2025-26 Bundesliga: all you need to know about the 18 clubs in the German top flight

FC Bayern Munich, German champions in 2024-25, will be challenging for the title again from Friday 22/08/2025, when the 63^rd edition of the Bundesliga kicks off.

Second-placed Bayer 04 Leverkusen, third-placed Eintracht Frankfurt and fourth-placed Borussia Dortmund will join the Bavarian club in the league phase of the 2025-26 Champions League. SC Freiburg (5^th) and VfB Stuttgart (9^th and winners of the DFB-Pokal) have qualified for the league phase of the Europa League, while 1. FSV Mainz 05 (6^th) are hoping to qualify for the Conference League (play-offs on 21 and 28/08/2025 versus Norway's Rosenborg BK).

The two promoted clubs that will be competing in the 2025-26 Bundesliga are 1. FC Köln, relegated at the end of the 2023-24 season, and Hamburger SV, who had not played in the top flight since the 2017-18 season.

The 18 Bundesliga clubs had a total of 270 million followers on social media (Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and X) on 04/08/2025, including 145 million for Bayern Munich alone (i.e. 54% of the total), while 14 of them own their stadiums in 2025-26.

Social media, stadiums…