Bundesliga 2024/2025 - favourites and possible top scorers
The last of all the European leagues to start the 2024/2025 season is the German Bundesliga. The first match will be played tomorrow, Friday, at 20:30 CET between Borussia Mönchengladbach and the reigning champions Bayer Leverkusen, followed by six matches on Saturday, and the first round will be completed with two matches on Sunday.
Bayer Leverkusen fans celebrating the league title 2023/2024
The Favorites to win the Bundesliga 2025
Last season, Bayer Leverkusen surprisingly won the Bundesliga in an unprecedented fashion, finishing the league undefeated, something that has never happened before in Bundesliga history. The gap down to (perhaps even more surprisingly) second-place Stuttgart was a whopping 17 points, with the preseason favourite Bayern Munich another point behind.Bayern favourites despite a poor 2023/2024 season
Despite Bayern Munich having a rather lacklustre last season, they still enter this one as the heavy favourites to win the league. Considering how fantastic Bayer Leverkusen was, it might be a bit unexpected that Bayern is still the favourite, but there are a few reasons for this.Firstly, Bayern has a squad with incredibly high potential, and they have become even stronger this season. Despite finishing third, they scored the most goals in the league, and they have further bolstered their attack by bringing in Crystal Palace's young star Michael Olise for 55 million euros, which in today's inflated transfer market, is considered cheap.
Unlike the attack, the defence was a problem, conceding 45 goals, which is more than Bayern typically allows. To address this, they brought in the Portuguese defensive midfielder João Palhinha and the Japanese defender Hiroki Ito, who was a major success at Stuttgart last season. Although they lost defender Matthijs de Ligt to Manchester United, he hadn't been a regular starter recently, so it might not have much impact.
A second reason why Bayern is still the favourite is that they rarely have two bad seasons in a row. Additionally, there is likely to be a strong desire for redemption after going a whole last season without any titles.
Main challenger is the title holder
However, Bayern is not without challengers this season, and of course, last season's dominant Bayer Leverkusen is the number one contender. They were not only undefeated in the league, but they also won the German Cup, the DFB-Pokal (and were naturally unbeaten there as well), and they were unbeaten all the way to the final of the UEFA Europa League, where Italian side Atalanta finally broke Leverkusen's long streak by winning the final with 3-0.So why aren't they the favourites this season? As we've already discussed, it's more about Bayern Munich's usual dominance. The fact is that Leverkusen's squad isn't any weaker now - quite the opposite. They've managed to keep all key players and the crucial coach Xabi Alonso, and they've also made some excellent additions, including the Frenchman Martin Terrier from Rennes and, perhaps most notably, the Spanish playmaker Aleix García, who was outstanding for Girona in La Liga last season.
But this season, they also must focus on the most important tournament of all, the UEFA Champions League. Whether this will distract them from the league remains to be seen, as they managed to balance league play with Europa League games last season perfectly. Even if it might be difficult for them to replicate last season's achievements, they are likely to give Bayern a serious challenge for the league title this season as well.
Other teams that could challenge for the title
Although the two aforementioned teams are clear favourites to win the league, there are a few other teams that might surprise, or rather two teams in particular.Borussia Dortmund didn't have a terrible last season, but they were too inconsistent to challenge for the title. They had too many draws, and the attack underperformed in many games, resulting in a fifth-place finish. This season, they've brought in one of Germany's biggest attacking talents, Maximilian Beier from league rivals Hoffenheim, but most notably, they've signed Serhou Guirassy, who was the main reason for Stuttgart's success. If the new attacking duo works well with the other strong offensive players in the team, Dortmund might be able to challenge this season.
RB Leipzig finished fourth in the league and had a season similar to Dortmund's - not bad, but not as hoped. RB Leipzig is a team that always recruits smartly and is filled with talented players, but as soon as someone breaks through, they tend to move on to a bigger club in Germany or Europe. This season, they lost Dani Olmo to Barcelona, but that's really the only major departure. True to form, they've brought in some excellent young talents like Norwegian Antonio Nusa from Club Brugge and the 18-year-old midfielder Assan Ouédraogo from Schalke 04. These are not players who will change the team short term, but all the talented players who were at RB Leipzig last season now have another year of experience, and we can at least expect them to finish high in the table.
Finally, we must also mention Stuttgart, last season's runner-up. Stuttgart had a season that far exceeded all expectations, but as is often the case with smaller clubs that have a successful season, many of the players responsible for the success leave. Serhou Guirassy, as we already mentioned, has gone to Dortmund, as has German international defender Waldemar Anton, while Bayern Munich signed defender Hiroki Ito. Additionally, Stuttgart will be playing in the Champions League, which takes a lot of focus, and the chance that they can challenge at the top of the Bundesliga again is very slim.
11 candidates to win the top scorer title
Harry Kane won the Golden Boot in Bundesliga last season as expected, and he did so convincingly with his 36 goals. While Kane is surely pleased with that, he didn't win any titles with Bayern last season, which was the main reason he joined the club. Second in the scoring charts was Serhou Guirassy, who, despite a break to play in the African Cup of Nations with Guinea, managed to score 28 goals. Third place went to Belgian Loïs Openda, who netted 24 goals for RB Leipzig.So, who will win the top scorer title in the Bundesliga 2024/2025 season? Here is our ranking of the 11 players with the best chances of becoming the top scorer.
1. Harry Kane, Bayern Munich
Harry Kane joined Bayern Munich to finally win some titles, and the fact that they didn't win any last season is hardly something Kane can be blamed for. He did exactly what he was brought in to do - score a ton of goals. He won the top scorer title easily, and 36 league goals is an outstanding achievement. In a Bayern Munich team hungry for redemption, he is the clear favourite to become the top scorer again this season. Kane may have had a disappointing European Championship in his new home country, but the entire English national team was weak offensively during the tournament, so we shouldn't read too much into that.2. Loïs Openda, RB Leipzig
Belgian Loïs Openda was signed by RB Leipzig before last season after a sensational season in Ligue 1 with Lens, and he delivered immediately for his new club, scoring in his first two league matches. He continued to score consistently, and it was only during the final three rounds that he went three league matches in a row without scoring. He finished last season with 24 goals, and this season, now that he's settled into both the league and RB Leipzig, he could very well increase his goal tally, making him the top challenger to Kane.
3. Serhou Guirassy, Borussia Dortmund
Serhou Guirassy had a monumental season last year and now plays in what is, at least on paper, a better team. Can he repeat his 28-goal performance? It's certainly not impossible, and it will be fascinating to follow him. The reason we rank him below Openda is that it's hard to know if Guirassy's last season was a one-off, as he hasn't come close to that goal tally in previous seasons. He has something to prove, and if he can show that last season wasn't a fluke, he could even win the top scorer title.
4. Victor Boniface, Bayer Leverkusen
Nigerian Victor Boniface had a major breakthrough in his career last season, delivering for Bayer Leverkusen in a way that few thought possible during his first season with the club. 14 league goals might not sound that impressive, especially compared to the players ahead of him on this list, but it's important to remember that he missed 11 league matches due to injury and was slowly reintegrated into the team afterward. If he stays healthy all season, he could score far more than 14 goals.5. Jamal Musiala, Bayern Munich
Jamal Musiala only scored 10 league goals last season, and his season-high is 12 goals from previous seasons. However, he proved during the European Championship, where he was perhaps Germany's best player and scored three goals, that he is an enormously talented offensive player. Musiala emerged as a young prodigy, making it seem like he's been on the big stage for a long time, but the fact is that he's still only 21 years old and has great potential for further development. He could very well become Bayern's most important player this season.6. Maximilian Beier, Borussia Dortmund
Maximilian Beier went from being an interesting attacking talent to a feared goal scorer last season when he scored 16 goals for mid-table side Hoffenheim. For this, he was rewarded with a spot in Germany's European Championship squad, where he made a substitute appearance in the final group stage match against Switzerland. At Borussia Dortmund, he should be able to develop even further as a goal scorer. However, one question mark is his playing time. The competition for attacking spots in his new club is much tougher, and he might be gradually integrated into the team this season.7. Deniz Undav, Stuttgart
Another German player in the European Championship squad was Deniz Undav. We're not talking about a young talent here, as Undav is 28 years old, but he is something of a living proof that players can make significant strides in their development later in their careers. In the 2019/2020 season, he was playing for Meppen in Germany's third division, and then he got his chance with top-tier Belgian club Union St.-Gilloise, where he was hugely successful. He was then signed by Brighton, although he didn't quite succeed in the Premier League. Instead, he was loaned out to Stuttgart last season, and when Guirassy was away for the African Cup of Nations, it was Undav who stepped up and led Stuttgart's offense. He scored 18 league goals (and provided 10 assists) in total, and now that Guirassy has left, Undav really needs to step up as a goal scorer if Stuttgart is to replicate last season's success, but it's not impossible that he will.8. Andrej Kramaric, Hoffenheim
Maximilian Beier, as we mentioned, had a big breakthrough, but his teammate Andrej Kramaric scored only one goal less, with 15 league goals. This Croatian is an extremely reliable goal scorer season after season, and even though he is now 33 years old, there are certainly plenty of goals left in him.
9. Patrik Schick, Bayer Leverkusen
Czech forward Patrik Schick has had his last two seasons ruined by injuries. He missed the first third of last season and was reintroduced cautiously afterward. Despite that, he managed to score 7 league goals, and if he stays fit for a full season, and Bayer Leverkusen is as good as they were last season, both his playing time and goal tally could increase significantly.10. Ermedin Demirovic, Stuttgart
We said that Undav needs to step up for Stuttgart's offense to succeed this season. Okay, that might not be entirely true, as he has a new "playmate" in Ermedin Demirovic. The Bosnian-German scored 15 goals for Augsburg last season and is clearly a dangerous goal scorer who could be interesting to follow in his new club.
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