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
Check out the latest State of the States column by Michael S. Hund, covering the US national team, Major League Soccer and other parts of soccer in the States.
