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Bayer Leverkusen 04
Founded : 1904
Location : Leverkusen
Stadium : Bay Arena
Capacity : 30,210
Manager: Robin Dutt
Nicknames: Die Werself ( Factory squad)
Neverkusen: Coined by the English press of Germany after the club’s “Treble Horror” in 2002 which saw them lose three major titles despite having the upper hand in all of them. They were beaten in the German Cup Final 4-2 by Schalke 04 and lost the UEFA Champions League final to Real Madrid by 2 goals to 1. In the Bundesliga they surrendered a 5 point lead by losing two of their last three matches thereby allowing Borussia Dortmund to win the league.
Arch Rivals: KFC Uerdingen and Fortuna Dusseldorf
Record Transfer fees paid : 5 million pounds for Jan Simak from Hannover96 in 2002
Record Transfer fees received: 10.9 million pounds for Dimitar Berbatov from Tottenham Hotspur in 2006
Longest Serving Player : Simon Rolfes ( 6 years)
Honours: UEFA Cup (1)
Legends: Ulf Kirsten, Carsten Ramelow, Bernd Schneider, Michael Ballack, Dimitar Berbatov, Landon Donovan, Bernd Schuster, Oliver Neuville, Sami Hyypia.
Fun Facts :
a) The formation of the club was motivated by the idea of upgrading the living conditions of the local factory workers at the beginning of the 20th century. In due consideration of the tradition of the factory squad UEFA allows Bayer Leverkusen to use the brand name of Bayer in European club competitions.
b) Defender Omer Toprak wears the highest shirt number in the league: 58
Founded: 1900
Location: Munich
Stadium: Allianz Arena
Capacity: 69,901
Manager: Jup Heynckes
Nicknames: Der FCB ( The FCB)
Die Bayern ( The Bavarians)
Die Roten ( The Reds)
Arch Rivals : TSV 1860 Munich, FC Nuremberg, Hamburger SV and SV Werder Bremen
Record transfer fees paid : 26.42 million pounds for Mario Gomez from VfB Stuttgart in 2009
Record transfer fee received : 17 million pounds for Owen Hargreaves from Manchester United in 2007
Longest serving player : Michael Rensing ( 8 years)
Honours: Bundesliga ( 22)
UEFA Champions League (4)
UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup (1)
UEFA Cup ( 1)
Intercontinental Cup (2)
Legends: Franz Beckenbauer, Gerd Muller, Karl Heinz Rummenigge, Oliver Kahn, Lothar Matthaus, Stefan Effenberg, Mehmet Scholl, Giovani Elber
Fun Facts :
a) Most expensively assembled team of the Bundesliga, valued at 298 million pounds
b) Bayern Munich have the highest number of fan clubs :2553 with 1,84,387 members
Borussia Dortmund
Full name : Ballspiel-Verein Borussia Dortmund (BVB Dortmund)
Founded : 1909
Location : Dortmund
Ground : Signal-Iduna Park
Capacity : 80,720
Manager : Jurgen Klopp
Nicknames : Die Borussen ( The Borussians)
Die Schwarzgelben ( The Black Yellow) : named after the local brewery
Arch Rivals : FC Schalke 04, FC Bayern Munich
Record transfer fees paid : 15.8 million pounds for Amoroso from Parma in 2001
Record transfer fees received : 10 million pounds for Nuri Sahin from Real Madrid in 2011
Longest serving player : Bernd Meir ( 6 years)
Honours : Bundesliga (4)
European Cup Winners’ Cup (1)
UEFA Champions League (1)
Intercontinental Cup (1)
Legends : Andres Muller, Michael Zorc, Lars Ricken
Fun Facts :
a) The club holds the league record of most season tickets sold : 51,200
b) Signal-Iduna Park is called “The Temple” due to its overwhelming size. Initially the stadium was supposed to be built in Cologne but due to financial difficulties was relocated back to Dortmund
Borussia Monchengladbach
Founded : 1900
Location : Monchengladbach
Ground : Borussia-Park
Capacity : 54,057
Manager : Lucien Favre
Nickname : Die Fahlen ( The Foals) from the club’s official mascot Junter the foal
Arch Rivals : FC Koln
Record transfer fees paid : 3.48 million pounds for Igor Camargo from Standard Liege in 2010
Record transfer fees received : 6.12 million pounds for Marcell Jansen from Bayern Munich in 2007
Longest serving player : Filip Daems ( 6 years)
Honours : Bundesliga (5)
UEFA Cup (2)
Legends : Berti Vogts, Stefan Effenberg, Rainer Bonhof
Fun Facts :
a) Borussia Monchengladbach have a long association with Liverpool FC. After the Hillsborough disaster, fans of Monchengladbach donated a large sum of money for the Hillsborough fund. Many “Borussen” wear Liverpool shirts and scarves in the “Nordkurve” ( the BMG Kop) during home games.
b) On 29th April 1978 they beat Borussia Dortmund by 12-0 which is a league record.
FC Schalke 04
Founded : 1904
Location : Gelsenkirchen, Schalke
Ground : Veltins-Arena, Gelsenkirchen
Capacity : 61,673
Manager : Horst Heldt
Nicknames : Die Konigsblaven ( The Royal Blues)
Die Knappen ( The Miners) : picked the name in 1923 because the majority of the club’s players and supporters worked in the coalmines of Gelsenkirchen.
Arch Rivals : Borussia Dortmund and Rot-Weiss Essen
Record transfer fees paid : 11.09 million pounds for Jefferson Farfan from PSV in 2008
Record transfer received: 21.79 million pounds for Manuel Neuer from Bayern Munich in 2011
Longest serving player : Dario Rodriguez ( 9 years)
Honours : UEFA Cup(1)
Legends : Olaf Thon, Nolbert Nigburn
Fun Facts :
a) It is the only club in the Bundesliga 1 with a chapel inside the stadium
b) The fans of FC Schalke and FC Nuremburg share a special bond. Whenever the teams play, the fans of both teams celebrate together irrespective of the result.
Hamburger SV
Full name : Hamburger Sport Verein
Founded : 1887
Location : Hamburg
Ground : Imtech-Arena
Capacity : 56,889
Manager : Thorsten Fink
Nicknames : Rothosen ( Red Shorts)
The Dinosaur
Arch Rivals : FC St.Pauli, SV Werder Bremen and FC Bayern Munich
Record transfer fees paid : 7.69 million pounds for Eljero Elia from FC Twente in 2009
Record transfer fees received : 16 million pounds for Nigel de Jong from Manchester City in 2009
Longest serving player : Ren Klingbeil ( 8years)
Honours : Bundesliga (3)
European Cup Winners’ Cup (1)
UEFA Cup (1)
Legends: Uwe Seeler, Manfred Kalz, Vincent Kompany, Ruud Van Nistelrooy.
Fun Facts :
a) HSV fans can be buried at a dedicated graveyard near the stadium covered in turf from the original Hamburg pitch.
b) HSV have a special bond with Hannover 96. Their matches involve fans chanting HSV from either end of the pitch.
Hannover 96
Full name : Hannoverscher Sportverein von 1896
Founded : 1896
Location : Hannover
Ground : AWD Arena
Capacity : 49,000
Manager : Mirko Slomka
Nickname : Die Roten ( The Reds)
Arch Rivals : Eintracht Braunschweig and SV Werder Bremen
Record transfer fees paid : 3.41 million pounds for Mike Hanke from VfL Wolfsburg in 2007
Record transfer received : 5 million pounds for Jan Simak from Bayer Leverkusen in 2002
Longest serving player : Altin Lala (13 years)
Honours : Nil
Legends : Carsten Linke, Jorg Sievers
Fun Facts :
a) Became the first team in Bundesliga history to score 3 own goals in a match.
b) Hannover fans share a fierce rivalry with Energie Cottbus fans due to an incident during a league promotion match in which the floodlights broke down during the game and the rescheduled match was won by Cottbus. Hannover fans felt that it was done deliberately.
S.C.Freiburg
Full name : Sport-club Freiburg
Founded : 1904
Location : Freiburg
Ground : Badenova-stadion
Capacity : 24,000
Manager : Marcus Sorg
Nickname : Breisgau-Brasilianer. Got the name in the 1993-94 season due to their attractive style of play.
Arch Rivals : Freiburger FC and VfB Stuttgart
Record transfer fees paid : 1.44 million pounds for Papiss Cisse from Metz in 2010
Record transfer fees received : 118.5k pounds for Ellery Cairo from Hertha Berlin in 2005
Longest serving player : Roda Antar ( 8 years)
Honours : None
Legends : Joachim Loew, Charly Schulz
Fun Facts :
a) Pappis Demba Cisse’s brace in Freiburg’s 2-0 victory over Hamburg in 2010-11 season made the Senagalese striker the only African player ever to have scored 2 goals in a single Bundesliga match.
b) Joachim Loew, the current German National Team Manager is the club’s all time leading goalscorer.
SV Werder Bremen
Full name : Sport-verein Werder Bremen
Founded : 1899
Location : Bremen
Ground : Weserstadion
Capacity : 42,500
Manager : Thomas Schaff
Nicknames : Die Werderaner ( The river islanders). Took their name from the regional German word for river peninsula.
Die Grun-Weissen (The green whites)
Arch Rivals : Hamburger SV and FC Bayern Munich
Record transfer fees paid : 5.75 million pounds for Marko Arnautovic from FC Twente in 2010
Record transfer fees received : 22.02 million pounds for Diego from Juventus in 2009
Longest serving player : Daniel Jensen (7 years)
Honours : Bundesliga (4)
UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup (1)
Legends : Marko Bode, Thomas Schaff
Fun Facts :
a) Werder Bremen manager Thomas Schaaf currently holds the league’s record of the longest reign. 531 games since 10 May 1999
b) One can travel to the Bremen home games by boat. Ferry to the stadium costs 3 euros.
TSG 1899 Hoffenheim
Full name : Turn-und Sportgemeinschaft 1899 Hoffenheim
Founded : 1899
Location : Hoffenheim
Ground : Rhein-Neckar-Arena, Sinsheim
Capacity : 30,150
Manager : Holger Stanislawski
Nickname : Hoffe
Arch Rivals : VfB Stuttgart
Record transfer fees paid : 6 million pounds for Gylfi Sigurdsson from Reading in 2010
Record transfer fees received : 372.3k pounds for Per Nilsson from FC Nuremberg in 2010.
Longest serving player : Christian Mockel (9years)
Honours : None
Legends : Marcel Throm, Heinz Seyfert
Fun Facts :
a) The club is owned by the alumnus and billionaire software mogul Dietmar Hopp.
b) The club is a part of a village with 3300 inhabitants.
VfB Stuttgart
Full name : Verein fur Bewegungsspiele Stuttgart 1893
Founded : 1893
Location : Stuttgart
Ground : Mercedes-Benz Arena
Capacity : 60,441
Manager : Bruno Labbadia
Nicknames : Die Roten ( The Reds )
Die Schwaben ( The Swabians) : Referring to the cultural, historic and linguistic region of Swabia.
Arch Rivals : Stuttgarter Kickers, Karlsruher SC, Hertha BSC and SC Freiburg.
Record transfer fees paid : 9.39 million pounds for Pavel Pogrebnyak from Zenit St.Petersburg in 2009
Record transfer fees received : 26.42 million pounds for Mario Gomez from FC Bayern Munich in 2009
Honours : Bundesliga (3)
Legends : Jurgen Klinsmann, Hansi Muller.
Fun Facts :
a) It is a membership based club and with 45,636 VfB is the largest sports club in the state and the fifth largest in the country.
b) In 2005 a cooperation treaty between VfB and Swiss Super League side St Gallen was signed with regard to the youth sectors of both clubs.
VfL Wolfsburg
Full name : Verein fur Leibesubungen Wolfsburg
Founded: 1945
Location : Wolfsburg
Stadium : Volkswagen Arena
Capacity : 30,000
Manager : Felix Magath
Nickname : The Wolves
Arch Rivals : Hannover 96
Record transfer fees paid : 12.71 million pounds for Diego from Juventus in 2010
Record transfer fees received : 27 million pounds for Edin Dzeko from Manchester City in 2011
Longest serving player : Pablo Thiam (8 years)
Honours : Bundesliga (1)
Legends : Uwe Zimmermann, Detlev Dammeier
Fun Facts :
a) Former Wolves manager Steve Mcclaren was the first British manager in Bundesliga history.
b) The club is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Volkswagen group.
FC Koln
Founded : 1948
Location : Cologne
Stadium : Rhein Energie Stadion
Capacity : 50,000
Manager : Stale Solbakken
Nickname : The billy goats : refers to the club’s mascot, a male goat Hennes, named after the veteran player and manager Hennes Weisweiler.
Arch Rivals : Borussia Monchengladbach
Record transfer fees paid : 9 million pounds for Lukas Podolski from FC Bayern Munich in 2009.
Record transfer fees received : 854.9k pounds for Derek Boateng from Getafe in 2009.
Longest serving player : Rolf-Christel-Guie-Mien (7years)
Honours : Bundesliga (3)
Legends : Toni Schumacher, Klaus Allofs, Lukas Podolski, Bodo Illgner, Pierre Littbarski
Fun Facts :
a) The stadium’s name comes from the local power supplier RheinEnergy AG with which the club has a contract till 2014.
b) Since 2009 the club has had a female football team.
FC Kaiserslautern
Founded : 1900
Location : Kaiserslautern
Stadium : Fritz-Walter-Stadion
Capacity: 49,780
Manager : Marco Kurz
Nickname : Die Roten Teufel ( The Red Devils)
Arch Rivals : SV Waldof Manheim, Karlsruher FC, FC Saarbrucken, Eintracht Frankfurt, FC Bayern Munich and FSV Mainz
Record transfer fees paid : 1.33 million pounds for Stiven Rivic from Energie Cottbus in 2010
Record transfer fees received : 3.32 million for Miroslav Klose from SV Werder Bremen in 2004.
Longest serving player : Jon Inge Hoiland (5 years)
Honours : Bundesliga (2)
Legends : Fritz Walter, Andreas Brehme, Marco Basler
Fun Facts :
a) The club has the oldest team bus in the league. Their Mercedes bus is 10 years old and has over 280,000 km on the clock.
b) Fritz-Walter stadium has been a feared away stadium due to the rabid nature of the club faithfuls.
FC Nuremberg
Founded : 1900
Location : Nuremberg
Stadium : Frankenstadion
Capacity : 48,548
Manager : Dieter Hecking
Nicknames : Der Club ( The Club), in recognition of their skill and style on and off the field
Der Altmeister ( The Past Master)
Die Legende ( The Legend )
Der Ruhmreiche (The Glorious)
Arch Rivals : FC Bayern Munich and SpVgg Greuther Furth
Record transfer fees paid : 1.69 million pounds for Angelos Charisteas from Feyenoord in 2007
Record transfer fees received : 3.41 million pounds for Stephen Kiessling from Beyer Leverkusen in 2006
Longest serving player : Marek Mintal (8 years)
Honours : Bundesliga (1)
Legends : Andreas Kopke, Max Marlock
Fun Facts :
a) The club has the only stadium in the league that also features a running track.
b) FCN have been relegated from the Bundesliga on seven occasions- more times than any other club
FSV Mainz 05
Full name : Fussball und Sportverein Mainz 05
Founded : 1905
Location : Mainz
Ground : Coface Arena
Capacity : 33,500
Manager : Christian Heidel
Nicknames : Die Nullfunfer ( the 0-Fives)
Karnevalsverein ( carnival club). Mainz is famous for its carnivals.
Arch Rivals : FC Kaiserslautern
Record transfer fees paid : 1.64 million pounds for Mohammed Zidan from SV Werder Bremen in 2007
Record transfer fees received : 3.39 million pounds for Mohammed Zidan from Hamburger SV in 2007
Longest serving player : Tom Geissler (6 years)
Honours : None
Legends : Jurgen Klopp, Gerd Higi
Fun Facts :
a) In 2010-11 the club equaled the Bundesliga starting record by winning their first seven games.
b) The club has the oldest squad ( average 26.7 years)
FC Augsburg
Founded : 1907
Location : Augsburg
Stadium : SGL Arena
Capacity : 30,660
Manager : Jos Luhukay
Arch Rivals : VfB Stuttgart
Longest Serving Players : Vlado Pappic and Michael Wenczel ( 8 years)
Honours : Nil
Hertha Berlin
Full name : Hertha Berliner Sport-club von 1892
Founded : 1892
Stadium : Olympic Stadium
Capacity : 77,166
Location : Berlin
Manager : Markus Babbel
Nicknames : Die Alte Dame ( The Old Lady)
Die Blau-Weissen (The Blue-Whites)
Arch Rivals : Union Berlin
Record transfer fees paid : 3.74 million pounds for Bart Goor from Anderlicht in 2001
Record transfer fees received : 5.95 million pounds for Sebastian Deisler from FC Bayern Munich in 2002
Longest serving player : Christian Fiedler (18 years)
Honours : Bundesliga (2)
Legends : Otto Rehhagel, Marcelinho, Axel Kruse, Michael Preetz.
Fun Facts :
a) Became the first top flight team ever to go 16 home games without a win in 2008-09 season.
b) Hertha Berlin is the founding member of the German Football Association.
