Holstein Kiel is not showing any signs of trouble, FC Bayern is facing September hardships and VfL Wolfsburg is unlucky twice: four discoveries in the new Bundesliga schedule.
Bayern travel to Kiel to see Marcel Rapp (middle) at an inopportune time, Ralph Hasenhüttl’s Wolfsburg team had no luck with the schedule. imago images (3)
It’s not exactly as if a fifth-tier amateur club was looking forward to a duel with Bayern or Dortmund in the first round of the DFB Cup, only to end up drawing the second-division newcomers. Nevertheless, not all Holstein Kiel fans will have been thrilled when they found out on Thursday that their club would be playing the first Bundesliga game in its history against TSG Hoffenheim.
“We are happy that we now know who we will be playing against at the start of the season. With TSG Hoffenheim we will be facing an opponent who is internationally represented,” says sports director Carsten Wehlmann, who is anything but disappointed, especially as the match is a special one for coach Marcel Rapp: Before moving to Kiel, he had worked with Hoffenheim’s youth team for more than eight years.
FC Bayern will be coming to Kiel on the third matchday, and this is a tricky phase for the record champions. The 900 kilometers from Munich to Kiel come directly after an international match period – and before the first Champions League game. Bayern will therefore be hoping that they will be able to play at home. Immediately after that, champions Leverkusen will be guests at the Allianz Arena.
Eight clubs have two consecutive home games in January
Bayern’s first opponent will be VfL Wolfsburg, who have probably had the toughest start of all 18 Bundesliga teams: On the first five match days, they will face FCB (1st match day), Leverkusen (4th) and VfB Stuttgart (5th), i.e. the top 3 from last season. Hasenhüttl’s eleven would be better off not wasting their duels with Kiel (A, 2nd) and Frankfurt (H, 3rd).
The Wolves are not particularly lucky at the start of the new year, when things get a little strange: Matchday 17 is the only one during the week (January 14th/15th) and because the second half of the season starts after that (January 17th to 19th), eight of the nine Bundesliga teams that are allowed to play at home on matchday 17 have two home games within a maximum of five days. Only Wolfsburg does not.
2024-07-04 14:57:29
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