Bundesliga: Dates, teams, history & betting odds

The Bundesliga is one of Europe's top five leagues, with many of the world's best players playing their football in the German top-flight.

Last season, Bayer Leverkusen made history as they won the Bundesliga title for the first time in their 120-year history.

Xabi Alonso's team secured the title with five games to spare as they won 5-0 against Werder Bremen before they then won the DFB-Pokal.

Leverkusen also reached the Europa League final before losing to Atalanta, and the pressure will be on them to keep Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich at bay.

Bundesliga dates

The 2024/25 Bundesliga season begins on Friday 23rd August 2024 and will come to an end on Sunday 17th May 2025.

Bundesliga teams

Bundesliga is the men's top professional football division in Germany, and it is contested by 18 teams.

Cologne and Darmstadt 98 were relegated last season and were replaced by St Pauli and Holstein Kiel.

Holstein Kiel will make their debut in the German top flight, while St Pauli return after a thirteen-year absence.

Here are the list of teams that will compete in the 2024/25 Bundesliga campaign.

• Augsburg
• Union Berlin
• Bochum
• Werder Bremen
• Borussia Dortmund
• Eintracht Frankfurt
• SC Freiburg
• FC Heidenheim
• TSG Hoffenheim
• Holstein Kiel
• RB Leipzig
• Bayer Leverkusen
• Mainz
• Borussia Monchengladbach
• Bayern Munich
• St Pauli
• VfB Stuttgart
• Wolfsburg

Bundesliga venues/stadiums

The Bundesliga has 18 teams which play each other twice across the season to determine their final placings.

Here is the list of stadiums that will be used in Bundesliga for the 2024/25 season.

Augsburg	WWK Arena
Union Berlin	Stadion An der Alten Forsterei
Bochum	Vonovia Ruhrstadion
Werder Bremen	Weserstadion
Borussia Dortmund	Signal Iduna Park
Eintracht Frankfurt	Deutsche Bank Park
SC Freiburg	Europa-Park Stadion
FC Heidenheim	Voith-Arena
TSG Hoffenheim	PreZero Arena
Holstein Kiel	Holstein-Stadion
RB Leipzig	Red Bull Arena
Bayer Leverkusen	BayArena
Mainz	Mewa Arena
Borussia Monchengladbach	Borussia-Park
Bayern Munich	Allianz Arena
St Pauli	Millerntor-Stadion
VfB Stuttgart	MHPArena
Wolfsburg	Volkswagen Arena

Bundesliga history

Before the creation of the Bundesliga, German football was played at an amateur level in several sub-regional leagues.

In 1949, a part-time setup was introduced, before the Bundesliga was founded in August 1963. After German reunification in 1990, the East German leagues merged into the West German system, and the league has remained that way ever since.

Bayern Munich have won the most Bundesliga titles with 32 successes.

The top four teams qualify for the Champions League while the fifth-placed team will qualify for the Europa League group stage and the sixth team will reach the Europa Conference League play-off round, barring results in the DFB Pokal.

The bottom two teams are automatically relegated, while the 16th-placed side face a relegation play-off against the third-placed Bundesliga 2 team.

Bundesliga previous winners

Season	Bundesliga winners
2023/24	Bayer Leverkusen
2022/23	Bayern Munich
2021/22	Bayern Munich
2020/21	Bayern Munich
2019/20	Bayern Munich
2018/19	Bayern Munich
2017/18	Bayern Munich
2016/17	Bayern Munich
2015/16	Bayern Munich
2014/15	Bayern Munich

Bundesliga favourites

Despite finishing third last season, Bayern Munich are favourites to win the Bundesliga this season.

Former Burnley boss Vincent Kompany has stepped into the dugout to fill the void left behind by Thomas Tuchel, but he will be under immense pressure to shine at the biggest club in Germany.

The Bayern board has signed Michael Olise, Joao Palhinha, Hiroki Ito and Bryan Zaragoza to strengthen Kompany's squad.

Alonso has stayed put at Leverkusen, and the additions of Aleix Garcia and Jeanuel Belocian have only strengthened his squad, with the reigning champions second favourites in the betting.

Nuri Sahin's Borussia Dortmund are third favourites, while RB Leipzig are next in the betting.