The German Bundesliga

The German Bundesliga is the 3rd biggest of the top four European Leagues (Behind the English Premier League and Spanish Liga; and ahead of the Italian Serie A) This ranking is based on the UEFA league coefficient, based on the overall performance of the league's clubs. The German Bundesliga is however the frontrunner in overall attendance in Europe, with an average of 45,000 per match, and second in the world for all sports attendance, behind the mammoth NFL. (67,000 avg per game) This league has a very rich history of top notch clubs, players, championships, and loyal fan-bases.

The league is setup like most professional European futbol leagues, as the top level league. However unlike the BPL and La Liga, there are only 18 clubs (instead of 20) that gain membership to the Premiere Bundesliga. The league operates like most European leagues, with a regular season beginning in August and ending in May. Each team plays each other twice, home and away, and the highest record is the champion of the league. The lowest two teams are relegated to the 2nd tier division, while the best performing teams of the 2nd division are promoted to the 1st tier Bundesliga.

Team	Location	Stadium	Capacity
FC Augsburg	Augsburg	SGL arena	30,660
Bayer Leverkusen	Leverkusen	BayArena	30,210
Bayern Munich	Munich	Allianz Arena	71,000
Borussia Dortmund	Dortmund	Signal Iduna Park	80,645
Borussia Mönchengladbach	Mönchengladbach	Borussia-Park	54,010
Eintracht Braunschweig	Braunschweig	Eintracht-Stadion	25,540
Eintracht Frankfurt	Frankfurt	Commerzbank-Arena	51,500
SC Freiburg	Freiburg	Dreisamstadion	24,000
Hamburger SV	Hamburg	Volksparkstadion	57,000
Hannover 96	Hanover	AWD-Arena	49,000
Hertha BSC	Berlin	Olympiastadion	74,244
TSG 1899 Hoffenheim	Sinsheim	Rhein-Neckar Arena	30,150
1. FSV Mainz 05	Mainz	Coface Arena	34,000
1. FC Nürnberg	Nuremberg	Frankenstadion	50,000
Schalke 04	Gelsenkirchen	Veltins-Arena	61,673
VfB Stuttgart	Stuttgart	Mercedes-Benz Arena	60,441
SV Werder Bremen	Bremen	Weserstadion	42,100
VfL Wolfsburg	Wolfsburg	Volkswagen Arena	30,000

Bavarian Futbol Derbies

• One of the biggest rivalries in the Bundesliga, as well as in Europe, is the "Klassiker" between the two powerhouses Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund. Both teams have a very passionate fanbase, especially Dortmund, home to the Westfalonstadion, the biggest stadium in Germany. Their "Yellow Wall" fanbase has gained a reputation as the loudest most intense atmopshere in the world.
• Another huge rivalry worth mentioning  in the Bundesliga is the "Revierderby" between Borussia Dortmund and FC Shalke 04, two neighboring powerhouses. If I had to pick a German team to support it would most definitely be Borussia Dortmund.

History

The league was founded in 1963, in the city of Dortmund, where FC Koln went on to win the first championship. Since it's inception, Bayern Munich has gone on to dominate the league with a total of 23 championships. Other notable clubs and champions include Borussia Dortmund, Hamburger, FC Nuremberg, Werder Bremen, Borussia Monchengladbach, FC Schalke, and Vfb Stuttgart.

Club	Winners	Runners-up	Winning Seasons
Bayern Munich	23	10	1931–32, 1968–69, 1971–72, 1972–73, 1973–74, 1979–80, 1980–81, 1984–85, 1985–86, 1986–87, 1988–89, 1989–90, 1993–94, 1996–97, 1998–99, 1999–2000, 2000–01, 2002–03, 2004–05, 2005–06, 2007–08, 2009–10, 2012–13
1. FC Nuremberg	9	3	1919-20, 1920-21, 1923-24, 1924-25, 1926-27, 1935-36, 1947–48, 1960–61, 1967–68
Borussia Dortmund	8	5	1955–56, 1956–57, 1962–63, 1994–95, 1995–96, 2001–02, 2010–11, 2011–12
Schalke 04	7	9	1933–34, 1934–35, 1936–37, 1938–39, 1939–40, 1941–42, 1957–58
Hamburger SV	6	8	1922–23, 1927–28, 1959–60, 1978–79, 1981–82, 1982–83
VfB Stuttgart	5	4	1949-50, 1951-52, 1983-84, 1991-92, 2006-07
Borussia Mönchengladbach	5	2	1969–70, 1970–71, 1974–75, 1975–76, 1976–77
Werder Bremen	4	7	1964–65, 1987–88, 1992–93, 2003–04
1. FC Kaiserslautern	4	4	1950–51, 1952–53, 1990–91, 1997–98
1. FC Köln	3	7	1961–62, 1963–64, 1977–78
VfB Leipzig	3	2	1902-03, 1905-06, 1912-13
SpVgg Fürth	3	1	1913-14, 1925-26, 1928-29
Hertha BSC	2	5	1929-30, 1930-31
Viktoria 89 Berlin	2	2	1907-08, 1910-11
Dresdner SC	2	1	1942-43, 1943-44
Hannover 96	2	0	1937-38, 1953-54
Karlsruher FV	1	2	1909-10
Holstein Kiel	1	2	1911-12
1860 Munich	1	2	1965-66
Fortuna Düsseldorf	1	1	1932-33
Eintracht Frankfurt	1	1	1958-59
SpVgg Blau-Weiß 1890 Berlin	1	0	1904-05
Eintracht Braunschweig	1	0	1966-67
Rot-Weiss Essen	1	0	1954-55
Freiburger FC	1	0	1906-07
Phönix Karlsruhe	1	0	1908-09
VfR Mannheim	1	0	1948-49
Rapid Wien	1	0	1940-41
VfL Wolfsburg	1	0	2008–09

 Best Players to Watch

1. Frank Ribery     Bayern Munich (2007-present) France (2006-present) Age 30
2. Bastian Schweinsteiger Bayern Munich (2002-present) Germany (2004-present) Age 29
3. Robert Lewandowski     Borussia Dortmund (2010-2014) Poland (2008-present) Age 25
4. Philip Lahm      Bayern Munich (2002-present) Germany (2004-present) Age 30
5. Manuel Neuer   Bayern Munich (2011-present) Germany (2009-present) Age 27
6. Arjen Robben    Bayern Munich (2009-present) Netherlands (2003-present) Age 30
7. Henrickh Mkhitaryan Borussia Dortmund (2013-present) Armenia (2007-present) Age 27
8. Thomas Mueller  Bayern Munich (2008-present) Germany (2010-present) Age 24
9. Mario Mandzukic Bayern Munich (2010-present) Croatia (2007-present) Age 27
10. Mario Gotze Bayern Munich (2013-present) Germany (2010-present) Age 21   

Top Ten Goalscorers

Player		Period	Club	Goals
1	Gerd Müller	1965–1979	FC Bayern Munich	365 (Ø 0,85)
2	Klaus Fischer	1968–1988	TSV 1860 München, FC Schalke 04, 1. FC Köln, VfL Bochum	268 (Ø 0.50)
3	Jupp Heynckes	1965–1978	Borussia Mönchengladbach, Hannover 96	220 (Ø 0.60)
4	Manfred Burgsmüller	1969–1990	Rot-Weiss Essen, Borussia Dortmund, 1. FC Nürnberg, SV Werder Bremen	213 (Ø 0.48)
5	Ulf Kirsten	1990–2003	Bayer 04 Leverkusen	182 (Ø 0.52)
6	Stefan Kuntz	1983–1999	VfL Bochum, Bayer Uerdingen, 1. FC Kaiserslautern, Arminia Bielefeld	179 (Ø 0.40)
7	Dieter Müller	1973–1986	1. FC Köln, VfB Stuttgart, 1.FC Saarbrücken	177 (Ø 0.58)
8	Klaus Allofs	1975–1993	Fortuna Düsseldorf, 1. FC Köln, SV Werder Bremen	177 (Ø 0.42)
9	Claudio Pizarro	1999–	SV Werder Bremen, FC Bayern Munich	167 (Ø 0.47)
10	Hannes Löhr	1964–1977	1. FC Köln	166 (Ø 0.44)

Oscar Nominations to See

It's movie award season! Love this time of year when the top quality films come out and begin to be recognized for their achievements. Also gives me a chance to get updated on the new drama releases, the ones I've seen, and the one's I still need to see. So here's the list of this years nominated movies, actors, actresses, directors, some opinions, and the must see films of the year.

Best Picture

• American Hustle
• Captain Philips
• Dallas Buyers Club
• Gravity (Seen it, good but not great. Groundbreaking film direction)
• Her (Looks great, Must See!)
• Nebraska (Looks great, Must See!)
• Philomena
• 12 Years a Slave (Must See! Most likely to win Award)
• Wolf of Wall Street (Must See!)

Biggest Snub: Inside Llewyn Davis (Snubbed for best picture, best director in the Coen Brothers, and best acting for Oscar Isaac)

Best Actor

• Christian Bale in American Hustle (2nd Nomination)
• Bruce Dern in Nebraska (2nd Nomination)
• Leonardo DiCaprio in Wolf of Wall Street (4th Nomination)
• Chiwetel Ejiofor in 12 Years a Slave (1st Nomination)
• Matthew McConaughey in Dallas Buyers Club (1st Nomination. Most likely to win award)

Biggest Snubs: Joaquin Phoenix for Her and Tom Hanks for Captain Philips

Best Actress

• Amy Adams in American Hustle (Her 5th nomination. She will most likely win this time)
• Cate Blanchett in Blue Jasmine (Her 6th nomination)
• Sandra Bullock in Gravity (Her 2nd nomination)
• Judi Dench in Philomena (Her 7th nomination)
• Meryl Streep in Osage County (This is her 18th nomination! Incredible)

Best Supporting Actor

• Barkhad Abdi in Captain Philips
• Bradley Cooper in American Hustle
• Michael Fassbender in 12 Years a Slave
• Jonah Hill in the Wolf of Wall Street
• Jared Leto in Dallas Buyers Club (Most likely will win)

Best Supporting Actress

• Sally Hawkins in Blue Jasmine
• Jennifer Lawrence in American Hustle (Most likely will win, for the 2nd year in a row)
• Lupita Nyong'o in 12 Years a Slave
• Julia Roberts in Osage County (This is her 5th nomination)
• June Squibb in Nebraska

Best Director

• Alfonso Cuaron for Gravity (Should and most likely will win. Great director!)
• David O Russel for American Hustle
• Alexander Payne for Nebraska (One of the best director/screenwriters in the biz)
• Steve McQueen for 12 Years a Slave
• Martin Scorsese for Wolf of Wall Street (This is his 10th nomination!)

Total Nominations

• Gravity (10)
• American Hustle (10)
• 12 Years a Slave (10)
• Captain Phlips (6)
• Dallas Buyers Club (6)
• Her (5)
• Nebraska (5)
• Wolf of Wall Street (5)
• Philomena (4)
• Blue Jasmine (3)
• The Great Gatsby (2)
• Inside Llewyn Davis (2)
• Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (2)

Other Snubs: No love for Lee Daniel's The Butler, Secret Life of Walter Mitty, Tom Hanks, Robert Redford, Emma Thompson, Oscar Isaac, and Joaquin Phoenix

Copa del Rey

The Spanish Copa del Rey is the equivalent to England's FA cup, yet nowhere near as big. Unlike the 700+ teams that England fields, the Copa del Rey is only open to it's La Liga Premiere Division, Segunda A, Segunda B, and the champions of the Tercera Division. This usually makes up about 83 teams that compete in the tournament.

El Copa del Rey was founded in 1903, making it the 2nd oldest tournaments in Europe, behind the FA Cup. The German DFB Pokal was founded in 1935 and the Coppa Italia was founded in 1922. In my opinion the professional Spanish leagues are superior to the German and Italian leagues, however 2nd to the English leagues. Since Barcelona is my favorite club, I thought it would be fitting to better understand the professional Spanish leagues and their domestic cup.

Copa del Rey Format

The tournament coincides with the regular futbol season, beginning in August and ending in April. Just like the FA Cup, the tournament is a single-elimination knock-out round compromised of rounds. In the first round, the lower teams of the Tercera Division and Segunda Division B are drawn to face off. The winners move on to the second round. In the second round the teams of the Segunda Division A enter the tournament to face the winners of the previous round. (One thing to note here is that as teams advance through the rounds, they are paired up by drawings instead of a consistent bracket format.)

In the fourth round, there are 32 teams remaining when the premier teams of La Liga enter the tournament. At this point it becomes a free-for-all, however the format changes to double match elimination. This means each team plays each other twice, home and away, and the higher aggregate moves on to the next round of 16. Once again the winners of each round are matched up by a luck of the draw, all the way to the finals. The final is a single match played in a neutral stadium.

Copa Del Rey History

Club	Wins	Last final won	Runners-up	Last final lost
Barcelona	26	2012	10	2011
Athletic Bilbao	23	1984	12	2012
Real Madrid	18	2011	20	2013
Atlético Madrid	10	2013	9	2010
Valencia	7	2008	9	1995
Zaragoza	6	2004	5	2006
Sevilla	5	2010	2	1962
Espanyol	4	2006	5	1957
Real Unión	3	1927	1	1922
Betis	2	2005	2	1997
Deportivo La Coruña	2	2002	0
Real Sociedad	1	1987	5	1988
Arenas	1	1919	3	1927
Mallorca	1	2003	2	1998
Bizcaya	1	1902	1	1907
Ciclista	1	1909	0
Racing de Irún	1	1913	0
Celta de Vigo	0		3	2001
Getafe	0		2	2008
Valladolid	0		2	1989
Sporting de Gijón	0		2	1982
Español de Madrid	0		2	1910
Osasuna	0		1	2005
Recreativo	0		1	2003
Castilla CF‡	0		1	1980
Las Palmas	0		1	1978
Castellón	0		1	1973
Elche	0		1	1969
Granada	0		1	1959
Racing de Ferrol	0		1	1939
Sabadell	0		1	1935
Europa	0		1	1923
Espanya	0		1	1914
Gimnástica	0		1	1912
Real Vigo Sporting	0		1	1908

The FA Cup

Every country in Europe has a domestic cup each year. It is an entirely separate tournament from the regular season, that is scheduled to coincide with the futbol season (beginning in August and ending in May). The format is a single elimination tournament (similar to our NCAA march madness) that allows lower leagues to eventually compete with the premiere leagues.

England has the FA Cup with 737 participants, Spain has El Copa del Rey with 83 participants, Germany has the DFB Pokal with 64 participants, and Italy has the Coppa Italia with 78 participants. England also has a second domestic cup, known as the Capital One Cup, that exclusively fields it's 92 league clubs, however this tournament isn't as revered as the FA Cup. There is no tournament in Europe that compares with the respected FA Cup, which is what I want to primarily focus on here.

The FA Cup History

England's FA Cup is the oldest association competition in the world, and for that reason has garnered the most attention. It first began in 1871 with 15 of top clubs competing against each other, and was won by the Wanderers FC from London. Since then the tournament has grown significantly in size allowing every major division a chance to compete in the tournament. The FA Cup grants entry to the 7 highest level divisions of the national league system, while having qualifications for levels below that.

In the history of the cup, only one club from a non-league division has gone on to win it all; Tottenham Hotspur in 1901 (They eventually were promoted to the Football League in 1908 and have now become a top quality premiere club.) Only 8 clubs, outside of the premiership have gone on to win the FA Cup. What makes this tournament so unique is the possibility of giant-killing, where every club has a fair chance to win it all. Everyone loves a David-vs-Goliath story, and where better to achieve glory than at one of the oldest and biggest sports tournaments in the world.

The FA Cup Format

The tournament thus begins with 6 rounds of qualifications where the lower divisional clubs are drawn at random to compete against one another. The winner moves on to the next round and so forth, until there are 32 remaining teams to face the higher leagues and begin the proper rounds. (However important to note that this cup doesn't affect the leagues relegation or promotion. That is determined by their regular season performances)

At the eighth round known as the  "Second Round Proper" the 48 clubs of the League One and League Two enter the tournament. At the tenth round known as the "Third Round Proper" the Premiere League and the Football League enter and the tournament. At this point there are 64 teams remaining in the tournament and the championship is open game.

From the first round to the final championship match there are a total of 737 clubs that partake in this tournament! It is not only one of the oldest tournaments yet also one of the biggest tournaments in the world.

FA Cup Team Results

FA Cup Wins		Appearances Finals
Manchester United	11	Manchester United	18
Arsenal	10	Arsenal	17
Tottenham Hotspur	8	Liverpool	14
Aston Villa	7	Newcastle United	13
Liverpool	7	Everton	13
Chelsea	7	Chelsea	11
Blackburn Rovers	6	Aston Villa	10
Newcastle United	6	West Bromwich Albion	10
Everton	5	Tottenham Hotspur	9
The Wanderers	5	Blackburn Rovers	8
West Bromwich Albion	5	Manchester City	8
Bolton Wanderers	4	Wolverhampton Wanderers	8
Manchester City	4	Bolton Wanderers	7
Sheffield United	4	Preston North End	7
Wolverhampton Wanderers	4	Old Etonians	6
Sheffield Wednesday	3	Sheffield United	6
West Ham United	3	Sheffield Wednesday	6
Bury	2	Huddersfield Town	5
Nottingham Forest	2	Portsmouth	5
Old Etonians	2	The Wanderers	5
Portsmouth	2	West Ham United	5
Preston North End	2	Leeds United	4
Sunderland	2	Leicester City	4
Barnsley	1	Oxford University	4
Blackburn Olympic	1	Royal Engineers	4
Blackpool	1	Sunderland	4
Bradford City	1	Derby County	4
Burnley	1	Southampton	4
Cardiff City	1	Nottingham Forest	3
Charlton Athletic	1	Burnley	3
Clapham Rovers	1	Blackpool	3
Coventry City	1	Cardiff City	3
Derby County	1	Birmingham City	2
Huddersfield Town	1	Bury	2
Ipswich Town	1	Barnsley	2
Leeds United	1	Charlton Athletic	2
Notts County	1	Clapham Rovers	2
Old Carthusians	1	Notts County	2
Oxford University	1	Queen's Park (Glasgow)	2
Royal Engineers	1	Blackburn Olympic	1
Southampton	1	Bradford City	1
Wimbledon	1	Brighton & HA	1
		Bristol City	1
		Coventry City	1
		Crystal Palace	1
		Fulham	1
		Ipswich Town	1
		Luton Town	1
		Middlesbrough	1
		Millwall	1
		Old Carthusians	1
		Queen's Park Rangers	1
		Watford	1
		Wimbledon	1