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This weekend saw the return of major European football, as the German top flight – the Bundesliga – restarted with games behind closed doors.
It should come as no surprise that defending champions Bayern Munich won their return game comfortably – defeating Union Berlin 2-0 away from home. Indeed, if the league continues to play out as it has thus far, the Bavarian giants will likely win the Bundesliga title for the 8th season running.
Since its inauguration in the 1963-64 season, there’s no disputing that Bayern have been by far the most successful side in Germany. But despite holding plenty of Bundesliga records – including the highest number of titles won – there are some records that don’t belong to Die Roten.
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Here are 5 Bundesliga records that aren’t held by Bayern Munich.
#5 Highest number of goals scored in the first half of a Bundesliga season - Hamburg (50)
It should come as no surprise to find out that Bayern Munich hold the record for the highest number of goals scored in a single Bundesliga season. The Bavarians scored a ridiculous 101 in the 1971-72 campaign, something even their great modern teams have failed to surpass.
However, in terms of coming out of the blocks the quickest, nobody has been better than Hamburg in the 1981-82 season. Their record of 50 goals at the halfway point of a campaign that would see them go onto be crowned champions remains remarkable almost 40 years later.
Ernst Happel's men opened their campaign by scoring 4 goals in a victory over Eintracht Braunschweig, and didn't really slow down at all. It took them just 4 games to reach the 10 goal mark, and a 7-0 hammering of MSV Duisburg in their 8th match took them to a total of 23.
More heavy wins followed; Hamburg put 4 past Bayern Munich, 6 past SV Darmstadt 98 and finally reached the 50 goal mark after just 17 games with a 3-2 win over Borussia Dortmund.
Incredibly, they almost kept the same goal pace up in the second half of the season. The 6-1 hammerings of Fortuna Dusseldorf and 1. FC Nurnberg had them on 62 goals after 19 games, and in the end they finished with a total of 95 - with hotshot striker Horst Hrubesch scoring 27 of them.
#4 Lowest number of seasons before becoming champions after being promoted – 1. FC Kaiserslautern (1)
As the most successful club in Bundesliga history, it’s surprising to learn that Bayern Munich weren’t a founder member of the competition. Instead, due to a relatively middling record in the Oberliga West in the seasons prior to the Bundesliga’s inauguration, they were overlooked.
It took Bayern until the 1964-65 campaign to earn promotion to the Bundesliga. But by the 1968-69 season – just their 4th season in the competition – the Bavarian side lifted the Bundesliga title for the first time.
However, while going from promotion to champions in 4 seasons is impressive, it isn’t a Bundesliga record. The record for the lowest number of seasons before becoming champions after being promoted belongs instead to Kaiserslautern.
Die Roten Teufel were relegated from the Bundesliga in 1995-96, but bounced back quickly. Under former Bayern boss Otto Rehhagel, they won the 1996-97 2. Bundesliga season by 10 points – and then swiftly embarked on a title challenge in their first season back in the top flight.
Kaiserslautern achieved a surprising win over Bayern – the defending champions – on the opening day of the season, and then never looked back. They ended up winning 19 of their 34 games – losing just 4 – and after reaching the top of the table after 4 games, never relinquished their spot.
In the end, they became the first team in Bundesliga history to win the championship as a newly-promoted side.
#3 Lowest number of goals conceded in a season at home – Werder Bremen (5)
As the Bundesliga’s most successful club, it should hardly be a surprise that most of the records around goals conceded belong to Bayern Munich. 2015-16 saw the Bavarian side set a Bundesliga record for fewest goals conceded with 17. Their 2012-13 season meanwhile saw them concede just 7 goals away – another Bundesliga record.
However, the record for the lowest number of goals conceded in a season at home does not belong to Die Roten. Instead, it belongs to Werder Bremen, who conceded just 5 at the Weserstadion in the 1992-93 season.
That campaign saw Werder win the Bundesliga title, as they pipped Bayern by one point to lift the trophy. Unsurprisingly, their home form was largely the key to their success, and again, Otto Rehhagel was involved.
Die Werderaner didn’t lose a game at home throughout the campaign, and achieved some remarkable results – including a 4-1 victory over Bayern. They ended the season having conceded just 30 goals – 15 less than Bayern – but the fact that just 5 of them came at home remains remarkable.
#2 Biggest win – Borussia Monchengladbach (12-0 vs. Borussia Dortmund, 1977-78)
The 2019-20 Premier League campaign saw Leicester City equal Manchester United’s 25-year record for the competition’s biggest win by beating Southampton 9-0. The Bundesliga’s record for the biggest win however is a little heavier; it belongs to Borussia Monchengladbach, who defeated Borussia Dortmund 12-0 in the 1977-78 season.
The match became controversial due to the instances that led up to it. Monchengladbach were involved in a tussle for the Bundesliga title with FC Koln, and the two sides went into the final day of the season on equal points.
Koln had a superior goal difference of +40 though, meaning Die Fohlen would not only need to better their result on the final day, but would also need more than a 10-goal swing in their favour too. Naturally then, eyebrows were raised when Dortmund – who had drawn with Monchengladbach 3-3 earlier in the season – completely capitulated.
Future Bayern Munich boss Jupp Heynckes opened the scoring in just the 1st minute, and by the time he completed his hat-trick after 32 minutes, the score was already 5-0. In the end, Heynckes plundered 5 of his side’s ridiculous 12 goals.
Naturally, cries of match-fixing immediately occurred after the game, but Dortmund denied the charge, simply claiming they just “gave up”. Somehow though, the result wasn’t enough to earn Monchengladbach the Bundesliga title – Koln defeated St. Pauli 5-0 on the same day, winning the league by a superior goal difference of just 3.
#1 Highest average attendance per home game in a season – Borussia Dortmund (81,178 in 2015-16)
The Bundesliga is renowned for attracting thousands of fans to its games each week, with huge stadiums across Germany selling an insane numbers of tickets. But surprisingly, despite being the competition’s most successful side, Bayern Munich doesn’t hold the record for the highest average attendance per home game in a season.
That record instead belongs to their current title rivals, Borussia Dortmund. Die Schwarzgelben play their home games at the Westfalenstadion – otherwise known as Signal Iduna Park – and the famous stadium is absolutely massive.
With a league capacity of 81,365 (standing and seated), the Westfalenstadion is Germany’s largest stadium and the 7th largest overall in Europe. Only Barcelona and Real Madrid play their home games at bigger stadiums.
However, having a huge stadium isn’t the impressive part of this record. What’s really impressive is that in the record-holding 2015-16 season, Dortmund averaged a home attendance of 81,178! That means that on average, less than 200 seats were left empty per game.
So overall, while Bayern Munich might be the league’s most popular club, unless they find a way to expand the 75,000 capacity Allianz Arena – which they tend to sell out for each game – this is a record that will remain beyond their capabilities.
