ROUND · every league

RUND BUNDESLIGA

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History

BUNDESLIGA · FOUNDED 1963

Germany resisted a national league longer than any other big European country, playing regional championships with a play-off at the end until 1963. When the Bundesliga finally arrived it was built around one rule the others did not have: clubs are owned by their members.

The moments

1. 1963

   Sixteen clubs, chosen not qualified

   The founding sixteen were picked on a points system covering the previous decade, which is why several strong clubs were left out and are still annoyed about it. Timo Konietzka scored the first goal after fifty-eight seconds.

2. 1971

   The scandal

   Fifty-two players and several officials were found to have been involved in fixing the run-in. Clubs were fined, players banned, and the league spent years rebuilding trust.

3. 1978

   Twelve, and it was not enough

   Borussia Mönchengladbach beat Borussia Dortmund 12–0 on the final day and lost the title to Köln on goal difference anyway, because Köln were winning 5–0 at the same time.

4. 1997

   Kaiserslautern come up and win it

   Promoted in the summer, champions in the spring. No other club in Germany has won the Bundesliga in its first season after promotion.

5. 2001

   Four minutes

   Schalke’s supporters celebrated a first title in forty-three years for four minutes, until Patrik Andersson scored from a free kick in the fourth minute of added time at Hamburg to take it to Bayern. Schalke have been “champions of hearts” ever since.

6. 2009

   Wolfsburg

   A club with no history at this level won the league with sixty-nine goals from Edin Džeko and Grafite between them, still one of the great forward partnerships of the German game.

7. 2013

   Ninety-one points

   Bayern won the title with six matches still to play, the earliest it has ever been settled, and finished twenty-five points clear.

8. 2020

   The league that came back first

   The Bundesliga restarted on 16 May, the first major European league to play again after the shutdown, in empty stadiums and with a protocol every other league copied.

9. 2023

   Eleven in a row

   Bayern won an eleventh consecutive title, on goal difference, on the final afternoon, after Dortmund drew at home having needed only a win.

10. 2024

    Leverkusen, unbeaten

    Bayer Leverkusen won the first league title in their history and went through the whole Bundesliga season without losing a match — the first club to manage it since Bayern in 1987.

Records that stand

Roll of honour

German championships won before 1963, in the regional era, are counted separately and are not included here.