The History of Bundesliga

Football fans all know that learning more about football in general and their favorite leagues will only help them appreciate the game more.

You probably know more about Bundesliga than you are aware of. So, as you read through this article, you’ll be surprised how much your favorite players and teams have accomplished over the years.

The History of Bundesliga and Everything You Need to Know

Are you ready to know more? So let’s carry on. 

Why Bundesliga is so beloved?

Bundesliga is the most prominent football league in Germany, but it has fans all over the world; In fact, a report by the International Centre for Sports Studies (CIES) found out that Bundesliga matches have the highest number of attendances.

The researchers at CIES compared the statistics from 42 different countries and were not surprised when they found out that this league is the most popular football league in the world. Between 2013-2018 their games had an average attendance of 43,302 which is a milestone in the 

history of Bundesliga

 and is much more than

’s 36,675, or La-Liga’s 26,381.

But what is the reason behind the league’s success? It could be the high number of goals made in each game. No one comes to the stadium to watch their favorite team, keep a clean sheet. Fans want to see goals being netted and with an average 3 goals per game, Bundesliga teams certainly keep things interesting.

Another reason may be the amount of money the league invests in their players’ salaries and training. More money can draw the most talented young players to the league, which can create a more dynamic atmosphere. When you consider that, you won’t be surprised to find out that some of the

, were part of the history of Bundesliga.

You may be wondering if Bundesliga has always been this successful and how they got to where they are now. Just keep reading as we will go through all of that, but first, let’s learn a bit more about the league itself before we delve into 

Bundesliga’s history

.

Best Teams in the History of Bundesliga

Hearing the word Bundesliga brings one word to our minds,

. Bayern Munich is the biggest and most successful team in

Bundesliga’s history, with a strategy that seems to never fail them. Their winning strategy seems to be to buy the best players of the league and having them on their roster.

Known among fans as

FC Hollywood

, Bayern Munich has had seven consecutive victories in Bundesliga’s history. Their most recent loss was in 2012 against

. To overcome that loss, they decided to buy and transfer three of Dortmund’s players to their team during the next two seasons. 

Some other names in Bundesliga that are worth mentioning include Dortmund, FC Schalke, Borussia Mönchengladbach, RB Leipzig, Bayer 04 Leverkusen and SV Werder Bremen.

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The History of Bundesliga logo

Although Bundesliga has been around for 57 years, the organizing body managing the league decided to create the league’s logo in 1996. It featured a black and white football surrounded by orange and yellow spirals. The original logo was used until 2001 when the league came up with a new logo.

The 2002 logo featured a white silhouette of a football player in the process of shooting a football with Bundesliga written underneath it. Throughout the years, the same logo has been used with minor modifications.

Bundesliga’s Early History

The history of Bundesliga is filled with many big names. Players from Germany or other countries who have dedicated their lives to improving the quality of the brand of football played in Germany.

Before the creation of Bundesliga, German football players, played in international leagues until 1949 when semi-professional leagues were created in Germany. Now each province has its team. Champions and runners-up of each province then competed for a shot at the national championship. 

n the year 1900, the Deutscher Fußball Bund (DFB), which is the governing body of football in Germany, was established in Leipzig with members which included 86 German clubs. 

Although the Germans now had a semi-professional league, there were still demands for an official professional league, like the ones that existed in other countries which drew the best German players away from their own country.

Still relatively unprofessional, the German teams could not compete against professional teams from other countries. The constant failure at the international level made the creation of a domestic, professional league all the more important.

In 1962, in the world cup quarter-final game, Germany was defeated against Yugoslavia. This loss made it clear to German authorities that the existence of a professional league was essential for their success. So, Bundesliga was officially created that year at the annual convention of DFB, and the rest is history.

In the early days, players like Max Morlock, Helmut Rahn, and Hans Schäfer were among the best in the league. They witnessed and were responsible for the creation and success of one of the best football leagues in the world.

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Back then the goalies didn’t wear gloves and the jersey numbers were only from 1 to 11 because only eleven players could be on the team and substitution was still not introduced to the league. There were no sponsors, and only the highlights of three games were shown on TV. Therefore, no one knew the scores of the rest of the games.

Bundesliga consisted of teams that met the performance and economic criteria from the West and a few teams from East Germany. The first game occurred on 24 August 1963. Later 

 became the first Bundesliga champion while Meidericher SV and 

 both came in second.

Since 1963, the league has had many achievements. Two

wins, three championships in Europe, seventeen victories in European club competitions, and nine “Europe’s footballer of the year award” all come from Bundesliga. 

In 1991, an important political event changed the history of Bundesliga. After the tearing down of the Berlin Wall, the two countries reunified, and naturally, their football leagues unified. Formerly East German teams like Dynamo Dresden and FC Hansa were now part of Bundesliga, while other clubs were placed in lower-tier leagues.

In 1990, the DFB decided, at a meeting in Stuttgart, to reduce the number of clubs in the league to 16 from the 92-93 season. But the socio-political change that happened following the reunification of Germany, made them change their minds. After all, if Germany is growing, so does Bundesliga.

One of the biggest factors in the league’s economic success was using private television providers in German media, which was exclusively dedicated to covering Bundesliga games. 

The rights of ownership and distribution of television, internet, and mobile broadcast of Bundesliga belong to DFL Sports Enterprises which is one of the DFL subsidiaries. 

Bundesliga games are broadcast in over 200 different countries. As of October 2013, 21st Century Fox bought the television and digital rights to Bundesliga in 80 territories including North America and Asia.

Bundesliga has become a part of Germany’s history and society over half a century. It’s not just men who cheer for their favorite football club, as every week millions of fans sit to watch the games.

History of Bundesliga Winners

Since Bundesliga was first created as Germany’s pro football league, 12 teams have been able to win the championship. Among those teams, Bayern Munich has had the best record with 28 victories. Also, Borussia Dortmund, Werder Bremen, Hamburg, VfB Stuttgart, Cologne, and Kaiserslautern have all won the Meisterschale (Champions Bowl) several times.

The Bayern Munich’s 2013-14 roster was the best in the six-decade history of Bundesliga. They tallied 29 games, had three draws, and lost two games. Just as in their 2012-13 season, in 2013-14 the Bayern players continued to break many Bundesliga records.

Borussia Dortmund was able to defend their championship title in the 2011-12 season. They managed to win 25 games, draw 6 and lose three.

became the third-best scorer of the season with 22 strikes.

Their 2010-11 roster was also one of the best that has ever played in the league. Under the management of Jurgen Klopp, they earn 75 points in 34 games and finished seven points ahead of Bayern. Dortmund ended up winning 23 games, had six draws, and only 5 losses throughout that season. 

In the 44th season of the Bundesliga in 2007,

, led by Armin Veh was able to win the championship on the final day of the season. There was a close rivalry between them and

all season long, but winning 2-0 against Energie Cottbus guaranteed that the title goes to Stuttgart.

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Thomas Hitzespelger and

made an impressive performance at finals and during the season. Roberto Hilbert and Pavel Pardo, both midfielders, were crucial to the team’s success as well.

Before the 92-93 season, most people didn’t think that Werder Bremen can win the championship that year. Bayern Munich and Stuttgart were everyone’s pick for the possible champions. However, Werder Bremen surprised everyone when they surpassed Bayern Munich by one point to win the title.

won 19 games, had ten draws, and five losses that year. Wynton Rufer, their New Zealander striker, scored 17 goals that season.

In the 1981-82 season, which was the 19th year in

Bundesliga’s history

,

managed to defeat the defending champions, Bayern Munich by five points. Lead by Ernst Happel, Hamburger won 18 games, drew 12, and had 4 losses.

The 74-75 roster of Borussia Monchengladbach was one of the best in the history of Bundesliga. Lead by Heiness Weisweller and consisting of Jupp Heynckes in attack, Christian Kulk and Dietmar Danner in midfield and Hans Jurgen Wittkamp and Berti Vogts in defense, they had the perfect combination. 

scored 50 points by winning 21 games, ending eight games in a draw, and losing five games.

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Top Scorers in the History of Bundesliga

• Klaus Allofs

• Dieter Müller

• Stefan Kuntz

• Ulf Kirsten

• Claudio Pizarro

• Manfred Burgsmüller

• Jupp Heynckes

• Robert Lewandowski

• Klaus Fischer

• Gerd Müller

Klaus Allofs

- He started his career with Fortuna Düsseldorf, but got recognized after the 78-79 season when he scored 22 goals. A few years he got transferred to FC Köln, where he continued to remain among Bundesliga’s top scorers. He concluded his career with a three-year stay at Werder Bremen, where he finally won the Bundesliga title in 1993.

Dieter Müller

- He played for FC Köln, and in 6 of the 8 seasons that he played for the Billy Goats, he scored a minimum of 17 goals. He netted 34 times in the 76-77 season and became part of the

 Bundesliga top scorers history

. The next year, he won the title with FC Köln. To this day, he’s the only player who has scored 6 goals in a single Bundesliga game.

Stefan Kuntz

- Stefan Kuntz has served as Germany’s U21 coach, but he is best known for becoming the top scorer in 86 and 94 seasons. He also won the championship title with Kaiserslautern in the 90-91 season. He was always a high scorer; In fact, he began his professional career by scoring a goal in each of his first four games.

Ulf Kirsten

- He was born in East Germany and started playing for

. However, after the reunification of Germany, he joined

. Even though his team constantly lost in the finals to the point where they got known as “

the Eternal Bridesmaids

”, he still managed to become the Bundesliga’s top scorer three times.

Claudio Pizarro

- In a career that has spanned over 20 years, Pizzaro has become one of the most popular players in Bundesliga. This Peruvian player has been at one of the top spots of the charts for the highest number of goals since his debut in 1999.

Manfred Burgsmüller

- Even to this day, Manfred Burgsmüller holds the record as Dortmund’s best scorer, but he only won the Bundesliga title once after playing in the league for 19 years. 

Jupp Heynckes

- Before establishing himself as one of the best coaches in Bundesliga’s history, Jupp Heynckes was an amazing scorer. He spent his career in Mönchengladbach and helped them win the Bundesliga title four times during the team’s golden age.

Robert Lewandowski

- He currently stands in third in the list of top scorers in the

history of Bundesliga

, but his career is not over yet. He has already surpassed his former coach, Heynckes, and can be a threat to Fischer’s and Müller’s legacy.

Klaus Fischer

- Klaus Fischer was not just famous for his over-head kicks. Fischer is among a few players who have appeared in over 500 games in Bundesliga. He was selected as the season’s top scorer only once in 1976, but because of his 19-year career in Bundesliga, he had time to score enough goals to end up among Bundesliga’s all-time top scorers.

Gerd Müller

- During his time in Bayern Munich Gerd Müller, who was nicknamed “Der Bomber”, broke multiple records and became an eternal part of the history of Bundesliga. He scored 365 goals throughout his career, which is unlikely to be ever be repeated by someone else.

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