The German First Division has drawn the world’s biggest crowds since the 2003-04 season, when it surpassed the English Premier League, and the 2005-06 season’s 38,191 average set a Bundesliga record for the fifth straight year.
The 2006-07 Bundesliga season kicks off this weekend riding the tide of the summer’s hugely successful World Cup, at which host Germany finished third but was celebrated as if they’d won it. The boom is set to continue.
Of Germany’s World Cup heroes, only Michael Ballack has moved abroad. The league’s 18 clubs have spent $168 million on the transfer market, but that did not bring on an influx of superstars. The most notable arrivals are Brazilian Diego to Werder Bremen, Belgian Vincent Kompany to Hamburg, Swiss Alexander Frei to Dortmund, while Mexicans Pavel Pardo and Ricardo Osorio are set to become the Bundesliga’s first Mexicans when they debut for VfB Stuttgart.
The significant foreign player losses are Brazilian Ze Roberto (who left Bayern Munich), Frenchman Johan Micoud (Werder Bremen) and Czechs Tomas Rosicky and Jan Koller (Borussia Dortmund).
Bayern Munich coach Felix Magath plans on winning a third straight league-cup double and improve on Bayern’s Champions League showing, but the 20-time champion, which added young German striker Lukas Podolski, has played poorly in preseason outings, giving hope to main challengers Werder Bremen and Hamburg SV.
AMERICANS. In his third season at Borussia Moenchengladbach, which finished 10th last season, U.S. keeper Kasey Keller was been elected captain by his teammates. Before the World Cup, defender Steve Cherundolo, whose 116 Bundesliga appearances are a record for an American, re-signed through 2008 with Hannover 96, which finished 12th last season. (Hannover’s opener on Sunday vs. Werder Bremen will be televised by Gol TV, 11 am ET.) Conor Casey returns for his third season at Mainz, but underwent preseason knee surgery and will miss the season’s start. Mainz finished 11th last season.
BUNDESLIGA ON U.S. TV: Gol TV, ProSiebenSat.1 Welt.