Bundesliga champions and DFB Pokal winners Borussia Dortmund will be aiming to follow up a record-setting 2011/12 season when the 2012/13 campaign gets underway in August.
2011/12 was a Bundesliga season like no other, with the youngest set of players since 1973 breaking a huge amount of domestic records. The year saw a new record high for Bundesliga points (Dortmund 81), as well as an all-time highest average attendance at 45,116, the most goals ever generated from corners (94) and the highest penalty conversion rate (87%).
Despite these records, thrill-seekers might have been upset by the lack of goals - at 2.86 per game, the number fell from last year. Similarly the number of attempts was also down to around 33 a game, and there were fewer surprise away wins.
2011/12 will undoubtedly go down in history as Borussia Dortmund's season, as Robert Lewandowski's 22 goals fired the side to a second consecutive Bundesliga title. The Pole was also instrumental in the side's 5-2 demolition of Bayern Munich in the DFB Pokal final, bagging a hat trick to help Dortmund secure their first ever league/cup double.
With an average age of under 25, the side can only improve in 2012/13 - especially with the addition of Borussia Monchengladbach's star-man Marco Reus and his 18 goals a season. European success still eludes the champions, however, so the glitter of the Champions League trophy might prove a distraction for the disciplined squad.
Bayern Munich started the season on fine form - enough for many pundits to misguidedly claim the season was theirs. Stuttering form at the mid-point, however, complete with Mario Gomez's dry spell, saw the Reds finish with 73 points.
That tally would have been enough to lift the Bundesliga title in 15 of the 16 Bundesliga, but Dortmund's incredible 28 game unbeaten run ensured the title was Rhine-bound. That said, the German giants excelled in the Champions League, meaning the season was a success on the continent.
The squad will be strengthened in 2012/13, at least with the addition Dante from Borussia Monchengladbach. Adding to Manuel Neuer, Philipp Lahm, Mario Gomez (who scored 26 this season), Franck Ribery, Arjen Robben and Bastian Schweinsteiger, Munich should be a force to be reckoned with.
Schalke climbed into third-place towards the end of the season, predominantly powered by Klass-Jan Huntelaar's 29 goals - enough to earn him the league's Golden Boot. The side will miss the experience of veteran Raul, who heads into retirement, but Roman Neustadter from the Foals should improve the squad.
This season sees Eintracht Frankfurt and Fortuna Dusseldorf back in the top division - Frankfurt bouncing straight back from relegation while Dusseldorf are returning from the wilderness for the first time in 15 years.
The league will miss FC Koln and FC Kaiserslautern, who were relegated after relatively short periods in the top-flight.
