Bundesliga Preview: Dortmund 'Best of the Rest' as Clubs Chase Bayern Munich
Quick summary
The Guardian's Bundesliga season preview frames Borussia Dortmund as the most likely challenger to Bayern Munich's continued domestic dominance, with other clubs grasping at the Bavarians' coattails.
Full article
Attributed to original sourceBVB are re-energised while Leverkusen have stabilised but the question remains: can anyone stop the champions?
The Franz Beckenbauer Supercup has a modicum more intensity than most of its European equivalents. There are many reasons for this. The Bundesliga’s traditional season curtain-raiser pitting league champions against cup winners is not played on neutral territory, giving it the feeling of a domestic game with proper stakes. German fans would also never accept it taking place on foreign soil, as the Borussia Dortmund managing director, Carsten Cramer, reiterated in clear terms over the course of the weekend. It feels like a match, rather than a showpiece.
It had one other factor to ratchet up the adrenaline this year. It was the sense that the two teams that most expect to be the season’s best, Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund, were the participants, with last term’s second-placed side hosting the champions. There was enough in the game to suggest that the latter might be able inconvenience the former, as Bayern held on to win the season’s first trophy after BVB followed a thoroughly dominant first half from the visitors with a vastly improved second period of their own in reply.
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What happened
Andy Brassell's 2026-27 Bundesliga preview assesses the competitive landscape behind Bayern Munich, who remain overwhelming favorites for another title. Borussia Dortmund are positioned as the leading alternative, though the gap to Bayern is acknowledged as significant. The piece surveys the broader field of Bundesliga challengers, questioning whether any can realistically disrupt the established hierarchy heading into the new season.
Chance analysis
Brassell's preview underlines a familiar Bundesliga reality: Bayern Munich's depth, resources and institutional pull make the title race a one-horse race in all but name. Dortmund's status as the 'best of the rest' is as much an indictment of the chasing pack as it is a compliment to them. For supporters of clubs outside the top two, the preview highlights the structural challenge of closing a gap that has widened rather than narrowed in recent years.
Reinforces Bayern Munich as clear title favorites and Borussia Dortmund as the primary but distant challenger in the 2026-27 Bundesliga.