How is Hoffenheim's post-war average nearly 30,000? I thought they were basically an amateur side until a few years ago

Thanks for the stats there Ruhr. Just changing the subject is it true that Hertha has been taken over by another Sheikh? or have misread the reports as usual.

their highest average attendance is from 2010

"post war" just means that i don´have statistics from pre-war football, so i can´t call it "all-time record attendance numbers"

-- Sun Jun 03, 2012 8:17 pm --



Just reports about an arab investor showing interest some weeks ago. german clubs can´t be taken over anyway

Should be able to get comfortably back into the top 10 next season, now that we are back in the Bundesliga.

Not exactly easy to get high average crowds at home when playing in the second tier and the likes of Paderborn, Fürth, Ingolstadt barely bring 300 people with them.

Got to factor in as well that Dresden wasn´t officially allowed any fans at our ground and they usually have a pretty big away following.

But I am definitely looking forward to sold out (or at least crowded) away ends in the next season....Atmosphere definitely suffers if the opposing fans don´t show up. :(

Even though the Euros are still on the first rounds for the german cup have been drawn today.

Sa 18.08.
SG Sonnenhof Großaspach - FSV Frankfurt
Hallescher FC - MSV Duisburg
FC Nöttingen - Hannover 96
Wormatia Worms - Hertha BSC
FC Oberneuland - Borussia Dortmund
1. FC Heidenheim - VfL Bochum
Victoria Hamburg - SC Freiburg
SpVgg Unterhaching -1. FC Köln
SV Falkensee/Finkenkrug - VfB Stuttgart
Karlsruher SC - Hamburger SV
VfR Aalen - FC Ingolstadt 04
Offenburger FV - FC St. Pauli
Arminia Bielefeld - SC Paderborn 07
FC Schönberg 95 - VfL Wolfsburg
Jahn Regensburg - Bayern München
Carl Zeiss Jena - Bayer Leverkusen
SV Roßbach/Verscheid - 1. FSV Mainz 05
Berliner AK 07 - 1899 Hoffenheim
Preußen Münster - Werder Bremen
Kickers Offenbach - SpVgg Greuther Fürth
Erzgebirge Aue - Eintracht Frankfurt
Wacker Burghausen - Fortuna Düsseldorf
Chemnitzer FC - Dynamo Dresden
Alemannia Aachen - Borussia M'gladbach
SV Wilhelmshaven - FC Augsburg
Rot-Weiss Essen - 1. FC Union Berlin
TSV Havelse - 1. FC Nürnberg
SV Sandhausen - Energie Cottbus
VfB Lübeck - Eintracht Braunschweig
FC Hennef 05 - 1860 München
1. FC Saarbrücken - FC Schalke 04
Hansa Rostock - 1. FC Kaiserslautern

Pretty boring matchups besides Chemnitz - Dresden which will most likely a massive hoolie meetup, and Alemania Achen - Gladbach which is interesting from a regional point of view as both clubs are just a couple of kilometers away from each other.

Frankfurt plays in Aue which is a pretty meh matchup...takes ages to get there (Aue is in the far east of Germany) and we just played them last year in the second division. Was looking forward to a more excotic ground and not again this shithole...

Not quite. It's actually about 50 kilometres. ;)

In terms of Germany, Alemannia's local rivals are Gladbach or Köln, although Roda JC, MVV Maastricht and Standard Liege are much nearer but they never get to play them.

I suppose after the desperate 2011-12 season that draw might just be the tonic they need in terms of a crowd boost. The result could be pretty embarrassing though.

I think these could be quite interesting as well:

Karlsruher SC - Hamburger SV
Arminia Bielefeld - SC Paderborn 07
Jahn Regensburg - Bayern München
Preußen Münster - Werder Bremen
Erzgebirge Aue - Eintracht Frankfurt
Alemannia Aachen - Borussia M'gladbach
Rot-Weiss Essen - 1. FC Union Berlin
VfB Lübeck - Eintracht Braunschweig
1. FC Saarbrücken - FC Schalke 04
Hansa Rostock - 1. FC Kaiserslautern

It is all quite on the transfer market, but some deals has been made already. The top transfers of the top clubs so far

Borussia Dortmund
IN:
Marco Reus (Borussia Mönchengladbach, 17.1 mil. Euros), german international
Leonardo Bittencourt (Energie Cottbus, 3 mill Euros), german U19 player
Julian Schieber (VfB Stuttgart, 6 Mill. Euro), 23 year old forward
OUT
Lucas Barrios (Guangzhou, 12 Mill. Euro)
Shinji Kagawa (somewhere around Manchester, 15 Mill Euro)

Bayern München
IN
Claudio Pizarro (Werder Bremen, -), best foreign goal scorer in Bundesliga history
Xherdan Shaquiri (FC Basel, 11.6 Mill. Euro), swiss international, 20 years
Emre Can (Bayern München reserve team), germany U19 playmaker
Dante (Bor. Mönchengladbach, 4.7 mill Euro), rated as one of the best Bundesliga central backs
Mitchell Weiser (FC Köln, 0.5 Mill Euro), German U18 player
Mario Mandzucic (VfL Wolfsburg, 12 Mill. Euro), Kroatian international
OUT
Ivica Olic (VfL Wolfsburg)
Rumours: Javier Martinez (Athletic Bilbao) to come

Schalke 04
IN
Roman Neustädter (Bor. Mönchengladbach,-), midfielder
OUT
Raul (Al Sadd)
Rumours: Tranquillo Barnetta (Bayer Leverkusen) swiss international to come

Borussia Mönchengladbach
IN
Granit Xhaka (FC Basel, 8.5 Mill. Euro), swiss international
Alvaro Dominguez (Athletico Madrid
OUT
Marco Reus (Borussia Dortmund)
Dante (Bayern München)
Roman Neustädter (Schalke 04)

Bayer Leverkusen
IN
Philipp Wollscheid (FC Nürnberg, 7 Mill Euro), 23 year old central back
OUT
Michael Ballack (?)
Eren Derdiyok (1899 Hoffenheim)
Rene Adler (Hamburger SV) former german no. 1 goalkeeper

VfL Wolfsburg
IN
Bas Dost (SC Heerenveen, 9 Mill. Euro) 32 goals in dutch league
Emanuel Pogatetz (Hannover 96, 2,3 Mill Euro) austrian international
Ivica Olic (Bayern München,-)
Vaclav Pillar (Hradec Kralove, 1 Mill Euro), czech international
Diego (has still a contract in Wolfsburg)
Simon Kjaer (has still a contract, but refuses to play ever again under coach Felix Magath)
OUT
Hasan Salihamidzic (?)
Thomas Hitzelsperger (?)

Werder Bremen
IN
Sokratis (FC Genua, 5 Mill Euro) greek international
Theo Gebre Selassi (Slovan Liberec, 1.8 Mill Euro), czech international
OUT
Marko Marin (Chelsea FC, 9.8 Mill. Euro) former german talent
Sebastian Boenisch (?)
Markus Rosenberg (?)
Tim Borowski (?)
Tim Wiese (1899 Hoffenheim), germany´s no.2 goalkeeper
Claudio Pizarro (Bayern München)
Rumours: Nils Petersen (Bayern München) to come

Bayern München sacked club manager Christian Nerlinger after two years without any title.

New man in charge is Matthias Sammer, CL-winner with Borussia Dortmund and Euro winner with germany in 1996 as a player.

Sammer worked for the german FA (DFB) and was responsible for the german youth teams. He was also known as an internal rival of german coach Jogi Löw. He recently criticised the german team for a lack of personalities and too much harmony.

The Bundesliga is celebrating its 50th anniversary season. (i´ll write a little bit about the history and why germany was the last country to introduce a nationwide professional football league later) Season starts on friday, 23rd with Borussia Dortmund vs Werder Bremen, a match, which was also played on the Bundesliga start in 1963 (and the first goal was scored there).

Here are the 18 clubs. The order of clubs is by the way the one i expect as the outcome of the season.

1. Borussia Dortmund, Founded: 1909, Club members: 68,000
Stadium: Westfalenstadion (sponsor name: Signal Iduna Park)
Capacity: 80,645 (27,359 stands and 53,286 seats)
Titles:
Champions League: 1
Cup winner´s cup: 1
German Champion: 8
German cup: 3
Club team manager: Michael Zorc, Coach: Jürgen Klopp
Team:
Weidenfeller – Schmelzer, Hummels, Subotic, Piszczek – Bender, Gündogan – Großkreutz, Reus, Götze – Lewandowski
Key Subs: Kehl, Perisic, Blaszcykowski
Average Team age: 24,3

2. Bayern München, Founded: 1900, Club members: 183,100
Stadium: Allianz-Arena, Capacity: 69,000 (5,000 stands and 64,000 seats)
Titles:
Champions League, Champions cup: 4
Cup winner´s cup: 1
UEFA Cup 1
German Champion: 22
German cup: 15
Club team manager: Matthias Sammer, Coach: Jupp Heynckes
Team:
Neuer – Alaba, Badstuber, Boateng, Lahm – Gustavo, Schweinsteiger –Ribery, Kroos Robben – Gomez
Key Subs: Müller, Shaquiri, Mandzukic
Average Team age: 25,5

3. FC Schalke 04, Founded: 1904, Club members: 110,529
Stadium: Arena auf Schalke, (Sponsor name: Veltins-Arena)
Capacity: 61,673 (16,309 stands and 45,364 seats)
Titles:
UEFA Cup 1
German Champion: 7
German cup: 5
Club team manager: Horst Heldt, Coach: Huub Stevens
Team:
Hildebrandt – Fuchs, Matip, Höwedes, Uchida – Jones, Neustädter – Barnetta, Holtby, Farfan – Huntelaar
Key Subs: Papadopoulos, Draxler, Jurado
Average Team age: 25,1

4. Borussia Mönchengladbach, Founded 1900, Club members: 55,100
Stadium: Borussia-Park, Capacity: 54,010 (16,145 stands and 37,865 seats)
Titles:
UEFA Cup 2
German Champion: 5
German cup: 3
Club team manager: Max Eberl, Coach: Lucien Favre
Team:
Ter Stegen – Daems, Alvaro Dominguez, Stranzl, Jantschke – Xhaka, Nordtveit – Arango, Herrmann, Hanke, De Jong
Key Subs: De Camargo, Brouwers, Mlapa
Average Team age: 24,2

5. VfL Wolfsburg Founded 1945, Club members: 19,000
Stadium: Volkswagen Arena, Capacity: 30,000 (8,000 stands and 22,000 seats)
Titles:
German Champion: 1
Club team manager and Coach: Felix Magath
Team:
Benaglio – Rodriguez, Pogatetz, Naldo, Fagner – Josue, Schäfer, Jiracek, Diego – Olic, Dost
Key Subs: Helmes, Pilar, Dejagah
Average Team age: 25,8

6. Bayer Leverkusen, Founded 1904, Club members: 26,550
Stadium: Bay-Arena, Capacity: 30,210 seats
Titles:
UEFA Cup 1
German Cup: 1
Club team manager; Rudi Völler Coach: Sascha Lewandowski, Sami Hyypiä
Team:
Leno –Kadlec, Toprak, Wollscheid, Carvajal – Castro, Rolfes, Bender, Schürrle, Renato Augusto – Kießling
Key Subs: Reinartz, Sam, Schwaab
Average Team age: 24,3


To be continued