Bundesliga Season Preview: 2017-2018

It’s almost time for the new season of the Bundesliga. What has felt like a lifetime is now only 3 weeks away.

Although I believe that this season will be another same old season in Germany and will be dominated by Carlo Ancelotti’s Bayern Munich, although there are a few dark horses that could change the course of how the season will go such as Borussia Dortmund and RB Leipzig. 

Dortmund have a new manager at the helm in the form of Peter Bosz and will be looking to impress while if Leipzig manage to keep Naby Keita then they will have a very solid chance at success this season.

Champions League Qualification

The teams that I believe will qualify for the champions league are (excluding Bayern Munich):

• Borussia Dortmund
• RB Leipzig
• Borussia Mönchengladbach

I think that Borussia Mönchengladbach have made some quality signings in Vincenzo Grifo and Matthias Ginter which we surely fill in the gaps they had last season. Hopefully, under the management of Dieter Hecking they can return to where they belong. RB Leipzig and Borussia Dortmund will have similar seasons to last season but hopefully, both can mount a better title challenge than they had last year and try and topple the monopoly that is Bayern Munich in Germany.

Europa League

I believe that the Europa league qualification places could be contested even tighter than it was last year and with more clubs in the mix.

• Schalke 04
• Wolfsburg
• Hoffenheim

I think Wolfsburg and Schalke will put last season behind them and some really good signings will push them on to be some of the main contenders in next seasons campaign. The signing of John Brooks by Wolfsburg gives them a leader that they really lacked last season and the permanent signing of Nabil Bentaleb by Schalke is a really promising prospect after showing he can command the midfield really well last season, even in the biggest of games.

Relegation

• Hannover 96
• Hamburg

Unfortunately, I found this really hard to pick two teams who I believed could be relegated and I was close to picking Stuttgart but I feel they have just enough quality to stay in the division. They may slip into the relegation play off but even then they will stay up still. I believe Hannover 96  just don’t have the required quality to stay up and a lack of signings could prove costly in their fight to survive their first season back in the Bundesliga. But with the big loss of Alexandru Maxim for Stuttgart there is a huge void to be filled in the number 10 role and this is a position that will need to be replaced asap.

Hamburg have been riding their luck for too long now using the relegation play off as an easy get out of jail free card in order to stay in the Bundesliga and I think it is about that time that clock got reset, as much as it would pain me to see such a historic monument be brought down.