League Preview: German Bundesliga

Borussia Dortmund will be looking to win its 8th Bundesliga title when the 2011-2012 season of the German Bundesliga begins this August 2011. Borussia Dortmund won the title last season behind the leadership of head coach Jurgen Klopp and the fine performances of key players including Lucas Barrios, Robert Lewandowski, Nuri Sahin, Mats Hummels, Kuba and Kevin Groskreutz. Of course, the road to the Bundesliga title is very competitive as teams like runner-up Bayer Leverkusen will hope to make it to the top with key players like Michael Ballack, Sami Hyypia, Sidney Sam, Lars Bender and Renato Augusto. They also will employ a new manager with Robin Dutt. Third place Bayern Munich are the most successful club in the Bundesliga, and they will be chasing their 22nd title this season. Apart from regular key players like Philipp Lahm, Franck Ribery, Arjen Robben, Bastian Schweinsteiger, Mario Gomez and Thomas Muller, new additions like Nils Petersen and Jerome Boateng among others, will look to make an impact in their campaign for a Bundesliga title. A notable change will be their new manager Jupp Heynckes. Eintract Frankfurt and St. Pauli were relegated to the 2nd Bundesliga while Hertha BSC and FC Augsburg will be replacing them after being promoted from the 2nd Bundesliga. 16th place Borussia Monchengladbach maintained their spot in the Bundesliga after winning 2-1 on aggregate against Vfl Bochum, who earned a playoff for finishing 3rd in the 2nd Bundesliga, but failed to secure the spot in the Bundesliga following their loss. Other teams hoping to improve from last year include fourth place Hannover 96, fifth place FSV Mainz 05 and sixth place FC Nuremberg. Despite finishing 14th last season, FC Schalke 04 will still have the opportunity to play in the UEFA Europa League following their success at reaching the semifinals in the UEFA Champions League. FC Schalke 04 will maintain key players like Klaas-Jan Huntelaar, Edu, Jose Manuel Jurado and Raul Gonzalez. The top goal scorers last season hoping to maintain their form this 2011-12 season of the German Bundesliga are the likes of Mario Gomez of Bayern Munich, Papiss Cisse of SC Freiburg and MIlivoje Novakovic of FC Koln. Top assists-makers of the German Bundesliga last season include Christian Tiffert of FC Kaiserslautern, Mario Gotze of Borussia Dortmund, Thomas Muller of Bayern Munich, Franck Ribery of Bayern Munich and Arturo Vidal of Bayer Leverkusen.]]>