German BundesLiga

The Bundesliga is the highest level of Germany's football league system. The term Bundesliga also applies to football in Austria and is used to refer to the highest level league competitions in several other sports in those two countries.

Germany was unusual, in that, unlike in other countries, a unified national league structure was quite late in developing. The Bundesliga was not formed until 1963 and the structure and organisation of the nation's football leagues have undergone frequent changes right up to the present day. The league was originally founded by the German Football Association, but is now operated by the Deutsche Fußball Liga.

Every team in the two Bundesligen must have a licence to play in the league, or else they are relegated into the regional leagues. To obtain a licence, teams must be financially healthy and meet certain standards of conduct as organisations.

nternationally, the most well-known German clubs include Bayern Munich, Hamburger SV, Borussia Dortmund, FC Schalke 04 and Werder Bremen. Hamburger SV can lay claim to being the only club that has played continuously in the Bundesliga since its foundation.