With the
2008-2009 Bundesliga campaign already in full force,
Bayern Munich remain the favorite to repeat as
champions of Germany. Having won the domestic double
last season, edging Borussia Dortmund 2:1 after
extra time in the DFB-Pokal (German Cup) and winning
the Bundesliga a clear 10 points ahead of
second-place Werder Bremen, Bayern are, once again,
the team to beat.
But
significant changes have occurred over the summer at
the Munich giants. Ottmar Hitzfeld has left the post
of Bayern manager to take over the Swiss National
Team, and has been replaced by Juergen Klinsmann,
who last managed the German National Team to a
third-place finish at the 2006 World Cup before
unexpectedly resigning. It is going to be a tough
act to follow Hitzfeld, Bayern’s (and Germany’s)
most decorated club manager in history, having won
five Bundesliga titles to go along with three German
Cup victories and the 2001 Champions League with the
Bavarians. Klinsmann will be taking on his first
ever job as club manager, and it is yet to be seen
if he will be as successful at managing a club as he
was at managing the German National Team.
In addition
to the change in manager, Bayern have also lost one
of their most
valued players of all time. With the
retirement of ever unpopular German International
goalkeeper Oliver Kahn, the young but extremely
talented Michael Rensing is Bayern’s new number one
in goal. He has been Kahn’s understudy for the past
five seasons. Only three newcomers have been added
to the squad, including German International Tim
Borowski and Italian defender Massimo Oddo, but a
number of players have been sold, including Jan
Schlaudraff and Marcell Jansen. With Bayern
competing in the Champions League once again after a
one-year absence, their squad may not be deep enough
to contend for all three titles this year.
The
challengers for the Bundesliga title are once again
led by Werder Bremen. The north-German club has
finished in the top three in each of the last five
seasons, winning the title in 2004. Claudio Pizarro
has arrived from Chelsea on a season-long loan. The
biggest spenders on individuals though have been
Schalke04. The Gelsenkirchen club have brought in
Dutch international midfielder Orlando Engelaar from
Twente Entschede for a reported €6m. He reunites
with former Twente coach Fred Rutten. They have also
added Jefferson Farfan from PSV Eindhoven. The
busiest club have been Hamburg SV. They have signed
Brazilian defender Alex Silva from Sao Paulo;
Defender Marcell Jansen from Bayern Munich; Croatian
forward Mladen Petric from Borussia Dortmund;
Midfielder Dennis Aogo from Freiburg and Burkina
Faso midfielder Jonathan Pitroipa on a free transfer
from Freiburg. Settling in time will of course be
needed.
No preview
of the Bundesliga 2008/2009 season would be complete
without mention of 1899 Hoffenheim. At the beginning
of the 1990s, the club was an obscure local amateur
side playing in the eighth division
Baden-Württemberg A-Liga. Then Dietmar Hopp bought
them. The co-founder of software firm SAP had played
for them as a youth and with his investment
Hoffenheim have sprinted up the divisions and make
their debut in the Bundesliga this year. Two
Brazilians, Wellington and Gustavo, have arrived, as
has Austrian international goalkeeper, Ramazan Özcan.
Hoffenheim itself is a either a village or a suburb
of Sinsheim, with Hoffenheim itself boasting a
population of 3,286. Sinsheim as a whole only has
35,605 people. Incredibly they won their first two
games and briefly topped the table. After three
games, Schalke now lead with 7 points.
