Cologne. The 63rd Bundesliga season has kicked off and began with a bang from reigning champions FC Bayern Munich, who sent RB Leipzig packing with a 6-0 thrashing. In the run-up to the new season, FanQ conducted the traditional season-opening survey among more than 8,000 football fans to gather their opinions on the championship race, European places, relegation battle, transfers, managerial sackings, and other Bundesliga topics. Here are the results:

Fan euphoria and season predictions

The excitement ahead of the new season in the top flight is huge. Almost half (49.0 %) gave their anticipation five out of five stars, with a further 27.4 lling just one category below. In addition, a full 63.1 % of respondents want to follow the Bundesliga games every weekend. Furthermore, 18.7 % want to tune in at least several times a month, while only 7.4 % said they rarely or never want to engage with the action.

The return of Hamburger SV is causing a great deal of euphoria among fans. A full 10.3 %are most looking forward to the atmosphere in the Volksparkstadion, which earns HSV a remarkable fourth place in this category at least. Ahead of the Rothosen here are only Stuttgart's MHP Arena (10.7 %), Dortmund's Signal Iduna Park (14.0 %), and the Allianz Arena, home ground of record champions Munich (19.9 %).

Championship races and European Cup places

When it came to the big question of who would win the German championship, there was almost complete agreement this time. For a proud 76.9 %, there is no way around FC Bayern – no wonder after the major sell-off of main rivals Bayer 04 Leverkusen. Interestingly, 8.4 %of those surveyed believe in a surprise champion not from Munich, Leverkusen, Dortmund, Frankfurt or Leipzig. The second-best chances of a single team are attributed to Borussia from Dortmund with 5.8 % of the votes. In a separate survey, BVB receives a little more support: 13.4 % of participants believe the Black and Yellow, with Niko Kovač on the bench, have a good chance of winning the championship trophy, with 2.7 % even believing they have a very good chance. On the other hand, 31.1 % see no chance of a title with the Croatian on the sidelines.

According to the respondents, Borussia Dortmund (73.3 %), runners-up Bayer Leverkusen (52.3 %), and Eintracht Frankfurt (49.4 %) will take the Champions League places behind the Munich team. Of all the European Cup participants, 1. FSV Mainz 05 is least expected to make the leap into the Champions League places: Only 1.7 %consider this possible. According to the respondents, VfB Stuttgart will finish in fifth place and thus in the Europa League (53.1 %). This would see the Swabians improve by a full four positions after a disappointing ninth place. SC Freiburg will line up behind them (48.0 %), before the Red Bulls from Leipzig follow in 7th place (41.9 % ), which could at least be enough for Conference League participation.

A clear trend is emerging in the relegation battle: With 57.3 %, according to the fans voting, 1. FC Heidenheim will be relegated to the second division this year as 18th, after having only survived via the play-offs last season. Additionally, according to the voters, FC St. Pauli will not survive their notoriously difficult second year and will follow Heidenheim to the second tier as 17th (39.1 %). The HSV is expected to finish in 16th place, thus cementing its status as the record play-off participant (31.5 %).

Transfers, Talent and Managerial Worries

As top scorer, respondents see Bayern's Harry Kane once again, as in the previous two seasons. With a massive 60.5 %, the Englishman beats Serhou Guirassy (13.6 %) and will therefore win his third Golden Boot in his third Bundesliga season. In the vote for the Bundesliga MVP, however, the goal guarantor has to admit defeat quite clearly to his teammate Michael Olise. The Frenchman wins here with 26.1 %of the votes.

This year's transfer window saw several high-profile departures from the Bundesliga. Florian Wirtz, Leroy Sané, Jeremie Frimpong, Granit Xhaka, Jaime Gittens, Hugo Ekitiké and Thomas Müller are just a few names. In return, however, some stars have naturally found their way to Germany. Bayern's top new signing Luis Díaz, in particular, who arrived from FC Liverpool for 70 million euros, is generating a lot of hype. 41.9 %of respondents chose him as the newcomer they are most looking forward to. However, the transfers of Jobe Bellingham (15.3 %) to Dortmund and Jonathan Burkardt (10.6 % ) to Eintracht Frankfurt are also very popular. Despite the departure of Hugo Ekitiké for 95 million euros, fans see SGE's squad as stronger than before. With 23.9 % of the votes, they were chosen as this summer's transfer champions, something Markus Krösche can probably add to his CV for more than just the first time.

Falls die Transferaktivitäten der Bundesligisten nicht ausreichen sollten, muss man seinen Blick eben auf die jungen Wilden richten. Der Titel des U21-Spielers der Saison geht laut Fan-Meinung an Dortmunds Jobe Bellingham, der mit 32,7 % der Stimmen deutlich vor dem zweitplatzierten Konkurrenten aus München, Tom Bischof, landet (21,8 %). Stuttgarts Finn Jeltsch werden mit 8,5 % immerhin Außenseiterchancen eingeräumt.

Schlecht schlafen dürfte dagegen Gladbach-Coach Gerardo Seoane. Dem Schweizer wurde mit 16,2 % der Stimmen die erste Trainerentlassung der Saison zugeschrieben. Damit landet er knapp vor Hoffenheims Christian Ilzer (15,3 %). Gar nicht um seinen Job zittern muss laut der Umfrage dagegen Wolfsburgs neuer Übungsleiter Paul Simonis (2,5 %).

In summary, it must be noted that the gap between FC Bayern Munich and the rest of the league appears to have widened again, which is certainly not conducive to the league's excitement. However, the chasing pack has closed in, making predictions difficult. Furthermore, the promoted teams from Hamburg and Cologne are a clear asset, not just in sporting terms, but particularly concerning fan culture. The first matchday last weekend provided exclamation marks and surprises, which definitely whets the appetite for more.

The survey was conducted between 15 and 25 August 2025 among a total of 8,247 Bundesliga fans. All results are based on the participants' assessments at the time of the survey and reflect the mood before the start of the season. FanQ regularly conducts surveys on current football topics – further surveys are planned over the course of the season to track the development of opinions.

FanQ is the "voice of the fans". It is the only football platform where the opinion of the fans takes centre stage. The experienced FanQ editorial team provides daily surveys via the web and app. Fans can vote on their favourite clubs and all relevant football topics. FanQ is interactive. Fans can exchange opinions, interact socially and ask their own questions. This results in a representative picture of the mood. FanQ also creates long-term studies to research complex topics. Registration for the web community and use of the app are free of charge. FanQ is based in Cologne.

If you have any editorial queries about the survey results, please contact us.

Contact FanQ: 
joachim.lammert@fanq.com 
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Kilian Weber/Joachim Lammert 
Managing Director