The summer months are drawing to a close, even though the current temperatures are still high in summer. But at this time of year the time has finally come again. The ball is rolling on the lawn again and everyone is looking forward to seeing the round in the square.
The first Bundesliga of all leagues in Germany starts last, but that shouldn't disturb. The appeal of the Bundesliga has somewhat come to a standstill. The otherwise exciting question, which team will win the championship, has already been answered a few years ago.
The autocracy of FC Bayern Munich makes the league uninteresting for the spectators. Of course the games in the first league are not bad because of that, there are 17 other teams in the league.
In addition, the RB Leipzig mixed up the upper house in the 16/17 season and finished second ahead of Dortmund, Leverkusen and Schalke.
Nevertheless, the first Bundesliga has to put up with the accusation that it is no longer the most exciting league. (Source: https://openodds.com/football-betting-odds-comparison/)
The second Bundesliga
The past first Bundesliga ended with a bang, with a loud bang, or better said, with many loud bangs. They could be heard from the north. The Hamburger SV has relegated for the first time in the club's history. Why is that so special? The Hamburger Spielverein is a founding member of the Bundesliga.
The club was there from day one and was able to prevent it from relegating to the second league until last season.
The signs were already clear in the past years, but the team has always managed to remain first class. Until now, now the club has to prove itself.
The expectations of the team, which proudly bears the Emirates airline sponsor's logo on its chest, are enormous. And so are the club's concerns.
Such a large club also has enormous costs to bear for the stadium, the players, the coaches and the other club members.
But it's not just Hamburger SV who have high expectations. There are numerous aspirants for the promotion places and both Hamburg and relegated Cologne must convince over the entire season.
So there is a lot of excitement, because Bochum, Union Berlin, Dresden and Heidenheim also want to be in the first league. This makes the fight for the first places much more interesting than in the Oberhaus.
The third Bundesliga
The first and second Bundesliga naturally attract the attention of the media. The audience figures and the number of visitors in the stadiums are therefore the highest. But tension, drama and euphoria are of course also present in the other leagues.
The third Bundesliga also has well-known names to offer. This means above all the TSV 1860 Munich. After relegation from the second league, the lions did not end up in the third league, but in the regional league.
Due to the fact that the deadline for the license payment for the third league was not kept, two leagues went down. This has never happened before.
After one year in the regional league, TSV Munich has arrived in the third league and wants to stay high. Further well-known names, which were already in the first federal league, are Braunschweig, energy Cottbus, Kaiserslautern and the Karlsruhe SC.
Naturally all teams want to create the ascent into the second federal league. In the best case as Hoffenheim and Leipzig have shown, directly into the first Bundesliga.
Another reason why the third league brings more excitement and variety is because there are twenty teams playing and not, as in the first and second Bundesliga, only 18 teams.
The regional league
True to the motto: small but fine, the regional league is always full of excitement. The teams play for promotion to the third Bundesliga. In addition, the regional league is becoming more and more popular, also because since last year the TV station Sport 1 shows the matches every Monday.
But there is also a big difference, which is especially noticeable in the regional league. The mood of the spectators is particularly intense.
The atmosphere in the southern curve of the Allianz Arena is similar to that of an old people's meeting. Also the loyalty of the fans is completely different.
It's not about rewards, victories and goals, as in the first division, but the teams give their all in every game. The spectators come to the stadiums to support the team.
If a match doesn't go well, nobody thinks about leaving the stadium at halftime. Pictures of how they can be seen from time to time in the House of Lords, in which crowds of spectators leave the stadium early, have not yet occurred in the regional league.
The only understandable reason why you want to leave the stadium before everyone else in the first league is to avoid traffic jams on the parking lot. The problem has been solved in the