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Learn English Through Football Podcast: 2024-25 Bundesliga Season Preview
In this football language podcast we look ahead to the start of the 2024-25 Bundesliga season in our Bundesliga Season Preview. Can Leverkusen retain their title? Who are the contenders for the title? Will Kane finally win some silverware? Which teams will be relegated? You can read the transcript for this podcast below, while you can also check out our glossary of footballing phrases here and visit our site to access all our previous posts and podcasts. If you have any suggestions or questions then you can contact us at admin@languagecaster.com.
2024-25 Bundesliga Season Preview
DF: You’re listening to Languagecaster.com’s football language podcast, for all those who love the beautiful game and who want to improve their English. My name’s Damian and I am in a grey and chilly London – it looks like and feels like our summer is already over! What’s the weather like where you are? I wonder what the weather’s like in Tokyo where of course the other member of the Languagecaster team is living? Hello Damon, how are things?
DB: Hi Damian. Still hot and humid here in Tokyo but lots of summer to go but to be honest, it’s not much fun. What’s on the show today?
DF: Now, last week we previewed the Premier League and on today’s show we are going to look ahead to the Bundesliga in Germany which starts this weekend. We’ll be looking at the favourites, the newly-promoted teams and offer a couple of predictions about winners, top four and relegation. We will also be looking at the predictions competition and see how we did in week one. And of course we’ll look ahead to some of the big games from this weekend. Before that however we will take a look at some of the football language that emerged from both Damon and my favourite teams’ opening Premier League matches: Winning duels and Dropped two points.
Stinger: You are listening to languagecaster.com (in German).
DF: Yes, that message, or stinger, was in German and you’ll hear lots more of these throughout the show. See if you can tell what languages they are! You’ll be able to see the answers by reading the transcript to the show when you come along to our site at languagecaster.com or by reading it on your phone.
Stinger: You are listening to languagecaster.com (in Italian).
DF: Right, last week was the opening game of the 2024-25 Premier League season. How did your team get on? As many of you might know, Damon’s favourite team is Liverpool and mine is Tottenham and we’re going to look at one or two football phrases from these opening games.
Ipswich Town 0-2 Liverpool: Winning duels
Embed from Getty Images
DB: So, newly-promoted side Ipswich Town’ return to the Premier League after more than 20 years saw them lose two-nil at home to my team Liverpool but the Suffolk team played really well in the first half. The new Liverpool manager Arne Slot made some changes at half time and Liverpool ran out easy winners in the end. But the Dutch manager also suggested that his team had not been winning their duels in the first half.
A duel is a fight between two people and in football it is sometimes used to describe the competition between individual players on the pitch, so for example a centre forward against a centre half or maybe a forward and a goalkeeper. To win a duel means that one player is dominating another one – maybe because of skill but also tackles, fitness and strength and this is what the Liverpool manager was referring to when he said: ‘Not everything in football is tactics or analysis. Sometimes it comes down to winning duels. If you are not winning your duels forget the tactics‘. How about Tottenham Damian?
Leicester City 1-1 Tottenham: Two points dropped.
Embed from Getty Images
DF: Well, my team Tottenham also kicked off their season away at a newly-promoted side in Leicester on Monday night. We played so well for almost an hour – we controlled the ball and created or fashioned so many chances which meant we should have been more than one goal up at half time. Leicester scored from their first attack and the game ended in a 1-1 draw. And this was quite a disappointing result for Spurs and it was seen as two points dropped rather than a point gained. And this expression means that the team should have won all three points but instead had to settle for a point so it feels like two points have been dropped – they left two points behind at Leicester.
Stinger: You are listening to languagecaster.com (in Vietnamese).
Bundesliga: Season Preview
DF: OK, so the German Bundesliga kicks off this weekend and before we look at some of the 18 teams in this season’s competition here is some background information on the Bundesliga.
This will be the 62nd time that the Bundesliga season has been played. Do you know which team is the most successful in Bundesliga history? Yes, of course Bayern Munich (Bayern München) who have won the title a remarkable 32 times; they have won the league on 32 occasions, including 11 times in succession (or in a row) from 2013-2023. The next most successful sides in Bundesliga history are Borussia Dortmund and Borussia Mönchengladbach with five titles each. In its 62 years of history 57 different teams have played in the Bundesliga – Holsten Kiel are the 57th and are making their debut this season; they are also the most northerly club in the top flight this season.
Now, similar to the English and Spanish leagues, the top four teams will play in the following season’s Champions League, with the team finishing in fifth going into the Europa League and the team in sixth to the Europa Conference League. The two bottom teams are directly relegated to the Bundesliga 2 with the team finishing in 16th playing the team who finished third in the second tier in a two-legged play-off. Now, last season Bochum managed to win on penalties to stay in the division after a remarkable comeback.
Favourites
DF: Right, let’s take a look at the 2024-25 Bundesliga season. Last season’s winners Bayer Leverkusen completed an amazing season by going undefeated – they did not lose any of their 34 Bundesliga games and they also won the German Cup (Pokal) to complete an historic double. Can Xabi Alonso’s side retain their title? They have not lost any of their star players from last season and of course the manager is also still there so they will definitely be one of the favourites.
Last season’s runners up were Stuttgart and they will be strong again though they did lose some key players to their rivals including striker Serhou Guirassy to Dortmund and their Japanese defender Ito to Bayern Munich. Both Dortmund and Bayern have new managers with former player Şahin taking over at last season’s Champions League runners-up Dortmund and Vincent Kompany rather surprisingly taking over at Bayern after taking Burnley down to the Championship last season. He has signed Fulham’s Portuguese midfielder Palhinha and the star of the recent Olympics Michael Olise from Crystal Palace. They will be stronger than last season and I wonder if they can finally help Harry Kane, the Bundesliga top scorer last season with 36 goals, win some silverware.
Relegation
DB: Nice one. Now, Damon has already mentioned one of the newly-promoted sides, Holsten Kiel, and they will be one of the favourites to go straight back down to Bundesliga 2 according to the pundits. The other promoted side is St Pauli from Hamburg who return to the top flight after 13 years.We did a report on them back in 2011. They lost their manager Fabian Hürzeler to Brighton which will make their job even harder but their world famous fanbase might be enough to keep them up. Bochum and Heidenheim will be two other teams struggling to stay up, while Union Berlin will be hoping to avoid the relegation battle after a terrible season in which they avoided the relegation play-off thanks to a final day victory.
Predictions?
DB: What about predictions? Well, I’m going for a Bayer, not Bayern win. So, back-to-back championships for Bayer Leverkusen, I hope St Pauli stay up. I have a St Pauli T-shirt from a German friend and I think they will. For the drop. Then I think it will be Holsten Kiel, Bochum and Heidenheim. Damian, what are your predictions?
DF: Well, I think Bayern will come back stronger this season and win the Bundesliga title followed by Leverkusen and then Dortmund. As for relegation, I think Holsten Kiel and Bochum will be relegated and maybe St Pauli finishing in 16th, but winning the play-off to stay up another year. What do you think will happen in this season’s Bundesliga?
Stinger: You are listening to languagecaster.com (in Dutch).
Weekly Predictions Competition
DF: Right, how is our predictions competition coming along? Well, after the first week I am leading with 6 points from the five matches including three points for a perfect prediction of 2-0 for Liverpool over Ipswich. Damon scored three points as did our guest. Well, how about this week? We have HP Sauce as our guest predictor and they will be hoping to boost the guests’ scores!
So, we have another five matches including two games from the Bundesliga. First up is the Bundesliga opener Borussia Mönchengladbach versus the champions Bayer Leverkusen. HP Sauce has gone for a 1-1 draw but I’m going for a 2-1 away win – the holders Leverkusen can continue their unbeaten run. The other big game in the Bundesliga takes place on Sunday between Wolfsburg and Bayern Munich. HP Sauce has gone for another 1-1 draw but I think Bayern under their new manager will win comfortably – maybe 3-1.
How about the big game in the Premier League this weekend between Aston Villa and Arsenal? I think this will be a draw – maybe 1-1, while HPSauce thinks Arsenal will win at Villa 2-0. How about La Liga? Well, Barcelona had a good win last week at Valencia and will be hoping to continue their good form with a home victory over Athletic Bilbao. I think they will win as does HP Sauce. I’ve gone for 2-0 to the home side, while HPSauce has gone for a 1-0 win. The final game this weekend comes from Ligue 1 in France between Lyon and Monaco. HP Sauce has gone for a 2-2 draw, while I think Lyon will win this 1-0 – I’ve gone for a Lyon home win.
Predictions Language: To go for
Now, the expression ‘to go for‘ means to choose and so when we talk about predictions we mean that’s what we think will happen in a match. So, in the examples from today we can hear the following phrases:
- HP Sauce has gone for a 1-1 draw but I’m going for a 2-1 away win
- HP Sauce has gone for another 1-1 draw
- I’ve gone for 2-0 to the home side, while HPSauce has gone for a 1-0 win
So, who are you going for in this week’s predictions? Remember, that you can play along at any time – simply add a comment at the end of this post or you can contact us on the forum.
| League | Match | Damian | Damon | Guest | Score |
| Bundesliga |
Borussia M’gladbach v B Leverkusen |
1-2 (1) | 0-1 (1) | 1-1 | 2-3 |
| Premier League | Aston Villa v Arsenal | 1-1 | 0-2 (3) | 0-2 (3) | 0-2 |
| La Liga | Barcelona v Athletic Bilbao | 2-0 (1) | 1-0 (1) | 1-0 (1) | 2-1 |
| Ligue 1 | Lyon v Monaco | 1-1 | 1-0 | 2-2 | 0-2 |
| Bundesliga | Wolfsburg v Bayern München | 1-3 (1) | 0-2 (1) | 1-1 | 2-3 |
Stinger: You are listening to languagecaster.com (in French)
Glossary
DB: Thanks for that predictions summary Damian – let’s hope I can do better this week. Remember, that here at Languagecaster’s site you can find out more about some of the words and phrases that we have already discussed today. We also have hundreds more football-language expressions. Just come along to our football-language glossary and take a look.
Contact
DF: And if you have any questions or comments about any of the language from today or indeed any other football language then drop us an email at admin@languagecaster.com. You can also find us on different parts of social media – lots of our podcasts on YouTube. And don’t forget we also have a football-language forum where you can ask and answer any questions you have on the language of football and post your predictions there too. Oh, don’t forget to subscribe to our football-language podcasts.
Stinger: You are listening to languagecaster.com (in Italian).
Goodbye
DF: Yes, that message was in Italian. We also heard some stingers in Vietnamese, in French and of course in German. Thanks everyone for listening today. Don’t forget there’s a transcript for this podcast with lots of vocabulary support just come along and take a look. You can also listen along to the podcast while reading the transcript on your phone. Just click on the comment icon there and then you can read. We think it is a great resource for learners and teachers of English especially for practising your listening skills.
DF: OK, let us know if you hear any of the phrases from today’s show including ‘to go for‘ when making predictions or ‘to drop two points‘ when your team only draws a game. And of course in any language would be great. Enjoy all the football this weekend – I’m going to watch Fulham against Leicester in the Premier League. And we’ll be back next week with some more football language. Bye bye!
DB: Tara! Enjoy all the football.
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