Five things to watch out for on Bundesliga opening weekend
After both the Premier League and the Football League began their 2016/17 seasons earlier this month, August concludes its ‘opening weekend buzz’ tour with the final major European league to get underway on the final weekend of the month: Germany’s Bundesliga.
Here are five factors in particular worth keeping tabs on.
Champions Bayern raise the curtain
Long before ‘Friday Night Football’ polarised the British audience, the Bundesliga was presenting live games on the evening before the actual weekend. That tradition continues this season, and it’s none other than Bayern Munich getting 2016/17 underway at home to Werder Bremen. All eyes will be on new boss Carlo Ancelotti as he attempts to follow in the daunting footsteps of both treble winner Jupp Heynckes and the ever-dominant Pep Guardiola. Werder, meanwhile, are nowhere near the force that claimed a surprise German title back in 2004 and will be grateful to get their most difficult fixture of the campaign out of the way so that they can concentrate on remaining a top flight club in 17/18.
New-look Dortmund begin vs ‘managerial feeder club’
Borussia Dortmund enjoyed a strong first season under Thomas Tuchel last time out. Despite finishing second to Bayern, the margin of their championship failure wasn’t nearly as sobering as the three years before that. And with the exception of Mario Goetze returning to the Yellow Wall after his controversial stint in Bavaria, this season’s BVB squad looks as if it is out of the shadow of Jurgen Klopp’s two-time Bundesliga winners. New faces such as Marc Bartra, Andre Schurrle, Raphaël Guerreiro, Ousmane Dembélé and company begin against Mainz on Saturday afternoon - the club Dortmund raided for both Klopp and Tuchel. Will the developmental home of Dortmund’s future head coaches be able to take advantage of this new-look side before they gel?
Fallen giants Hamburg look to turn the corner
In the corner of Hamburg SV’s Imtech Arena stadium is a clock, proudly counting in real-time how long the club have remained a top-flight club without interruption. Over the last three seasons they have flirted with resetting this clock, but ultimately remained in the Bundesliga (despite having to win the relegation play-off in both 2014 and 2015 to do so). Last season, Hamburg ended up finishing 10th after finishing strongly enough to avoid the fate of fellow underachievers Stuttgart and this summer, manager Bruno Labaddia has been able to invest the club’s resources into some eye-catching new signings such as Filip Kostic, Alen Halilovic, Bobby Wood, Christian Mathenia and Luca Waldschmidt. They begin on Saturday at home to Ingolstadt, who finished their promotion campaign last term just one position and one point behind their far-more-established opponents. It will make for an interesting case study when the two sides renew acquaintances in front of that famous clock.
Battle of the Champions League contenders
Local rivals Bayer Leverkusen and Borussia Monchengladbach finished 2015/16 in third and fourth place respectively, behind Bayern and Dortmund. They’ve both just been drawn into the Champions League group stage (Gladbach having first got through their play-off tie earlier in the week) and will each want to secure a top-four finish this season, too. The two sides are so alike in so many ways, and kick off their league campaigns against one another at Borussia-Park on Saturday evening in a game well worth tracking down on TV. There’ll be another 33 opportunities for each side to secure their season goals, but the timing of this fixture means a strong opening statement is as crucial as ever before.
Enter ‘the most hated team in Germany’
“To critics, RB Leipzig erode the foundations of German football’s fan-first model,” says a Yahoo column from the end of last season when the Red Bull-sponsored side clinched promotion to the top flight. Indeed, Bundesliga has a sterling reputation for never alienating or pricing out its fans - even at the likes of Bayern and Dortmund - and the Leipzig model has riled up many a purist. However, the fact remains that they are here and they earned a spot in the top division with their football, despite the other factors that play a role. They begin with a trip to perhaps their spiritual predecessors: Hoffenheim made no bones about the fact that it took heavy investment and weathering plenty of negativity to enjoy a prolonged stay up top after rising through the ranks as Leipzig did. The fact that both teams will be more than happy to avoid relegation this season should add extra sizzle to the match, as well.
