Top to bottom

The cream of the crop

The Bundesliga is unique among Europe's top leagues for having one team so clearly head-and-shoulders above the rest.

Bayern Munich is Germany's lone elite team, and after a downturn they've returned to the top five or six squads on the continent.

But this is a very different Bayern from the teams that won titles in past decades. Coach Louis van Gaal has them playing attractive, modern, attacking football that emphasizes short passing over physical presence.

Given their domestic double and Champions League final appearance last season, nothing less than another domestic double and a challenge for the European club title will satisfy this time around. The team is young and hungry, but they could be undone by their thinness at the back.

Nonetheless, all signs point to a new Bayern dynasty in Germany, if not necessarily in Europe.

Fun fact: Louis van Gaal is the first Dutchman ever to win a Bundesliga title.

The perennial contenders

Werder Bremen's greatest strength is also their biggest weakness. The small-market club specializes in developing hot young players and then selling them off to bigger teams, where they usually perform far worse than at Bremen. That guarantees some of Germany's best offensive football, and the occasional title, but it also means the club is forced to constantly replace stars. This year's problem child was Mesut Oezil, and it will be interesting to see if Bremen can yet again cope with a major departure.

Fun fact: Thomas Schaaf is the first-division coach with the longest tenure.

Schalke have an enormous fan base, a storied tradition and a stellar coach in Felix Magath. But they are also saddled with debt that has been rumored to be as high 200 million euros, and they haven't won a league title in more than 50 years. They'd love to establish themselves as Champions League regulars, but although they've acquired Spanish superstar Raul, they've also sold off three-quarters of their starting defense from last season.

Fun fact: In 2001, Schalke thought they had broken their league title drought, only to see Bayern score a last-second goal on the final day to snatch the trophy.

Borussia Dortmund are the only German club other than Bayern to have won the Champions League. But between that triumph in 1997 and now are a number of fallow years in which they club teetered on the edge of bankruptcy. Dortmund have righted their financial ship and are now living within their means with a young side capable of challenging for the top three in Germany.

Fun fact: Borussia Dortmund is listed on the German stock exchange.

Hamburg have the biggest market in the Bundesliga and are in good financial shape, thanks to their ability to sell off players like Rafael van der Vaart, Nigel de Jong, and, most recently, Jerome Boateng at handsome profits. So why haven't hey won anything in recent memory? That's largely because they've failed to develop a team style, and have seen coaches come and go on an annual basis. New skipper Armin Veh will hope to be given time to try and change both the former and the latter.

Fun fact: Hamburg is the only club to have played in the first division in every season since the Bundesliga was founded in 1963.

Leverkusen seem to have finally recovered from the doldrums they slipped into after coming up just short in three competitions in 2002. Backed by the financial might of the Bayer pharmaceutical company, they consistently attract some of the best young talent in Germany. Unfortunately, that hasn't translated into consistency on the pitch. More than any other German team, Leverkusen tend to run hot and cold. Perhaps, the arrival of veteran midfielder Michael Ballack will change that.

Fun fact: In 2009-10, Leverkusen set the record for the longest unbeaten streak in Bundesliga history.

The in-betweens

Swabia, the region of Germany where Stuttgart are located, is known for the frugality of its inhabitants, and the club conforms to that stereotype. Kevin Kuranyi, Aliaksandr Hleb, Mario Gomez and now Sami Khedira are some of the players the Swabians have shipped out when the price was right and salary demands threatened to get too high. And they've done surprisingly well with that policy in the past decade. But coach Christian Gross would surely welcome a sign that management wants to bid for the top three and not just financial solidity.

Fun fact: in 2007, Stuttgart won their final eight games - and a surprise Bundesliga title.

Wolfsburg capitalized on the financial backing of Volkswagen and the coaching genius of Felix Magath to break out of years of mediocrity and mount one of the most shocking title campaigns ever in 2008-9. In striker Edin Dzeko, they have a player everyone in Europe covets - even though he himself would prefer to leave. And that, in a nutshell, is the Wolves' dilemma. They have the money to attract good players, but Wolfsburg isn't that attractive a city or club, and players who stand out soon tend to want out as well.

Fun fact: Wolfsburg was founded in 1945, making it the youngest of the first-division clubs.

Hoffenheim were on quite a roll for a while. Backed by SAP software magnate Dietmar Hopp's billions, they built up a squad that leapt up two divisions in as many years and led the Bundesliga itself for the first half of 2008-9. But the formula that worked in lower divisions - overpay players to come to a town of 3,300 people - probably won't work in the long term in the top flight. It's hard to escape the feeling that the momentum is gone, and that the club and Hopp's billions have perhaps reached their limit.

Fun fact: As a player, Hoffenheim coach Ralf Rangnick never made it past division three.

The arrested development society

Eintracht Frankfurt is a good illustration of particular German footballing phenomenon: the bigger cities aren't necessarily those with the richest or most successful clubs. In the past 15 years, Frankfurt have never finished higher than ninth and have been relegated twice. In Michael Skibbe, a former German national team assistant coach, they have an ambitious skipper. But club management is unwilling to go into debt to improve the squad and thus have trouble attracting truly top talent.

Fun fact: One of the team's unofficial nicknames is "the moody diva."

Think Cologne Football Club and you'll think Lukas Podolski - and that's a problem. The striker is by far the highest profile player to emerge from the Rhine city in the new millennium. They haven't finished in the top half of the table during that period, and bringing back Prince Poldi last season, at great expense, did nothing to change that. Meanwhile, nothing Cologne did in the summer of 2010 suggests any great reason for optimism either.

Fun fact: Cologne's mascot is always a real live billy goat named Hennes. Hennes VII currently occupies the position.

Hanover are another team that are seemingly too big to get relegated but not big enough to mount a serious challenge on the upper echelons of the table. They've never finished better than fifth in the Bundesliga's first division, and that was all the way back in 1965. The team just managed to beat the drop from the top flight last season, despite the tragic suicide of goalkeeper and captain Robert Enke. If the team can recover from that, one would figure they'd be strong enough to avoid relegation again. But you can only push your luck so far.

Fun fact: Hanover President Martin Kind, a hearing aid magnate, is one of the few Bundesliga execs who want to allow individuals to own teams outright.

Nuremberg hail from Bavaria's second-largest city, and until 1987, they had won more league titles than any other Germany team. But then came Bayern Munich, and "The Club," as the team are simply nicknamed, began yo-yoing between division one and division two. To their credit, they always seem to bounce right back when they get relegated. On the down side, the only recent mark they've made at the top was coming in sixth and winning the German Cup in 2007. The last two years have been more in character - they've qualified for top flight football by the skin of their teeth, winning the re-instituted relegation play-off. The Club's lack of funds mean they can't aspire to very much more.

Fun fact: Nuremberg have a fan club in England that regularly travels to Germany to watch matches.

The recapturing-past-glory duo

Borussia Moenchengladbach were a true counterweight to Bayern Munich in the 1970s, winning five league titles during that decade. But The Foals have never been able to replicate that success and got themselves relegated in 2007 despite overspending in a vain attempt to return to the elite. They've made a new start under coach Michael Frontzeck, who has vowed to take the club forward one small step at a time. And as a team with a passionate fan base and fine youth academy, if they keep that cool head they could well succeed in their aim to become a first-division mainstay.

Fun fact: Gladbach once had a 7-1 win over Inter Milan annulled because an opponent was hit in the head with an empty beer can.

Arguably no German team has seen the highs and lows of Kaiserslautern. The Red Devils were first-division fixtures for 33 years, then got relegated in 1996 thanks to a last-minute goal. They immediately went back up and won the league in 1998 - the only newly promoted German team ever to do so. But financial problems follows and Lautern spent 2006 to 2010 back in the second division. Now they're back in the top flight, and with some of Germany's most fanatic supporters and a young squad capable of improvement, Lautern have a decent chance of staying there.

Fun fact: With around 100,000 inhabitants, Kaiserslautern has one of the league's smallest markets.

The in-it-for-the-ride bunch

Freiburg don't pretend to be anything but what they are: a good club from a small city that, in terms of recent history, has had one foot in the first and one foot in the second division. It took the club over 90 years to get to top flight, and they've developed a healthy sense of patience. The club has only had two coaches since 1991, and current skipper Robin Dutt emphasizes crowd-pleasing football over results at any cost. Their goal is certainly to stay up, but if they have to play in division two it's not the end of the world for them.

Fun fact: Coach Robin Dutt is half Indian.

Mainz is a club that's probably happy just to still be around. Founded in 1905, the team was almost driven out of existence in 1982 after it was discovered a former club president had embezzled large sums of money. And their history hasn't all that been easier since then. Mainz finished fourth in division two, one spot shy of promotion, four times. Before last season, many people expected Mainz to go back down, especially after they fired their coach and appointed greenhorn Thomas Tuchel before the first day of play had even begun. But Tuchel's troops came up big and stayed up. The question is: can they do it again?

Fun fact: Mainz's youth team were German champions in 2009.

St. Pauli is celebrating their centenary this year, and they've adopted the slogan "Non-established for 100 years." That they are, in many senses. Hamburg's other football team, alongside the much bigger team that bears the city's name, has its home near the red-light district, and its fans are known for their left-wing politics, absurd sense of humor, and ability to consume enormous amounts of beer. The team has spent a grand total of three years in the first division of the Bundesliga, and no one expects them to hang around for long this time either. But the fans of German football's equivalent of an indie rock band plan to enjoy the top flight while it lasts.

Fun fact: The team's unofficial logo is a pirate's Jolly Roger.

Author: Jefferson Chase
Editor: Matt Hermann