Is there anything out there at the moment that is as beautiful a site as German football? The German Bundesliga is the perfect role model at the moment for all major European football leagues. I’ve been lucky enough to look German football for a number of years now (although not so much so far this season) and I can say without doubt that it’s the best league in the world. In terms of competition on the pitch to how the clubs treat their fans, it simply cannot be beaten.
Week in week out all of the clubs excluding Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund and Schalke sell over 90% of their ticket distribution. The three teams mentioned sell out every week. In Germany there is also the safe standing section, so it is standing and sitting that are sold out every week. Supporters who made the effort to go and support their team are rewarded with costless public transport usage. Obviously this is the clubs that have an agreement in place with the transport systems used.
A standing section within the stadiums in Germany is something that is wanted in Scotland. Fans have expressed an interest in bringing back safe standing, and Celtic have already started discussions about this. It is something that has caused so much debate among fans but it is something that would attract more customers, there’s no doubting that. Also in the stadiums, it is legal to drink. Fans can sit back and relax and enjoy looking their team with a cold beer. What more could a fan want? Already that’s two things that German football has on football in the UK, a standing section and alcohol. I exclude myself in sipping a beer though as I wouldn’t drink (anymore) while at a Celtic game, that’s just me though.
Bayern Munich president Uli Hoeness was quoted last year saying: "We could charge more than £104. Let's say we charged £300. We'd get £2m more in income but what's £2m to us? In a transfer discussion you argue about that sum for five minutes. But the difference between £104 and £300 is huge for the fan. We do not think the fans are like cows, who you milk. Football has got to be for everybody. That's the biggest difference between us and England."
Currently, the Bundesliga attracts the highest average attendances, more than any other league in the world. In season 2012/13, the Bundesliga attracted around 12.8 million paying spectators, which worked out at an average of 41,914 people per game. Fans of football in Germany are very passionate about their teams, especially Borussia Dortmund fans. The displays before matches are incredible and the noise created by them inside the stadium is deafening. You’d want to go to a game at the Westfalenstadion purely to witness the atmosphere.
Bundesliga games are shown on BT Sports now as well as on ESPN. More and more football fans are tuning in to experience German football. EPSN have shown the games for a number of years now and I’ve look many of them. It’s not just a case of a good game when one of the top clubs are playing. It could be Hoffenheim - Werder Bremen or Frankfurt - Nurnberg and the standard would be just as good to look. The teams are extremely attacking and usually the games are full of goals. 238 goals have been scored so far in the Bundesliga, which is more than the total goals scored in the top flights of England, Spain, France or Italy.
The cheapest standing season ticket you can get in the Bundesliga is at Wolfsburg, where you can get one for £109, or £6.40 per game. The cheapest seating season ticket you can find at Hannover, priced at £117, which is just £7.30 per game. The cheapest match day tickets for season 2013/14 are €10 sitting at Bayer Leverkusen, €11 standing at Werder Bremen, €12 standing at Freiburg, €12 standing at Hoffenheim and €12.50 standing at Mainz. The highest match day tickets are €89 at Hertha Berlin, €86.50 at Stuttgart, €84 at Hamburg, €77 at Eintracht Frankfurt, €76 at Bayer Leverkusen and €70 at Bayern Munich. There isn’t much difference between the top two clubs Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund. Bayern’s cheapest season ticket is £285 or £16.70 per game, and at Dortmund it is £311 or £18.30 per game. These prices are fantastic given the standard of football that you are guaranteed to see every week.
The German national side is also fantastic. It is still an extremely young team at the moment, but it is getting to the point where they are deadly. They are widely tipped to win the next couple of major tournaments and it's a wonder how they haven't already done so. The only thing you could put it down to is how young the team really is. But now that they've had another two years to gel and develop, it'll take some stopping them.
Top class players are involved in every game in the Bundesliga. Lately Frank Ribery picked up an award we thought Lionel Messi would win until he retired, becoming the best player in the world. This was won by playing consistently at a high level of football and dominating European football with Bayern Munich. Bayern and Dortmund are massive clubs and can easily beat any team put in front of them. We can only sit by and look in awe.