Bundesliga champions, Bayern Munich is ready to keep with the tradition of opening the league games ahead of the 2020-21 season. The tradition of the German League is that the champions must open the new season game.
Bayern, who is already this year’s Champions League finalists won the 2019-20 Bundesliga with 13 points above Borussia Dortmund. They will trade tackle with the Ligue 1 champions, Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League final on Sunday in Lisbon – the last match of their current term which has been affected by the coronavirus pandemic.
This being the reason they were given an extended break. However, the Bavarians insisted that they are going to waive the German league’s offer to delay their start to the 2020/21 domestic season.
The German Football League had initially offered to push back Bayern’s start to the new campaign until Monday, September 21 in order to allow the Bavarians extra time to prepare. The Bundesliga season has been scheduled to begin September 18 with Bayern hosting Schalke 04 at the Allianz Arena.
This was revealed by the league governing body, the DFL, who said Bayern, who won their eighth straight Bundesliga title last season, want to keep with the tradition, established in 2002, by hosting the opening game.
“Bayern Munich has stated their wish to contest the season opener in keeping with the tradition and to do so without any additional preparation time,” said a DFL statement.
Due to Bayern’s participation in Europe, the DFL had penciled in last season’s runners-up Borussia Dortmund to host the opener at the Signal Iduna Park against fourth-placed Borussia Moenchengladbach on September 19, which would serve as a replacement for Bayern-Schalke clash.
Dortmund and M’Gladbach are both qualified for the Champions League.
Bundesliga opening day fixtures as Bayern Munich sticks to tradition
Friday 18 September
Bayern Muenchen v Schalke (1830)
Saturday 19 September
Eintracht Frankfurt v Arminia Bielefeld
Union Berlin v Augsburg
Cologne v Hoffenheim
Werder Bremen v Hertha Berlin
Stuttgart v Freiburg
Borussia Dortmund v Borussia Moenchengladbach (1630)
Sunday 20 September
RB Leipzig v Mainz, Wolfsburg v Bayer Leverkusen (1600)
