Full Name: Bundesliga Founded: 1963 Level: 1 Number of Teams: 18 Record Bundesliga Titles: Bayern München, 20 Record German Championship Titles: Bayern München, 21
Description:
The Bundesliga (National League) is the top tier of the German football pyramid. It was launched for the 1963-64 season - previously there had been regional leagues leading up to a championship playoff.
2009-10 German Bundesliga Map:
Format:
The 18 Bundesliga clubs play each other twice (home and away) for a total of 34 games. The season runs from August to May with a one month winter break. The bottom 2 clubs are automatically relegated while the 16th-placed club goes into a promotion/relegation playoff with the 3rd-placed team from the second-tier 2. Bundesliga. All Bundesliga clubs enter the German Cup (the DFB-Pokal) from the first round of 64 teams.
International Tournament Qualification:
UEFA Champions League - The top two finishers in the Bundesliga qualify directly to the group stage of the Champions League. The 3rd-place finisher enters at the 4th Qualifying Round.
UEFA Europa League - the DFB-Pokal winner and the two next highest-placed Bundesliga finishers qualify for the Europa League. If the DFB-Pokal winner qualifies for the Champions League the DFB-Pokal spot goes to the losing finalists. If both finalists qualify for the Champions League the spot goes to the next-highest Bundesliga finisher.
Total Bundesliga Titles:
22 Bayern München
5 Borussia Mönchengladbach
4 Werder Bremen
3 Borussia Dortmund 3 Hamburger SV
3 VfB Stuttgart
2 1. FC Kaiserslautern
2 1. FC Köln
1 1. FC Nürnberg 1 1860 München 1 Eintracht Braunschweig 1 VfL Wolfsburg
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