“There is a Borussia Dortmund shirt exhibition on at the moment, with 32 shirts displayed from 1966 to 2014. The venue is a Catholic church in Dortmund and above the entrance in the building are the words, in big black and yellow letters: ‘Church, football, trust in God.’ Dortmund has slumped to the bottom of the Bundesliga, and, with coach Jurgen Klopp struggling to find answers, some fans might want to start looking for divine inspiration.” SI

“We are back with the 2014-15 Bundesliga Power Rankings – the post-Match Day 10 edition. Since our last edition, Bayern clings to its undefeated record, Mönchengladbach taunts the league with its, Dortmund continues its stunning crawl through the Bundesliga’s dive bars, Hannover 96 stubbornly clings to respectability, and Freiburg and Werder finally win a match. It’s the Bundesliga, folks. The Power Rankings do not necessarily reflect the current table standings, since they account both for form and expectations, all the while acknowledging the fluctuation and random effects riddled through a single match day weekend, yet also acknowledging that the weekly randomness does something like work itself out over the long run. Thus, we proudly present our Match Day 10 Power Rankings. Debate. Discuss. Rinse and repeat. Huzzah!” Bundesliga Fanatic

“It was a weekend of stalemates as 6 of this weekend’s 9 fixtures ended in draws. The top 6 sides all faced off against each other but all 3 games ended level, including the clash between the top 2 sides, Ingolstadt and Fortuna Düsseldorf. Elsewhere, 1860 Munich moved off of the bottom of the table with a 3-0 victory over a hapless Bochum, who have now gone 7 games without a win. Eintracht Braunschweig moved into the top half of the table with a win over Aalen and Greuther Fürth won, in Berlin, as they bounced back from 2 consecutive defeats. Let’s take a look at the team of the week for matchday 12.” Bundesliga Fanatic (Video)

“With Commerzbank’s current sponsorship deal with Eintracht Frankfurt over naming rights for their home ground since 1963 – formerly known as the Waldstadion – expiring at the end of the season, the practise of clubs selling parts of their identity – such as the name of their home ground – has become an important discussion of late. Understandably, all sorts of questions will be raised about any form of increased commercialism in German football; the changing relationship between money and German clubs is constantly debated and in many cases well documented.” Bundesliga Fanatic

“Bayern are just cruising at the moment. In their latest match the Bavarians barely moved out of second gear, but nevertheless they managed to destroy Werder Bremen 6-0. Gladbach continue their good run of form and next week’s match between the Foals and Pep Guardiola’s team is a mouth-watering prospect. On the other hand side there is Dortmund, who are still not finding their form, as another loss for Klopp’s team means that they can kiss their chances to win the German championship good-bye at an earlier stage of the season than people had expected them to. There were many great individual performances in the Bundesliga this weekend, here is our top XI of the week…” Bundesliga Fanatic

“‘At 3.30am he bids the party goers goodnight and walks off with Valentina asleep, curled up in his arms like a baby.’ Thus ends Pep’s first year as coach of Bayern Munich: during the wee morning hours with his young daughter asleep in his arms. Intimate scenes such as this one fill Pep Confidential: The Inside Story of Pep Guardiola’s First Season at Bayern Munich (BackPage Books and Birlinn Limited, 488 pages), written by popular Spanish football journalist and former Olympian, Martí Perarnau, who chronicles Pep Guardiola’s first year as Bayern Munich’s coach.” Bundesliga Fanatic

“It’s October 4th and the sun is shining down on the Volkswagen Arena. I’m sitting close to the pitch watching the match unfold amidst the Wolfsburg faithful. In the 58th minute Dieter Hecking’s men have finally managed to crack the Augsburg defence wide open. The Brazilian defender Naldo had taken the ball upfield and continued his run, then engaged in a lovely one-two with Sebastian Jung, and a few seconds later the former Werder man placed the ball in the back of the net of Marwin Hitz’s goal. The roughly 25,000 fans who have found their way to the stadium in Wolfsburg celebrated, because finally their team looks like making its way towards what the supporters consider to be the right end of the table.” Bundesliga Fanatic

“As Sebastian Polter races towards goal and calmly slots the ball past RB Leipzig keeper Benjamin Bellot, close to 20,000 fans erupt in a cacophony of emotion at the Stadion An der Alte Försterei. Good has prevailed over evil, and order has been restored, if only temporarily. It’s a Sunday afternoon in September, and the 2. Bundesliga’s newest club has made the short two-hour trip to Berlin, sitting pretty atop the table, having gone unbeaten in its first five matches. Leipzig face an FC Union Berlin side lying firmly in the relegation zone after a winless start to their own 2014-15 campaign. The visitors are welcomed with a cold and hostile reception.” Bundesliga Fanatic

“When a young footballer outgrows their youth academy and the time comes for them to impress on the senior stage one of a few things will inevitably happen. Whether the player is slowly transitioned into the squad, being afforded the odd substitute appearance, or is thrown straight in at the deep end – through necessity, as injuries thin the squad, or because the manager wishes to scrutinise the player’s mentality under intense pressure – both scenarios will give some indication of the player’s aptitude. Solid performances will enforce the manager’s trust as well as the player’s belief and their playing time will grow, eventually allowing them to slot seamlessly into the squad.” Bundesliga Fanatic

“Sitting in the Weserstadion, one can’t help but feel that Werder Bremen’s fans do have an impressive support going for their team. I was there for the match against Hoffenheim, and it was lovely to see the way Davie Selke was applauded off the pitch despite not having had the best of matches. The attitude the youngster had put on display was right though, the Under-19 European champion had worked his socks off throughout the entire match, and Werder’s fans showed him their appreciation for that. Even the people sitting behind me in the VIP lounge were getting into the match, which happens fairly seldom at other grounds.” Bundesliga Fanatic

“Imagine if Chelsea, the team that ranks third in the all-time Premier League table, wasn’t challenging for the title every year, but rather was fighting to avoid relegation. That’d be strange, right? Like watching a drunken executive wallow in the gutter. Chelsea isn’t supposed to be down there. To continue this thought experiment, imagine Chelsea’s answer, because it’s a “big club” that aspires to more, and because it has some resources, was to bring back a former star–let’s say Arjen Robben–to save the team. That’d be cool right? A returning hero riding into town to set things right again? This is basically the situation in the German Bundesliga, at Hamburger SV–the hero being Rafael van der Vaart, who returned to the club in 2012 but has been unable to affect much change.” Fusion

“Of all the storylines poised to develop during the 2014-15 Bundesliga season — Is Dortmund’s spending spree enough to bring them level with Bayern? (No.) Will Robert Lewandowski come back to haunt his former team? (Yes.) Can Borussia Mönchengladbach or VfL Wolfsburg push for the Champions League? (No.) Will Hamburger SV remain terrible? (Yes.) — the one I’m most excited about is the promotion of little SC Paderborn 07. Can the mouse roar? (Maybe!)” Fusion

“The Bundesliga is back for a new season and there was already plenty to talk about after the first round of matches. Bayern München unsurprisingly started the season off with a tricky victory against Wolfsburg while Borussia Dortmund disappointed after losing at home to a promising Leverkusen side. Meanwhile, SC Paderborn recorded their first ever Bundesliga point with a draw against Mainz. Here are eight talking points from match day One. The Bundesliga is back!” Bundesliga Fanatic

“Two seasons ago, Bayern won the Bundesliga by 25 points. Last season: by March. Bayern blamed its late season failure versus Real Madrid on an uncompetitive league season. Other Bundesliga clubs will hope the statement ‘Be careful what you wish for’ rings true. Bayern have not won the last two Bundesliga seasons after the World Cup (2007 – Stuttgart, 2011 – Dortmund). Bayern is rightly favorites but if this trend were to hold true, what would be the causes of Bayern’s failure? There is currently an injury crisis in Bayern. Thiago, Javi Martinez, Mitchell Weiser, and Rafinha have injuries ranging from multiple weeks to multiple months. Javi Martinez is the strongest defensive midfielder and also moonlights as a central back. Losing Javi Martinez is essentially losing two players.” Bundesliga Fanatic

“The 52nd Bundesliga season starts on August 22nd in Munich when the defending champs Bayern take on VfL Wolfsburg in the season opener. Are you ready for the season? Maybe die Nationalmannschaft winning the World Cup in Brazil this summer makes you hungry for more deutsch Fußball, but you don’t know where to start. Sure, you recognize Bayern’s name, and probably those of Dortmund, Schalke or even Leverkusen, but Paderborn? Freiburg? Augsburg?” Soccer Pro

“There is something that feels so totally unpretentious about SV Darmstadt 98 that it’s really hard not to like them. The club itself shouldn’t be in the second division this season, and not because of anything that happened on the field, most there will readily admit that. At the conclusion of the 2012-2013 3. Liga season, Darmstadt were relegated to the fourth-tier regional leagues, before financial trouble at arch-rivals Kickers Offenbach meant OFC would be losing their 3. Liga license. Darmstadt would take Offenbach’s place in the third division as the team with the most points previously slated to go down.” backpagefootball

“In parts 1 and 2 in my series, I first looked at how the financial fair play rules in German football have an effect on the strengths of German soccer and then looked I looked at the cost of being a German football fan, particularly when contrasted with the fan experience in the English Premier League. However, there is an over-arching theme even greater that football itself that I will discuss in this article. Namely, the role of football, in particular the Bundesliga, within German society. It is very interesting to examine this relationship apart from the statistics, facts and figures that can be represented in different ways. While it is fair to say football does hold an important social place in countries like Germany and England, it is also fair to say that the nature of the relationship is vastly different in either country.” Bundesliga Fanatic

“It was a scene and dialogue which could have been scripted in Hollywood. The underachieving golden boy with the silver-screen looks gets the terse and pithy motivational speech from the embattled veteran coach needing just one more big moment to complete a widely unexpected legacy-rehabilitating championship run. ‘Prove that you are better than Messi. You can decide the match today.’ And with those words of encouragement, Joachim Löw sent Mario Götze into the overtime period of the World Cup final and toward his destiny, which was to plaster his name among those of Helmut Rahn, Gerd Müller, and Andreas Brehme, as men who provided the title-clinching goal to bring a world championship to Germany. You won’t find many 22-year-old footballers with a resume as accomplished as that of Götze.” Bundesliga Fanatic