to have him released. Solbakken also guided Kobenhavn to the last 16 of this season's UEFA Champions League, where they lost 2-0 on aggregate to Chelsea. Koln narrowly avoided relegation after a fine run since the winter break under the leadership of caretaker coach Frank Schaefer, who had taken over in October last year. But he turned down an offer to extend his contract for personal reasons and stepped down in late April.
The German 1. Bundesliga standings for season 2009/2010. Bayern tipped for Bundesliga titleAccording to online bookmakers, Borussia Dortmund and Bayer Leverkusen are Bayern's top challengers for the Bundesliga title this season.
The preseason odds for the outright winner of the 2011/12 German football league. German Cup (DFB-Pokal) finals in last five years2007 Nurnberg - Stuttgart 3:2 |
collapse | expand
key players
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||