“The Bundesliga regularly tops the rankings of league attendances amongst Europe’s elite top flight divisions outperforming the Premier League, La Liga and Serie A in terms of numbers of spectators inside stadiums. The German top division is also famed for its fair ticket prices that allow fans to enjoy top quality football without being ripped off in the process. But just what does it cost to watch your favourite team live and which club offers the best deal to its loyal fans? The results based on the cheapest season ticket prices on offer for the 2015/16 season by the 18 Bundesliga clubs may surprise you.” Bundesliga Fanatic

“Jürgen Klopp is gone. Thomas Tuchel is here. How has the city of Dortmund responded? The Summer of 2015 has certainly been a strange time in Dortmund. For one thing, the city’s weather has been a rollercoaster. One week, people endure heat and West-Germany feels like the hottest place on earth. Another week it seems like autumn arrived early this year. And there is an emptiness that feels like living in a town from a Western movie; there is no World Cup or European Championship. To be honest, the Copa America or the Gold Cup don’t really heat me up. So you have much time to think about what happened last season and what will happen this upcoming season.” Bundesliga Fanatic

“While fans are wondering what’s been cooking with their Bundesliga clubs before the season start, teams are getting up to speed with their pre-season preparations. With the exception of those who represented their national team over the summer, players have returned to their clubs to get ready for the new campaign. In addition to the new boys arrived in the summer transfer market, clubs also eagerly anticipate the return of players recovered from long-term injuries. And we should also consider players looking for fresh opportunities, as the new season marks a new chapter in their careers. Whether they just arrived to a new surrounding to change their fortunes or determined to get more playing times at their current club, we, at Bundesliga Fanatic, compiled a dream team of players looking for a fresh start in the 2015-16 season.” Bundesliga Fanatic

“In 1987, the city of Berlin (although still divided at the time) celebrated its 750^th anniversary. In its famous Olympic Stadium, Thomas von Heesen led the victorious players of Hamburger SV up the steps to be presented with the DFB Pokal (the German Cup) on June 20^th of that notable year. Bearing in mind the club’s long and proud heritage and its recent successful history, no one could have foreseen that this – up to now – would be the last significant honour won by German football’s Dinosaur.” Football Pink

“Turkish footballers playing in the Bundesliga is a fairly common sight, which, when you consider the history of Turks in post-war Germany, shouldn’t be too surprising. In the midst of the West German economic upturn of the 1960’s, the country was suffering from a severe lack of labourers to meet demand. To rectify this, the West German government, through various arrangements and agreements with various other European nations, began to admit large amounts of guest workers into the country; the vast majority of these workers came from Turkey. Many of these Turkish migrant workers ended up staying in West Germany and eventually would bring their families over and eventually become permanent residents. It is the offspring of these initial migrant workers that we see lining up for Bundesliga sides week in and week out.” Bundesliga Fanatic

“‘It was twenty years ago today, Sgt. Pepper taught the band to play’. But it was fifty years ago today that Bayern Munich made it into the Bundesliga and set in motion half a century of trophy winning both at home and abroad. It was the 26th June 1965 and Bayern Munich knew that a win over Tennis Borussia Berlin would seal their long-awaited promotion to the top-tier of German football. The wrong they felt had been done, by denying them a place in the debut Bundesliga season, was to be rectified.” Bundesliga Fanatic

“Kicker rankings continue in Monday’s edition of the magazine and FC Bayern München suffers a serious drop in the midfield. Bayern has crumbled, the worst drop ever, and Gonzalo Castro of Leverkusen has distinguished himself. Xabi Alonso is completely gone out of the listing. The Spaniard’s ‘bad’ case was a loss in form, playing only four times better than average, having under-par European performances and missing a penalty against Dortmund. Philipp Lahm makes the list, he he drops out of the World or International Class for the firs time since 2011. Injury and lack of rest, due to an injury crisis, made him play exhausted.” Bayern Central

“Among the reasons for the changes are injuries, not enough games played, only one German club in the semi-finals of Europe, and a let-go by FC Bayern in the late stages of the season. As a reminder, a player is not evaluated not on his potential but on the performances from January to June with a minimum of 9 games played in the Bundesliga, Pokal, Europe or internationals.” Bayern Central

“One expected a comedown after the midweek Champions’ League quarter-final heroics against FC Porton, and this was clear as FC Bayern took on strugglers Hertha BSC at a packed Allianz Arena. The tight 1-0 win was enough to send Bayern fifteen points clear of second-placed VfL Wolfsburg with four matches remaining, and the Wolves’ defeat by the same score in Mönchengladbach was enough to ensure a record-extending twenty-fifth Bundesliga crown (and twenty-sixth German championship in all) for Die Roten.” Bundesliga Fanatic

“It was: The Week That Shook German Football (RealD 3D). First, late on Tuesday night, Bruno Labbadia was appointed manager of the bottom team, Hamburger SV. The former Kaiserslautern striker and inventor of the fist-pump goal celebration had already graced (?) the AOL/Nordbank/Imtech/Kühne-Palace/Whatever-Arena bench five years ago and the sporting director, Dietmar Beiersdorfer, had no choice but to go back to a familiar face in the club’s hour of need: HSV had run out of the German-speaking coaches that had not yet been hired at some point over the last two decades. Within a few hours, however, the new/old messiah’s wings – messiahs do have wings, don’t they? – were already clipped when Beiersdorfer involuntarily dispensed with the charade that the hot contender Thomas Tuchel had been turned down by the club the night before.” Guardian

“Borussia Dortmund have announced the departure of their manager, Jürgen Klopp, at the end of the season. The BVB manager has asked the club to be released after enduring a difficult season and Dortmund called a press conference at 1.30pm (12.30pm BST) on Wednesday, where chief executive Hans-Joachim Watzke confirmed that the club had agreed to release him early from his contract.” Guardian (Video)

“Wolfsburg’s 4-1 demolition of Bayern Munich at the end of January sent shock waves through the football world, announcing Wolfsburg to the neutrals who hadn’t yet noticed their success this year. Despite a Bas Dost double, including a beautifully ambiguous intentional volley, one man stole the show – Kevin De Bruyne, his assist and brace exemplifying his role as the star man of the team.” Bundesliga Fanatic

“Having booked my trip to Munich to see FC Bayern take on Borussia Mönchengladbach at the Allianz Arena, I started to consider my schedule for the weekend. With Bayern playing on the Sunday evening and my arriving on the Saturday morning, my immediate thought was to look for a game taking place in the city that afternoon. Having trawled through the fixture list, I found two matches: Regionalliga Bayern side VfR Garching against FC Eintracht Bamberg 2010, and the third division match between SpVgg Unterhaching and Stuttgarter Kickers.” Bundesliga Fanatic

“The long and illustrious history of football is now and again graced with men of pure genius. Footballing giants whose exploits are carried like a torch by fans from around the world; men who wrote their name in gold, footballers who live on in the memories of countless fans long after they have left behind this mortal coil. One man who deserves his place amongst this celebrated band of players is a virtual unknown outside his own country yet his story is one of the most compelling. A story that deserves to be heard, the tale of a great footballer and a great man, of loyalty, triumph and sadly, tragedy. Matthias Sindelar was his name and this is his story.” Football Pink

“Shit happens. As much as you scheme and plan, measure and predict, train and prepare, the games still have to be played — and balls will bounce the wrong way, key players will get hurt, and opposing keepers will make incredible saves. This season, nowhere has more shit happened than at the Westfalenstadion, the 80,000-seat home stadium of Borussia Dortmund. As the Bundesliga returns from its winter break this weekend, Dortmund sits in 17th place out of 18 teams. If the season ended today, the 2013 Champions League runners-up would be relegated. It’s a stunning fall for a team that finished second in both of the last two seasons and first in the two years before that. So, it’s time to ask …” Grantland (Video)

“It’s the first game of the 2012 Rückrunde and bottom side SC Freiburg are facing FC Augsburg at home and neither side have found a way to score as the clock ticks down to 90 minutes. Trainer Christian Streich decides on a final throw of the dice and sends on eighteen year old academy graduate Matthias Ginter for his debut. Two minutes from time the substitution pays off as Ginter heads home the winner from a Michael Lumb freekick. Fast forward to last summer and having just been a non-playing member of Germany’s World Cup winning squad, Ginter sealed a €10 million switch to Borussia Dortmund. Not a bad piece of business for the Breisgau club and absolutely fitting with the way the club is run.” Bundesliga Fanatic