Germany Bundesliga betting tips and odds

After a brief delay, the top flight of German football is back for the 2020/21 season. As such, Bundesliga betting will be taking over the sportsbooks soon enough, and Betting Fellow is here to deliver the latest stats and predictions.

However, if you need more information on the upcoming season, such as the favourites, top players, and best Bundesliga betting odds – look no further. This page is intended to serve as a comprehensive Bundesliga betting guide, covering everything from the competition’s history to a general overview of the current balance of power between Germany’s best football teams.

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History and General Info

Germany is quite a force on the world football scene and has been so for quite a while. Their national team is one of the most decorated in the past few decades, and we have to remember that that steamroller is powered by players who star in the Bundesliga.

Currently, it is the third-best ranked national league in Europe according to the UEFA coefficient system. Interestingly, it might lose its position to Italy’s Serie A before the end of 2020. The 3rd and 4th-placed leagues get the same qualification rights, though, so this is largely irrelevant. What is important, though, is that Bundesliga is counted among the “Big 5” – the 5 best national leagues on the continent. This further marks Bundesliga teams as the very peak of the sport.

Before we get ahead of ourselves, though, let’s look at the origins of the league. The road professional football took in Germany is somewhat different from what other countries did. For instance, the competitions were almost exclusively for amateur teams before 1949.

Essentially, the country was partitioned into a large number of regional and sub-regional competitions for decades. As the first centralized national leagues were being implemented in the early 20th century across Europe, Germany stuck to such a system. A national football association, DFB, existed since 1903 – which at least meant that the game was brought to a semi-professional level. Professionalism was introduced in 1949 though, which brought the number of regional competitions down to 5.

By this time, though, World War 2 was over and German teams were expected to compete on an international level. These small regional clubs and champions did not fare well whenever they met other countries’ teams, who were parts of professional association leagues for more than half a century at this point. As time went on, German players kept leaving the country to play at richer, better-organized clubs and leagues. Finally, the Bundesliga was founded in 1962, with the first season held in 1963 in Dortmund.

Of course, at the time, the leagues were separated along the lines of the Iron Curtain. The East- and West German leagues were reunited after the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1990. There are some interesting benefits to the Bundesliga’s late blooming. For example, the benefits of playing for the top flight are significant, just like in most national leagues. However, this was the case since its inception – it was created to accommodate TV broadcasts and sponsorship details that were already present at the time. In the long run, this avoided the scenario of England’s Premier League split. who were unprepared for how the world and the sport will change.

As any football lover will know, Bayern Munich is the most dominant club in the Bundesliga. They hold the records for most consecutive seasons and most titles by a considerable margin with 30 national championships. The second most decorated team is Borussia Dortmund with 8. The record for most appearances, on the other hand, is held by Hamburger SV who were relegated for the first time in history in 2018.

Format

Technically speaking, Bundesliga refers to the two top divisions of German football – though usually, the first division is what’s being referred to. As you might imagine, the 2nd Bundesliga is the second-tier league and is connected to the 1st division via a system of promotion and relegations.

Which brings us to the competition's format. The Bundesliga consists of 18 of Germany’s best football teams. A typical season is played between August and May of the following year. Most of the specifics are standard for a European national league – each team plays every other team twice in a round-robin. A victory earns a team 3 points, a draw wins 1, and a loss counts as 0 points. The teams are ranked based on their respective point totals followed by goal difference, goal total, and head-to-head results.

The title of German champions is decided purely through league play. The two bottom-ranked teams are relegated to the 2nd division, while the two best-ranked teams from the second tier league are promoted. Additionally, the 16th placed team plays against the 3rd-placed team from the second division for a chance at an additional promotion.

Due to the league’s high UEFA coefficient ranking, no less than 4 German teams go to the Champions League. Specifically, the 4 best-placed teams go straight to the group stage. The team that’s 5th on the table at the season’s end goes to the Europa League group stage, while the 6th-placed team go to the third qualifying round.

Bundesliga Title Challengers

This brings us to the most important info you’ll need if you want to bet on Bundesliga matches – which teams are the favourites to win and why. It shouldn’t be too difficult to figure out that Bayern Munich are the hard favourites for the 2020/21 season, just like they’ve been for the better part of a decade. Still, German football is much bigger than Bayern, so let’s take a look at how some of these teams match up.

To get a quick assessment of the current situation, let’s take a look at the Bundesliga outright betting odds. Usually, we would rank the teams based on their chances of taking home the title. However, Bayern Munich is so far ahead of the competition that it wouldn’t be a fair assessment of which teams are likely to fare well this season. To be specific – they have odds of 1.14 while the next best team is at 7.00 With that in mind, we’ll turn to the Top 4 Finish market instead. Bearing in mind that these odds are offered without Munich, let’s take a look.

Borussia Dortmund is the next-best team in Germany at this point. With odds of 1.04 on a Top 4 finish, they are sure to take one of the leading sports and a Champions League qualification. Next up are Leipzig with 1.53, who are also on the tail end of a very successful year.

Bayern Munich

No football lover will be surprised at Bayern’s odds. They are the reigning German champions and have been so in every championship since 2012. Furthermore, they’re the Champion League winners for the 2019/20 season, which is the best evidence for a team being the best in Europe.

Bayern have always been a hugely successful team, but the past year saw them reach new heights under the leadership of coach Hansi Flick. The Champions League campaign firmly displayed the kind of unrelenting force this team is. Here are some stats to back these claims – they score an average of 3.19 goals per match with only 0.85 concessions. The 8:2 result they pulled off in the Champions League quarter-finals against Barcelona will be remembered for years to come as a clear signal of just how far ahead this team is.

With such dominance of international fixtures, it should come as no surprise that other German teams can’t hold a candle up to Bayern. They are noted for being especially dangerous on the wings. They decided to push this advantage even further with the arrival of Leroy Sané from Man City for a humble fee of €40 million. This pretty much covers the permanent transfers – through midfielder Philippe Coutinho went back to Barcelona after a loan spell, as did Álvaro Odriozola and Ivan Perišić. Follow our Bayern Munich Predictions

Borussia Dortmund

The reasons for Dortmund’s short odds on a Top 4 Finish are fairly obvious – they’ve made it into the Top 4 every year since 2015, with two consecutive runners-up positions in the last two seasons. Even before that, they have a strong history with a few titles in recent memory. They’ve done a lot to establish themselves as the Bundesliga’s top team besides Bayern.

There are other reasons top online bookmakers have so much confidence in Die Borussen, though. For starters, they’ve splurged a decent €46 million on transfers this summer. The arrivals include hugely talented Jude Bellingham from Birmingham and PSG’s Thomas Meunier. The latter seems to be aimed at their defence, which makes sense – last season they had the most concessions among the Top 4 teams. They also loaned Real Madrid’s Reinier for some striking ability as well. All in all, it seems Dortmund are gearing up for an ambitious season. Follow our Borussia Dortmund Predictions

RB Leipzig

Leipzig recorded two 3rd-spot finishes in the past two seasons – so it’s easy to understand why Bundesliga betting predictions are expecting another one. That said, Leipzig are also here on the back of a fairly impressive international performance. They went to the semi-finals of the 2019/20 Champions League.

The international campaign was marked by a rock-solid defence that became so emblematic of German football. Along with Bayern, most of the defence for the Squad of the Season for the Champions League comes from a German team, and a good chunk of them are from Leipzig. Players like Dayot Upamecano and Angeliño left quite a strong impression, and will likely continue to do so. The departure of striker Timo Werner to Chelsea is the biggest news regarding Leipzig, but it’s unclear what they plan to do with the hefty €53 million. Follow our RB Leipzig Predictions

Bundesliga Relegation Favourites

Now that we’ve covered the favourites, let’s look at the teams top sportsbooks describe as most likely to be relegated this season.

Arminia Bielefeld

The Blues are back to the Bundesliga 1st division after 11 long years in the lower leagues. Although that’s an achievement on its own and deserves praise, the bookies don’t have many reasons to feel confident they’ll stay there. That said, coach Uwe Nauhaus has shown tremendous flexibility over the past season – but a league like the Bundesliga is not welcoming to teams straight out of a promotion.

FC Augsburg

Augsburg have been successfully evading relegation for years now. The previous two seasons ended with them just a few points away from the relegation zone, but analysts are starting to wonder if they can keep it up. To be fair, they’ve shored up their lineup with experienced Bundesliga veterans, but it seems extremely unlikely that we’ll see a marked improvement in the coming season.

Bundesliga Top Players

Here are the key players that are generally seen as the Bundesliga’s most notable or valuable.

Robert Lewandowski

In the wake of Bayern’s devastating campaign through the Champions League and Europe’s best teams, one question kept coming up – is Lewandowski currently the best striker in the world? Looking at the stats, there’s some merit to this question. He was the Bundesliga's top goalscorer last season with a jaw-dropping 34 goals over 31 appearances. Since the Polish striker came to the Bundesliga in 2010, it is estimated every 109 minutes of total league play featured a goal from Lewandowski. Though he’s rarely put in the same basket as other typical football stars, this is one of the most prolific shooters of our time.

Jadon Sancho

Playing for Dortmund’s side as a winger, Sancho captured the attention of adoring crowds with both his stint in the English national team and last year’s league performance. He was the third-best goalscorer of the Bundesliga with a solid 17 goals. He is currently estimated to be the league’s most valued player at the age of just 20 – the only reason we didn’t mark him as a rising star is that he’s already strung up so many successes. As the transfer deadlines are getting closer, the rumours of his possible transfer to Man United seem increasingly unlikely.

Leroy Sané

Sané first came into the spotlight as a crucial part of Manchester City’s squad during their triumph in 2018/19. He has since remained a powerhouse among world-class wingers, noted for his incredible speed and skill on the ball. Though his stats reveal some inconsistencies, his arrival to Bayern was one of the most talked-about transfers of the summer.

Bundesliga Rising Stars

Alphonso Davies

Davies came to Bayern as a promising young winger but was soon switched to a left-back in a slightly controversial move. The position of a full-back is becoming more and more versatile in today’s climate, though, which played right into Davies’ hands. His ability to maintain the stalwart signature Bayern defence and pounce at an opportunity became a great asset for the Munich side, despite his young age of 19.

Dayot Upamecano

Speaking of defenders, Upamecano is another distinguished full-back. He especially made waves during Leipzig's Champions League campaign. The 21-year-old from France displayed incredible intuition and positional sense – but his uncanny skill on the ball is what truly set him apart as one of the most promising young talents on the international theatre.

Bundesliga Derby Matches

You may have already figured out what are the best football derbies in the Bundesliga. Still, let’s go over them for deeper insight into the dynamics of top German football.

Der Klassiker

Every national league worth its salt has a showdown such as this – the clash of titans that represents the very peak of that nation’s football. In the case of Germany, it’s the derby between Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund. These two teams are the only ones with Bundesliga titles in the last decade, and the results of Der Klassiker usually signal which one is going to come out on top in the standings.

Nordderby

A match between Hamburg and Werder Bremen is not the cause for excitement it used to be – especially not in the wake of Hamburg’s relegation in 2018. Still, this is historically one of the fiercest rivalries in the country. Although neither of them have been named champions for decades now, both enjoy tremendous support worldwide.

Bundesliga Best Stadiums

The Bundesliga’s rich clubs can boast quite a few enormous football stadiums. We’ve tried to single out a few of them to give you an idea of where Bundesliga matches are played.

Westfalenstadion

One of the most acclaimed stadiums in Europe and beyond, Dortmund’s home turf is famous for the passionate atmosphere that it hosts. With a capacity of over 80,000, this stadium is the seventh-biggest in Europe and the largest among all German teams’ home fields. It’s also noted for its incredible attendance rates – above 80,000 is the average number of spectators per game.

Allianz Arena

Besides being a huge stadium and the home of Bayern Munich, the Allianz Arena is a true architectural marvel. Its exterior is made up of colour-changing plastic panels, the results of which can be truly breath-taking. As one of the more interesting designs as far as stadiums go, you can expect to see it quite often in international competitions in the future.