Goals, fairness, fans: a record-breaking first half of the Bundesliga and Bundesliga 2 season

19 January 2024 – Professional football in Germany is all about full stadiums and incredible entertainment on the pitch, as a series of impressive facts and figures for the first half of the Bundesliga and Bundesliga 2 season demonstrate. In no other top-flight European league was the goal scoring average in each game as high as it was here in Germany (3.3). This figure is based on DFL Deutsche Fußball Liga data for the first half of the season. And the Bundesliga is as enthralling as it is fair, with fans seeing more goals and fewer red cards than in any other major European league. In fact, the first half of the Bundesliga season has never seen so few fouls, since data collection began back in the 1992-93 season.

The records achieved by the teams – whether in the upper or lower reaches of the leagues – tell an exciting yet balanced story. Never in the history of the Bundesliga have not one but two teams – in this case Bayer 04 Leverkusen and FC Bayern München – had more than 40 points under their belts after just 17 matches. In addition to the Bundesliga, only in the French Ligue 1 have all 18 teams achieved double-digit points tallies after the first half of the season.

“We can’t wait for the second half of the season”

The Bundesliga remains the league for young players to shine, highlighted by the fact that clubs fielded many more German U21 players than in previous years, with the percentage among the squads almost doubling to 4.9% (previous year: 3.2%). And the fact that six of Germany’s seven participants in this year’s European club competitions have qualified for the respective next stages also speaks volumes for the league’s quality. Thus, according to UEFA’s five-year coefficient rankings after the first half of this season’s European club competitions, the Bundesliga is ahead of the Premier League (England) and La Liga (Spain).

DFL CEO Marc Lenz: “The Bundesliga and Bundesliga 2 have enjoyed an absolutely fantastic first half of the season in terms of both sporting performance and fan experience. We can’t wait for these two top-flight European leagues to embark on the second half of the season.”

“This speaks volumes about German football as a whole”

Attracting an average of around 40,000 spectators per match, the Bundesliga remains the most-attended league in top-flight European football. With an average attendance of more than 28,000, the Bundesliga 2 has surpassed even the French Ligue 1, contributing to the fact that, for the first half of the 2023-24 season, football attracted more fans than ever before to Germany’s stadiums. Over the first 18 matchdays, the stadium announcers declared a total of more than 10 million fans at the games.

“Despite all the forecasts, the fans are not only returning to the Bundesliga and Bundesliga 2 stadiums after the pandemic but, together with the clubs they support, are breaking records. This speaks volumes about German football as a whole and, in particular, about its unique selling point of a first-class atmosphere throughout two highly emotive and historic leagues,” says DFL CEO Steffen Merkel.

Facts and figures about the Bundesliga:
https://www.bundesliga.com/en/bundesliga/stats/bmf-zone