Bundesliga Facts

  • Karl-Heinz Korbel holds the current Bundesliga record for the most appearances, with 601. The former defender played his entire career with Eintracht Frankfurt from 1972 to 1991 and has since become one of the Directors of the club responsible for the football academy. He scored 45 goals for his club and in 1974-75 ran out for the German national side, scoring six goals for his country.
  • The term, Bundesliga not only refers to league football in Germany but to the highest level of competition in several sporting codes in both Germany and Austria
  • Teams contesting both 1.Bundesliga and 2.Bundesliga have to apply for a licence to play in the league. The clubs are expected to be both financially sound and meet specific criteria relating to organisational conduct to be eligible.
  • Teams that have won multiple league titles or have impressed in other ways are awarded gold stars, referred to as the honour of ‘Verdiente Meistervereine’, translated as “distinguished champion clubs”
  • Players of the leading Bundesliga winner, Bayern Munich, are entitled to wear 4 stars on their team crests and jerseys. Teams following on according to their overall League record are Borussia Monchengladbach with two and SV Werder Bremen, Borussia Dortmund, Hamburger SV and VfB Stuttgart with one apiece
  • The top five as far as leading all-time goalscorer records are concerned are:
  • Gerd Muller with 365 goals. He played for both TSV 1861 Nordlingen and FC Bayern Munich and in 1970 was elected Footballer of the Year after scoring 10 goals at the FIFA World Cup in the same year.
  • Klaus Fischer played for four clubs during his career - TSV 1860 Munchen, FC Schalke 04, FC Koln and VfL Bochum – scoring a total of 268 goals. He was notoriously banned for a year as one of the players involved in a bribery scandal in the 1970-71 Bundesliga season.
  • Jupp Heynckes is currently head coach of Bayer 04 Leverkusen but as the main striker for Borussia Monchengladbach, he scored 220 goals. He went on to make 39 appearances for West Germany, netting 14 goals in the process
  • Manfred Burgsmueller played for Borussia Dortmund, SV Werder Bremen, Rot-Weiss Essen, FC Nurnberg, Bayer Uerdingen, and Rot-Weis Oberhausen in his long and fruitful career. He scored 213 goals in 447 games and after his retirement he became an American football kicker in the NFL Europe
  • Ulf Kirsten, current manager of Bayer 04 Leverkusen II, became the first player in history to reach a total of 100 caps playing with two different national teams – East Germany (49) and Germany (51). He scored 182 goals whilst playing for Bayer Leverkusen from 1990-2003.