With the first quarter of football almost over in most leagues around Europe, now is a good time to measure the current progress of some of the giant clubs on the continent. Actually, analyzing the success or failure of clubs in general won't be nearly as exciting as identifying a more specific object of analysis.

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Saturday's Bundesliga action coincided with the 19th anniversary of Germany's reunification, which conveniently is also the country's national holiday albeit without lethal fireworks or military parades. To celebrate the event Berlin went all out artsy with some megalomaniac puppeteering, while the Bundesliga chose a more pragmatic approach, by retelling the the events through football over 90 minutes.

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I missed the first round of games on family vacation. While I still have the Gladbach-Bochum game on DVR to watch for fun, my first game of the season, albeit delayed, was Dortmund's 1-0 victory at home over Köln. It was a thoroughly deserved victory where Dortmund put the Billy Goats to the sword and could have easily won by half a dozen goals, so commanding was their display.

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The above TV promo was done to hype Lukas Podolski's first home match back with his original and hometown club, FC Koln, which just happened to be a friendly against his former side, Bayern Munich.

There's something about the two club crests painted on his cheeks and the grinning turn he does at 0:10 into it that is both incredibly creepy and hilarious.

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German international striker Lukas Podolski has returned to Bundesliga football club FC Cologne (1. FC Koeln / 1. FC Köln ) after a somewhat unsuccessful spell at Bayern Munich. Here is a look at Podolski's FC Köln official presentation on June 24, 2009 at the Rheinenergiestadion in Cologne. Podolski spent the last three Bundesliga seasons [. Click to continue reading...

The Traitor Giuseppe Rossi

I'm frustrated enough to post this picture again. I knew this was going to happen. You know, I really thought it would be a little different when he scored, a little classier. Maybe I was asking for too much. Then I thought about it some more, and I don't think I was wrong in expecting a little more from him.

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Didn't loyalty used to go a long way? I know, not with players who immediately leave clubs when they smell two Euros more at another one. Okay, there a few exceptions of course, Lukas Podolski for instance who returns to his love FC Cologne or Robert Enke who does not want to transferred away from Hannover but should and therefore has to.

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Didn't loyalty used to go a long way? I know, not with players who immediately leave clubs when they smell two Euros more at another one. Okay, there a few exceptions of course, Lukas Podolski for instance who returns to his love FC Cologne or Robert Enke who does not want to transferred away from Hannover but should and therefore has to.

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Didn't loyalty used to go a long way? I know, not with players who immediately leave clubs when they smell two Euros more at another one. Okay, there a few exceptions of course, Lukas Podolski for instance who returns to his love FC Cologne or Robert Enke who does not want to transferred away from Hannover but should and therefore has to.

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Didn't loyalty used to go a long way? I know, not with players who immediately leave clubs when they smell two Euros more at another one. Okay, there a few exceptions of course, Lukas Podolski for instance who returns to his love FC Cologne or Robert Enke who does not want to transferred away from Hannover but should and therefore has to.

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Christophe Daum pulled off the biggest surprise of the early silly season, by quitting Cologne to return to Turkey via Fenerbahce. I would love to hear Jan's input on this, but my take is that it could be a sucker punch for the Billy Goats as they face the sophomore curse. Daum had a somewhat iconic air at Colgne.

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Big and surprising news this morning as Cologne FC Coach Christoph Daum unexpectedly canceled his contract to return to his second home Istanbul to coach the local club Fenerbahce. I can't help it but this got an awkward smack of breach of trust. After a soap-opera kinda like office taking three years ago with press conferences held in hospitals, a lot of seesaws with quotes like ‘there are no pros and cons when it comes to love' (great conclusion, though) and joyful elations in Cologne, the lost son leaves the city once again to return to his other love, Turkey.

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Big and surprising news this morning as Cologne FC Coach Christoph Daum unexpectedly canceled his contract to return to his second home Istanbul to coach the local club Fenerbahce. I can't help it but this got an awkward smack of breach of trust. After a soap-opera kinda like office taking three years ago with press conferences held in hospitals, a lot of seesaws with quotes like ‘there are no pros and cons when it comes to love' (great conclusion, though) and joyful elations in Cologne, the lost son leaves the city once again to return to his other love, Turkey.

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Big and surprising news this morning as Cologne FC Coach Christoph Daum unexpectedly canceled his contract to return to his second home Istanbul to coach the local club Fenerbahce. I can't help it but this got an awkward smack of breach of trust. After a soap-opera kinda like office taking three years ago with press conferences held in hospitals, a lot of seesaws with quotes like ‘there are no pros and cons when it comes to love' (great conclusion, though) and joyful elations in Cologne, the lost son leaves the city once again to return to his other love, Turkey.

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1. FC Köln is a German professional football club based in Cologne, North Rhine-Westphalia. It was formed in 1948 as a merger of the clubs Kölner Ballspiel-Club 1901 and SpVgg Sülz 07. The club's main rivals are Bayer 04 Leverkusen, Borussia Mönchengladbach, and Fortuna Düsseldorf – all clubs from the same general region, near the [. Click to continue reading...

A bitter loss for Werder Bremen in the UEFA-Cup final yesterday, as they were defeated 2-1 by Schachtjor Donezk in extra-time. Without players like Diego, Per Mertesacker or Hugo Almeida, Bremen hoped to get through the extra 30minutes and into the penalty shoot-up while having with Tim Wiese an excellent goalkeeper between the posts.

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I am not quite sure how much of an audience an article about the German Bundesliga can get, but I will still give it a shot. After all, if there is one league that has continued to offer an air-tight title race throughout the year, it has to be the German first division. With two games to go, as many as four teams� have a realistic chance of being crowned� champions.

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Finally some midweek action with the following games:

Bayern Munich – Bayer Leverkusen 3-0

Great game by Lukas Podolski who was involved in six of the last eight Bayern goals. However they missed a lot of opportunities against a weak Bayer side to close the gap to Wolfsburg in the goals-for-column, being still two goals behind.

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Uzun yıllar boyunca Alman pazarının hareketli bir alıcısı olarak pek çok transfer yaptı Galatasaray. Bouzid ve Berkant gibi hayal kırıklıklarının yanında Stumpf ve Falco gibi iz bırakan yonucular da Galatasaray'a geldi. Feldkamp'ın transfer sezonu için oyuncu izlediği söylentilerinin üzerine transfer dedikoduları yavaş yavaş Alman ligi oyuncuları üzerine yoğunlaşmaya başlayacak. Click to continue reading...

It is done. The media have finally got their booties today. After exactly 300 days of Klinsmania in Munich and its associated uncertainness the Bayern management axed the head coach this morning. ‘The aspired goals of the club were highly at risk' chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenige illustrated, while manager Uli Hoeneß explained that Klinsmann lost all of the decisive games this season.

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The fact that Bayern were thrashed by Wolfsburg is no comfort for Barcelona to the build up of this match. As some of the Bayern players revealed, both are different type of games. Gerrard Pique pointed out the important of keeping a clean sheet against Bayern to progress to the next stage. But realistically speaking that could be one hell of a task. Click to continue reading...

Wir sind hier zwar ein - oder nein, der! - Bundesliga-Blog, aber einen kleinen Nachdreher auf die Länderspieltage kann ich mir nun doch nicht verkneifen. Vor den Länderspielen erneuerte Joachim Löw seine Kritik an der Bundesliga. Der Bundesligafußball muss schneller und technisch besser werden, ja freilich.

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Cristiano Ronaldo is a great club player. He has garnered every accolade including FIFA world player of the year and Man U's first Ballon d'Or winner in 40 years. In comparison, his national duty so far has been pedestrian by his own standards.

There appears to be a pattern. Very good performances into the lead up to the tournament where he tends to then play with a very marked "carry the team on the shoulders" quality that proves detrimental.

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La jornada de hoy fue especialmente fructífera para las grandes selecciones de Europa en la fase de clasificación para el Mundial de Sudáfrica 2010, ya que tanto Alemania, como Italia y Francia consiguieron sendas victorias que les acercan al objetivo de finalizar en el primer puesto de sus respectivos grupos. Click to continue reading...

Some surprising results, but the usuals are through. Click to continue reading...

Lukas Podolski was hailed as one of the hottest prospects in Germany when he transferred from FC Koln to Bayern Munich but his career has taken the wrong turn and he is on his way back to his beloved club. Podolski will return to FC Koln this summer, with the club paying €10 million for [...] Click to continue reading...

One cannot help but notice that when it comes to the German football players, not many of them fancy playing in the Premiership. I first started following the German Bundesliga around half a decade ago; the reason why I tuned in every single week to catch up with some Deutsch football was that I could never get to see enough German representation in the Premier League. Click to continue reading...

Manchester United are set to secure the future of their Argentinean striker Carlos Tevez, reports in England indicate today. Ferguson has seemingly been highly impressed with the way in which Tevez has responded so positively to being left out of the side earlier in the season, with the striker being recalled to the first-team after [. Click to continue reading...

Lucas Podolski returns to his roots... Poland-born striker made his first football steps in FC Köln in 1995 and now it seems he is going back to Cologne, signing a €7.5 million deal with the club that will come through in the summer. At the age of 18 and still a youth player he became [...] Click to continue reading...

The Catalan giants have been given the chance to sign the Argentina international in the summer. Carlos Tevez's long-term future at Old Trafford has been in question for some time now, with Manchester United thus far failing to agree a fee with his owners. MSI, the owners of the Argentina international striker, have offered his [. Click to continue reading...

Deutschland erstarrt vor Kälte, doch das Transferkarussell dreht sich. Vor allem beim BVB kam in den letzten Tagen Bewegung in die Personalabteilung. Michael Zorc, der sich zuletzt über den kuriosen Sinneswandel einer großen Boulevardzeitung freuen durfte, hat die Bankdrücker Giovanni Federico (zum KSC), Marc-Andre Kruska (zum FC Brügge) und Diego Klimowicz (zum VfL Bochum) ziehen [. Click to continue reading...

Manchester United ace Carlos Tevez has risked the wrath of Sir Alex Ferguson by reacting to the manager's comments over his contract situation. "I want to stay but the club have not made any offer. I've been waiting for them for a year and a half." More... COLOMBIAN striker Hugo Rodallega is on his way to [. Click to continue reading...

The German striker could be on the move. Click to continue reading...

It seems like the proposed move of Landon Donovan to Bayern Munich is still up in the air and in my opinion he should consider another option. If he is intent on moving to a European club thats fine, but Bayern Munich would be a bad choice for him at this point in his career. This is the club that is willing to sell Lukas Podolski, a much more accomplished player on the world scene (played in 2 competitions for Germany, including 1 semi-final and 1 final), plus he is a much more highly regarded player throughout the world, except maybe outside of U. Click to continue reading...

Als im Jahr 2003 ein 18-Jähriger vom sinkenden Schiff des 1. FC Köln aus 10 Bälle gleich Kanonenkugeln in die Netze der Bundesligakonkurrenz hämmert, feiert Fußballdeutschland die Geburtsstunde eines neuen "Fußballprinzen." Sein unwiderstehlicher Antritt, sein harter und präziser Abschluss und seine Unbekümmertheit begeistern die Fans, sportliche Anerkennung und Sympathie fliegen ihm gleichermaßen zu. Click to continue reading...