At least I think that’s what this e-mail from FC Bayern means. As you all know, my German isn’t great. Assuming I’m interpreting this page correctly, the 49th Bundesliga Season will kick off the weekend of August 6th through August 8th, and Bayern will host ‘Gladbach. The Foals barely managed to avoid relegation last year, although they did close with an impressive run and do have some talent.
Other highlights of the schedule:
- Dortmund comes fairly late in the cycle: we play them on the weekend of November 18th through November 20th, and then again on April 10th or 11th (the exact dates and times haven’t been announced yet). This second match-up will be in Dortmund, fifth from the last game of the season. That could be huge in deciding the Bundeliga title.
- That first Dortmund game is right before Group State Matchday 5 in the UEFA Champions League (if we even make it to the Group Stage). So that could be a vitally important 4-day period. Hopefully Robben won’t be hurt by then. If you’re a USA-based fan, this is also Thanksgiving week, so make sure your travel plans don’t interfere with your football watching or your Bayern Offside reading.
- Jupp Heynckes returns to his old stomping grounds on the weekend of March 3rd and 4th when Bayern visits Leverkusen.
- Our last two matches are at home vs. Stuttgart and on the road vs. Köln. If the race for the Bundesliga title goes down to the wire, Köln is a pretty tough opponent. We managed only a 0-0 draw vs. the Billy Goats at home last year, then lost at their place by a 3-2 score. This was the game where Milivoje Novakovic had two goals, and Badstuber picked up an early yellow and was afraid to get within 5 feet of anyone for the rest of the game. So if the title is still up in the air going into this last week, FC Bayern better have that CB situation worked out.
- The Audi Cup finishes up on July 27th and the first round of the Pokal takes place the following weekend. Then, a week later, the Bundesliga season begins. So whatever problems are still plaguing us at the time of the Audi Cup will have to be fixed really quickly. Ideally, we will have all of our ducks in a row and the Audi Cup can be used to work out some small wrinkles and get everyone ready for prime time.
We’ll be back with more today or tomorrow, I just wanted to throw this out there to see if anyone had schedule-related thoughts. If you want to compare with the Champions League schedule, you can see that here, and the Pokal schedule is here. Keep in mind we have to win a play-in to even get to the CL group stage. The draw for that play-in will take place on July 15th, and there are a number of dangerous teams involved, so mark that date on your calendars. Or, just subscribe to our twitter feed and we’ll remind you when it’s coming up. Thanks for reading.