By Oliver Trust
BERLIN, Aug. 17 (Xinhua) -- 2017 German Champions Bayern Munich are going into the 55th season of the Bundesliga in a strong position. 14 of 18 Bundesliga coaches count on the Bavarian side to win their sixth consecutive title; only Bayer Leverkusen coach Heiko Herrlich named Borussia Dortmund to be the winning side. Having invested more than 100 million euro, Bayern hardly has to fear any national rivals. Bayern will play the Bundesliga's curtain raiser this Friday evening against Bayern Leverkusen.
Not even Borussia Dortmund, who in recent years has been Bayern's strongest competitor, seems to be strong enough to challenge the team of Italian star coach Carlo Ancelotti. The 2012 German Champion is still in trouble due to his French striker Ousmane Dembele who is currently on strike and has, according to German media, left the country for France. Dembele intends to join Spanish giant FC Barcelona after Brazilian star Neymar Junior has left for Paris St. Germain for 222 million euro.
So far, negotiations between Dortmund and Barcelona failed as the Germans demanded over 130 million euro for Dembele, who has a valid contract with them until 2021. Dembele refused to join the team training and therefore was suspended by Dortmund's club leaders. Most pundits, however, expect him to leave sooner or later as it seems impossible to reintegrate him with Dortmund's squad.
Without Dembele, Dortmund lacks the needed quality to challenge Bayern, despite Ancelotti saying Dortmund is their closest rival in the new season. Dortmund would have to rely fully on the performance of star striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang or find an adequate replacement for Dembele. This Wednesday the club signed Hoffenheim defender and midfielder Jeremy Toljan for 5 million euro, who can hardly close the gap.
If Dembele succeeds and is leaving the club, Aubameyang won't be rejoicing as Dembele was the one delivering passes and created chances for the 2016/2017 Bundesliga top scorer.
As far as additional Bayern hunters are concerned, things don't look too optimistic as last season's third-placed RB Leipzig for the first time in their clubs history attend the Champions League. According to Bayern Munich coach Ancelotti, "we will have to wait and see how the club is getting along with the additional pressure and investment that has to be made playing in an intense competition such as the Champions League."
The same applies to last season's fourth-placed TSG Hoffenheim. The side of Julian Nagelsmann, Germany's 2017 coach of the year, is still struggling to make it to the Champions League as the team lost the first of two play-off games against the Premier league side of Liverpool FC by 2-1.
Pundits and most first division coaches still don't expect a boring season. Borussia Moenchengladbach coach Dieter Hecking hopes for one of the most exciting years in German football as many teams behind Bayern seem to be strong enough to deliver a thrilling race when it comes to the qualification places for European competitions.
Besides Dortmund and Leipzig, Hoffenheim, Moenchengladbach Leverkusen, VfL Wolfsburg, Cologne, Hertha BSC and Schalke 04 are candidates to make it. For some, Schalke is ready to be the season' s biggest surprise after expectations grew following Domenico Tedesco joining the club as its new head coach. The 38-year-old Italian rooted is regarded to be the most promising coaching talent next to Nagelsmann.
While smaller clubs such as FC Ingolstadt and Darmstadt 98 were relegated teams like the VfB Stuttgart, and Hannover 96 have returned to the Bundesliga. Both clubs can't be seen as typical newcomers as they can rely on a long tradition and a strong financial background.
For the first time in Bundesliga history, all games will be covered by video-proofing. Kick-off times of several games have been adjusted to address foreign market needs. Five games will take place on a Monday evening; Saturday evening's game will start half an hour later and five games Saturday afternoon will begin as early as half past one local time. The Bundesliga has bagged 4.6 billion euro on a new TV deal including international markets.
Dortmund CEO Hans-Joachim Watzke called the TV deal inevitable as the Bundesliga otherwise will "have fewer chances to compete in the global market."
38-year old Bibiana Steinhaus will join the Bundesliga as the first female referee in history.
