Founded in 1963-64, the German Bundesliga has been one of the best domestic leagues in all of world soccer since its inception and with storylines galore up and down the table, it promises to be another gripping, nine-month battle for the crown.
Here's what you need to know in order to enjoy the Bundesliga this season.
When does the season start?
The 2023-24 Bundesliga campaign begins on Friday, Aug. 18 when Werder Bremen host defending champs Bayern Munich (2:30 p.m. ET), and runs through May 18, 2024.
How to watch
The action is available live all season long on ESPN+ in the U.S., beginning at 2:30 p.m. ET on Aug. 18.
Can't watch live? All games will be available on replay and with full highlights across ESPN+ and ESPN.com.
What's at stake?
It's simple: the league title! Bayern Munich managed a remarkable 11th straight trophy at the end of last season, but it required a Borussia Dortmund meltdown on the final day of the 2022-23 season to give the Bavarians the opening they needed to win their final game and finish the campaign on top.
Since the Bundesliga officially began in 1963-64, Bayern have claimed it a lot more than anyone else, with 32 Bundesliga wins -- Dortmund are a distant second with six since the beginning of the league as we know it. Yet you have to go back to 2011-12 for their most recent crown.
Must-see games for the month of August
The main storyline of the season is going to be whether big spending can steer Bayern out of this skid and whether an angry, scarred version of Borussia Dortmund can make another run. That's not the only storyline, however.
Aug. 18: Bayern Munich at Werder Bremen. A former Premier League standout will make his long-awaited debut on the opening Friday of the season. How perfect. I am talking, of course ... about Naby Keita. The 28-year old joins Werder Bremen after five trophy-laden seasons at Liverpool.
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Okay, fine, I'm talking about Harry Kane. Bayern attempted a high-risk, high-stakes gambit this offseason, placing all their "we need a new star forward" chips on Kane and hoping they could steer through a negotiation with Spurs' Daniel Levy. It appears they've pulled it off. We don't know how many minutes he'll play in this one, but he'll be Storyline No. 1, No. 2, et cetera.
Aug. 19: RB Leipzig at Bayer Leverkusen. Last year, I enthusiastically talked myself into Bayer Leverkusen being an underdog Bundesliga contender only for them to fire manager Gerardo Seone by early October after an appalling start. They had to rally under Xabi Alonso just to finish sixth, but ... they rallied! And they turned Aston Villa's €55 million transfer fee for Moussa Diaby into midfielders Granit Xhaka (Arsenal) and Jonas Hofmann (Borussia Monchengladbach) and forward Victor Boniface (Union Saint-Gilloise). Their very first match of the league campaign might show us whether Leverkusen is for real or not.
Meanwhile, RB Leipzig will almost certainly need a breaking-in period after losing Nkunku, Szoboszlai and Gvardiol to big-money transfers in short succession. They have loaded up on attacking successors and could be as prolific as ever soon, but that's just so much change. We'll see if they can avoid a slow start.
Aug. 20: Mainz at Union Berlin. It's last year's darling hosting last year's spoiler. Mainz had just about the most dramatic and memorable ninth-place finish ever in 2022-23, beating Bayern Munich to help tip the title race toward Borussia Dortmund, only to take a point in Dortmund on the final matchday and hand Bayern its 11th straight title. Bo Svensson is an intriguing manager, and Mainz is at least an underdog for a European spot if they can resume their February-March form.
Union Berlin, meanwhile, prepared for its first Champions League campaign by adding as much speed and energy as possible to an already high-energy roster. Midfielder Lucas Tousat (Hertha Berlin) is a nice shop-wrecker, and loanees David Datro Fofana (Chelsea) and Brenden Aaronson (Leeds United) are speedy options in attack. Can Urs Fischer's squad start as well as it did last year when it has to worry about Champions League play as well?
Aug. 26: Borussia Dortmund at Bochum. Of the many infuriating results that beset BVB's ill-fated title push, a controversial late-April draw with local derby rival Bochum had to rank pretty highly. Despite losing Jude Bellingham to Real Madrid, BVB has a lot to offer this season: they were easily the best team in Germany over the second half of the season (once Sébastien Haller was healthy and available), and last year's disappointment should certainly create some useful callouses.
A return trip to Bochum might tell us a bit about how well they'll avoid the missteps that cost them so dearly a few months ago.
Aug. 26: Bayer Leverkusen at Borussia Monchengladbach. Leverkusen gets another intriguing early matchup here with a trip to face a blank slate rival led by Seoane. Few teams have changed more significantly than Gladbach. Out are Marcus Thuram, Jonas Hofmann, Remy Bensebaini and Lars Stindl; in are a number of intriguing youngsters and veteran winger Franck Honorat. It seems the upside might still be high, but this is a younger and far less proven Foals squad. They're a mystery heading into the season.