15 thoughts on “Bundesliga Explained”

  2. @dkk9819

    Just fyi the dot after a number in German works like a -nd or -rd suffix in English (like 2nd or 3rd). So it's not the "Two Bundesliga" or "Three Liga" it's the "Second Bundesliga" and "Third Liga".

  5. @DGAMINGDE

    There are some unique things about German football.

    First the 2. Bundesliga is just called Second Bundesliga, I don't know how, but most translations translate it to two Bundesliga which sounds weird.

    German is also a federal country, somewhat similar to the US, that why the lower leagues are split up so much.

    In top football German a savely relegated 17. or 18. placed team is called Absteiger (literally "go down"), while the 16. in the first 2 leagues play the 3. placed team in the next lower league in a 2 legged game called "Relegation Game", which means that getting into the "Relegation" might actually mean a team has the chance to save it's status in the higher league. The top 2 teams in the league at the end of the season are called "Aufsteiger" (literally "go up") as they will go up a league. They keep the name in the next season to remember people that they are new in the league for context.

    It is also extremely important to note, that the majority of clubs are fan run. I actually once had a conversation with an American who completely didn't understand the concept. Fan-run clubs elect their presidents via a large membership base democratically and they are often not backed by millionaires, but by season by season transfer business and participations on the market. That's why the is such a massive viewerbase by fans. There are also massive rivalries.

    Recently there are some exceptions to the rule (fan run clubs are actually basically guaranteed by the federation). However RB Leipzig is a Red Bull backed franchise. To be honest I have no idea, how they are allowed to operate, they don't have the same backing and all their membership is actually members of the Red Bull company. As they weren't allowed to use company names when they promoted to the third Liga and completely made up a word named "Rasenballsport' to keep the RB abbreviation. Its literally called "court ball sport" and not an actual word and if it was the team would be called RBS Leipzig. Another case is TSG Hoffenheim, a village club, backed by a millionaire, but unlike Hoffenheim, they are and actual club.

    These 2 clubs are very unpopular with Germans and there were even protests by fans showing the Hoffenheim quasi-owner is crosshairs (although this wasn't literally and partially a move to get previously ignored protests by fans into the media, which worked).

    Other teams were actually started by company workers and are traditionally backed by companies, like Bayer Leverkusen. These Teams, called "Werksclubs" a still somewhat disliked, but more accepted. Due to their historical involvement, Bayer was granted a special exception to use the company name in the club.

    It should not be understated how important the fan backing is. While trams going up and down was presented as "a good idea" in the video, it is entrenched in the sports culture of European countries and seen as a basic necessity for sports in Europe and many other countries. We I first heard that many American sports don't have such a system, I thought it was just a lie to make US sports to look bad. If anyone suggested a us-type system they would be laughed out of the room at best.

    It's often important to keep this information in mind, while this video was good at covering the basics, it would be helpful to mention the incredible differences on how European countries run sports compared to the US, there are no college teams in most European countries, they are independent community run and managed clubs, which participate on the market.

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