BUNDESLIGA 2020/21: PREVIEW OF THE SEASON
The Bundesliga, which is the German top-flight football competition will embark on a new season beginning from 18 September 2020, Friday. This season of this competition will begin a week after the English Premier League’s, even though the former was the first to resume its operations after the lockdown induced by the COVID-19 pandemic. This season of the Bundesliga promises thrills galore to all the fans, spectators and football aficionados who will tune in from across the world and not just Europe. The 2020/21 Bundesliga season will be the 58th edition of the competition and we can not wait for the action to begin!
Although originally scheduled to be held from 21 August 2020 to 15 May 2021, the plans had to be changed due to the worldwide effect of the coronavirus pandemic and was later shifted to this date. Now the competition will wind itself up by 22 May 2021. One of the biggest regulations allowed in the 2020/21 season of the Bundesliga is the usage of five substitutes as sides play more and more cramped fixtures. This was originally a temporary measure taken up by clubs across Europe due to COVID-19 but its usage has been extended in the Bundesliga in the entirety of the 2020/21 season.
Another new fact that will grace the supporters of the football clubs plying their trade in the German Bundesliga is that the sides may choose to play their fixtures either behind closed doors or with limited audiences. This will deal a bodily blow to the supporters of all these clubs but we believe that they have got used to this new normal by now. There is some good news, though, as regulations in Leipzig and Berlin allow the attendance of 8,500 and 5,000 spectators respectively when the season begins. This is some good news indeed and the spectators must be grateful for whatever little has come their way amid such an uncertain scenario.
WHO ARE THE SIDES WHO HAVE BEEN PROMOTED TO THE BUNDESLIGA IN THE 2020/21 SEASON
The 2020/21 season of the German Bundesliga will see the inclusion of Arminia Bielefield and VfB Stuttgart from the 2. Bundesliga, as these two sides had managed to attain promotion from the lower divisions. Arminia Bielefield have only played in seventeen seasons in the first division competition so far, having spent most of their time in the lower divisions and this campaign will be their eighteenth attempt in the Bundesliga.
The club had its glory days in the 1920s, 1980s and middle 2000s and their supporters will be very keen on seeing them get back to the division where they feel they belong and it will be an excellent and exciting journey for both of them in the 2020/21 season.
VfB Stuttgart, on the other hand, are a very successful team and have a long history of glory and achievement in the top flight competition. In fact, they have won the Bundesliga on five occasions, the last of which came in 2006/07 and it was sad to see them go down to the 2. Bundesliga after the 2018/19 season via the playoff route. They will enjoy their time back in the top division and we believe that they will also try to make up for lost time by inculcating a sense and philosophy of attack and possession-based football once they get back in the 2020/21 season.
WHO ARE THE SIDES WHO WERE RELEGATED FROM THE BUNDESLIGA IN THE 2019/20 SEASON?
Fortuna Dusseldorf and SC Paderborn were the two unfortunate sides who had to get relegated to the 2. Bundesliga after the conclusion of the 2019/20 Bundesliga season. The former had finished in the seventeenth position of the league table with 30 points to their name whereas the latter had ended up one spot below them at the bottom of the table with 20 points inside their kitty. While the latter had looked well set to get relegated due to their highly inconsistent and poor performances throughout the season, the former, Fortuna Dusseldorf were walking on a tightrope and played a game of tug-of-war with the likes of Werder Bremen and Augsburg till the very end of the 2019/20 season. Unfortunately, though, nothing worked and they had to go down.
THE 2020/21 BUNDESLIGA SEASON: WHO ARE THE CONTENDERS?
As usual, Bayern Munich begin the season as favourites to win it, given that they come into this edition of the Bundesliga as defending champions. Finishing in the first position with 82 points to their name, 13 more than their closest competitors Borussia Dortmund, the Bavarian giants also went on to lift the UEFA Champions League by defeating French heavyweights Paris Saint Germain 1–0 in the final. The 2019/20 Bundesliga title win was Bayern Munich’s thirtieth overall title and eighth in a row. The fact that they have won 30 out of the 57 editions of the Bundesliga speaks volumes about what kind of a stronghold they have in Germany.
Players such as Robert Lewandowski, Thomas Mueller, Joshua Kimmich and Alphonso Davies make life very easy for their manager Hansi Flick but there is no doubt in my mind that Bayern have had to work hard to get where they have at the moment. Although they are in danger of losing deep-lying midfielder and playmaker Thiago Alcantara to either Liverpool FC or FC Barcelona, the benches at the Allianz Arena in Munich are brimming with talent and they should not look too far to replace him.
Bayern Munich’s oldest rivals and closest rivals Borussia Dortmund are another of the challengers who can hope (yet again) to end the former’s stranglehold on the Bundesliga trophy.
Finishing the 2019/20 season in the second position with 69 points inside their kitty, Dortmund, who are managed by Lucien Favre, will try to get into their stride early on in the 2020/21 season and seriously challenge the Bavarian giants Bayern Munich for the Bundesliga title. Enough is enough and eight seasons have passed since the German competition has had a new champion. It is high time now that it has one.
Red Bull Leipzig, who finished third in the 2019/20 Bundesliga table with 66 points inside their bag, are another group of contenders who can hope to challenge the might of the men in red from Munich.
Red Bull Leipzig possess some very exciting and promising individuals in their lineup and although they may have lost out on the services of Timo Werner to Chelsea and Matheus Cunha to Hertha BSC, they still have enough left in their tank to challenge for the top trophy and aim for glory. This is promising to be a very exciting season indeed.
NEW STADIUMS, NEW LOCATIONS, OLD PLEASURES
The 2020/21 season of the German Bundesliga will see the inclusion of the clubs Arminia Bielefield and VfB Stuttgart which means that their home grounds of the Schuco Arena Stadium and the Mercedes Benz Arena will be back in circulation in the top division competition. The former is a mid-sized stadium which can seat close to 27,000 people while the latter is much bigger and has the capacity to hold more than 60,000 people. These stadiums are what makes the Bundesliga what it is and the players who ply their trade in the league will swear by the fact that they enjoy their time there.
The Stadion An der Alten Forsterei, the home ground of Union Berlin, is one of the smallest stadiums in circulation in the German Bundesliga and it has a charm of its own. Even players who have played in international venues have come away appreciating the fact that this little place has an almost wistful atmosphere around it. The players also say that they feel that they are much closer to the fans in these smaller venues than in multi-seater stadiums but that analogy may not work exactly well in a world ravaged by the COVID-19 pandemic. FC Ausburg’s WWK Arena, VfL Wolfsburg’s Volskwagen Arena as well as the PreZero Arena which plays host to the side 1899 Hoffenheim are some grounds that come close to matching that charm.
CONCLUSIONS
The 58th edition of the Bundesliga is about to begin on 18 September 2020, Friday and we can not wait for it to start. This season of the competition is going to throw up a lot of surprises and I have an inner feeling which says that the usual heavyweights Bayern Munich may not end up trumping over the others after all. I have a strong inkling as to Borussia Dortmund coming good and proving to be a tough nut to crack for Hansi Flick’s Bavarians.
The Bundesliga has a host of talented, skilled and promising individual players and the 2020/21 season is going to be no different.
Although all fingers point towards Bayern Munich bagging their 31st title and ninth in a row once the season gets concluded, I somehow feel that this may not be the case.
Anyways, more than worrying about who the winner will be, all of us must enjoy the top level of football on offer for all of us.