DPA/Berlin


Defending champions Bayern Munich will open the 53rd Bundesliga season at home to SV Hamburg on Friday, August 14, in the fixture list revealed Friday by the German Football League (DFL).
Bayern against Hamburg was previously a classic match in the early 1980s but the decline of the northerners has made the formerly intense rivalry somewhat lopsided in recent years, with Munich winning 9-2 in 2013 and 8-0 in their last meeting in February.
Hamburg only narrowly avoided a historic first Bundesliga relegation by winning a play-off earlier this month but are looking forward to the challenge of meeting the champions.
“Of course this is a cracker,” Hamburg keeper Rene Adler said. “But it is exactly for this that we have given everything, these opponents, these tasks. That’s why I see playing Bayern as a little extra reward for staying up and I look forward to it.”
The sides last met on the opening day of the 2008-09 season when Hamburg fought back from two down to claim a 2-2 draw in Munich.
The other first day fixtures will be played August 15-16, after the Wolfsburg v Bayern Super Cup tie on August 1 and the opening round of the German Cup the week after.
Borussia Dortmund, led by Thomas Tuchel for the first time, meet Borussia Moenchengladbach in an intriguing opening day clash while newly promoted Ingolstadt travel to Mainz for their first ever Bundesliga game.
“We think we have a very balanced programme, even if we start with a very strong opponent,” Dortmund sport director Michael Zorc said. “We are definitely looking forward to starting in our own stadium against Borussia Moenchengladbach.”
Fellow newcomers Darmstadt host Hanover while 2015 runners-up Wolfsburg welcome Eintracht Frankfurt. Werder Bremen v Schalke, Augsburg v Hertha Berlin, VfB Stuttgart v Cologne and Bayer Leverkusen v Hoffenheim are the other opening fixtures.
During the first half of the campaign, notable games include the Octoberfest celebration in Munich on match days six, when Wolfsburg travel to Bayern, and day eight when Bayern welcome Dortmund.  Wolfsburg head to Gladbach in the same round.
The first Ruhr area derby between Dortmund and Schalke takes place on day 12 while the first big northern derby between Werder Bremen and Hamburg is on day 14.
The final games before the winter break are on December 18-20 before the campaign resumes on January 22-24. In the second half of the season the fixtures follow the same order with home advantage switching between teams. Now to wait for the action to begin.