Newly crowned champions Borussia Dortmund regularly sold out their 80,720-capacity Signal Iduna Park with an average attendance of 79,150. The next best-supported teams were traditional heavyweight Bayern Munich, with an average sell-out of 69,000, and this season’s strugglers, Schalke, with 61,320. Amazingly, second division champion; Hertha Berlin set a new record themselves, with over 77, 000 fans attending a regular season second division game.
The Bundesliga has certainly been the most unpredictable league in Europe over the last ten years. For decades the league had been dominated by one team; Bayern Munich. Though in the last ten years, five different teams have won the title, including debutant champions Wolfsburg.
German teams have also had strong runs on the continental stage recently, most notably Bayern Munich finishing runners up in 2009/10 and Schalke defying their Bundesliga form with a stellar run this season, including a rout of last season’s champions, Inter Milan at the San Siro.
Recently, the league has seen a drastic shift in the teams that have traditionally been considered title challengers. The last few seasons in particular have seen a number of historic clubs relegated, as well as host of new teams that have previously been considered relegation candidates, challenge for the top five positions. This unpredictable, competitive league is bursting at the seams with excitement, particularly when you consider the oligarchic grip some teams have elsewhere in Europe.
The world generally regards Italy as a Football force, with good reason. However, lately the health of the Serie A has been in decline, with ageing players, low attendances, political meddling and general mismanagement on a range of administrative levels. The state of the game in Italy is in disarray, despite Inter Milan’s 2009/10 champion’s league victory.
Italian football has been in decline just as Germany’s has been on the rise. This was all too evident during the last World Cup when Italy exited in the first round and Germany went on to finish third for the second time in a row. Germany, at the same tournament, interestingly fielded a team that was entirely composed of Bundesliga based players.
As Football is a living, breathing organism, and being ‘dynamic in nature’ as it is, individual national football associations, such as Italy’s, for whatever reasons, have struggled to keep up with the evolution of modern football. Germany, on the other hand, has reinvented itself post Euro 2004.
With Borussia Dortmund playing a free-flowing, attacking ‘Barcelona’ style, football and the German “Mannschaft” continually winning plaudits the world over, it won’t be too long until the “new” Beckenbauer comes forth, and raises the Champions league, or even the world cup above his head in triumph. Till that day comes, be sure the ‘industrious’ Germans will endeavor to make it possible.
ThisisFutbol.com are seeking new writers to join the team! If you’re passionate about football, drop us a line at “thisisfutbol.com@snack-media.com” to learn more.
To have a peak at the top SEVEN available FREE TRANSFERS this summer, click here.