Boom time for the Bundesliga as Germany prepares to take centre stage

After a spring marred by corruption and hooliganism, there is a new buoyancy in the 2006 World Cup host country as the season kicks off. Glenn Moore reports

The Bundesliga returns tonight, launching a German football season that will end 11 months hence in Berlin with the World Cup final. It will open amid optimism, the success of the Confederations Cup having done much to dispel the gloom which pervaded the game after a spring marked by corruption, hooliganism and financial problems.

While the Robert Hoyser affair will linger on for a few months yet - as the police and legal authorities complete their investigations into the bribery scandal which enveloped the young referee - the fact that no Bundesliga matches have been shown to have been affected means the wider public have largely forgotten him.

Similarly, a trouble-free Confederations Cup has encouraged hope that the hooliganism which marred Germany's March friendly in Slovenia is under control. Indeed, following the bombs in London, security is now concentrating on combating terrorism rather than hooliganism.

Borussia Dortmund, meanwhile, appear to have survived the Leeds United-style crisis which threatened the club's pro-licence. Debts have been re-scheduled, season-ticket sales are healthy, and the Westfalenstadion should again be one of the great cockpits of European football. More significantly, it seems that Dortmund were a one-off, that other Bundesliga clubs have coped with the cash shortage which followed the collapse of the Kirch media empire.

So the focus is forwards and, as ever, it will be Bayern Munich leading the way into the new season, kicking off the campaign tonight against Borussia Mönchengladbach in the new Allianz Arena.

The ground, which will host the World Cup's opening match, is a stunning addition to football's architecture and its readiness a year before the finals typical of Germany's impressively efficient pre-World Cup organisation. All 12 venues are now up to standard.

Bayern won the double last season and Felix Magath, their manager, immediately said his next target was to regain the Champions' League last won in 2001. Bayern have failed to go beyond the quarter-finals since but have retained most of the squad which won their record 19th championship. Only Robert Kovac and Thorsten Frings have left. Kovac's Bayern career never recovered from the bashing Didier Drogba gave him in the Champions' League and he has gone to Juventus. Frings went to Werder Bremen, swapped for Valerien Ishmael, who made little impact at Crystal Palace a few years ago but has been a success in Germany.

There is also much interest in Ali Karimi, the reigning Asian player of the year, who has been signed from Al Alhi. Everyone agrees the Iranian is a good player, but many suspect he has been signed as much for marketing reasons as football. The truth will soon be evident as Magath gave short shift to another Iranian, Vahid Hashemian, who has now moved on to Hanover.

Most significantly, Michael Ballack and Roy Makaay have been retained. So has Owen Hargreaves, the England midfielder having rejected interest from Middlesbrough. This, though, is not seen as a coup in Bavaria - Hargreaves' progress has slowed in recent seasons.

Who can challenge Bayern? Informed opinion in Germany is that they can only beat themselves, through internal dissent or getting over-extended in Europe, but Schalke 04 would disagree. The latter club fell away in the run-in last season, unable to cope with Bayern's relentless progress, but they look to have got that collapse out of their system after winning the German League Cup on Tuesday. In a stormy final their new signing, Kevin Kuranyi, scored the only goal against his former club, VfB Stuttgart, but was then sent off.

Schalke's Brazilian playmaker, Lincoln, was also sent off for spitting at Thomas Hitzlsperger, newly arrived at Stuttgart from Aston Villa. The DFB [German federation] took a dim view and, while Kuranyi's ban will be held over to next year's League Cup, Lincoln will miss the first four weeks of this season.

Kuranyi's acquisition partially offsets Schalke's loss of the strikers Ailton and Mike Hanke, but the fruitless pursuit of Liverpool's Milan Baros confirms the need for another signing.

Kuranyi was replaced at Stuttgart by Danish striker Jon Dahl Tomasson, previously of Milan. The new coach, Italian veteran Giovanni Trappatoni, also brought in Jesper Gronkjaer, once of Chelsea. After failing to settle at Birmingham and Atletico Madrid the Dane needs a good season.

The most spectacular signing was Hamburg SV's poaching of highly regarded young Dutchman Rafael van der Vaart from Ajax. The attacking midfielder had been expected to join Internazionale or Barcelona. He has already settled well, scoring in Hamburg's Intertoto Cup campaign. Hamburg have big ambitions, though few Tottenham fans will regard the acquisition of Thimothee Atouba, who was at White Hart Lane last year, as an indicator of that. Hamburg hope young striker Benny Lauth will finally overcome injury and confirm his potential. He also scored in the Intertoto this week.

Also chasing a Champions' League place will be Hertha Berlin, who have been giving a trial to former Coventry and Blackburn striker Jay Bothroyd, the 2004 champions Werder Bremen, and Bayer Leverkusen. The latter must do so without Franca, who this week finally secured the move to Japan he wanted after telling coach Klaus Augenthaler he could not "train on a full stomach".

Dortmund, too, will hope to push for Europe. Such is their financial recovery that they this week turned down £2m from Arsenal for midfield prodigy Nuri Sahin. The young Turk, aged just 16, recently helped his country to win the Under-17 European championships and is widely regarded as the most talented Bundesliga player of his generation. He became the league's youngest player to appear in Europe when he figured in the Intertoto Cup this month and is expected to make his Bundesliga debut tomorrow at Wolfsburg.

Of the promoted trio, Cologne should do best (Eintract Frankfurt and MSV Duisburg are the other new clubs) after resisting Bayern's overtures for international striker Lukas Podolski. Cologne have also signed Alpay, the former Aston Villa defender and scourge of David Beckham. The Turk was available having been sacked by Urawa Red Diamonds in June after three dismissals in the J-League.

Elsewhere, Nuremberg unexpectedly held on to Slovakian striker Marek Mintal, the surprise leading scorer in last season's Bundesliga, and can thus hope for another solid season.

The Bundesliga already challenges the Premiership as Europe's best supported league, all three promoted clubs play in new stadiums, the Allianz holds 66,000 and the World Cup is coming. There is also renewed hope for the national team after Jürgen Klinsmann's side gained an entertaining third place in the Confederations Cup.

The Bundesliga may be lower profile globally than the leagues of England, Spain and Italy, but the locals love it.

Additional reporting by Rainer Jourdan in Frankfurt

World at their feet: The growing power of the Bundesliga

* JON DAHL TOMASSON (Schalke 04, striker) One of Kenny Dalglish's most derided signings continues to prosper. Since scoring four goals in 33 Newcastle appearances, Tomasson has won the Uefa Cup with Feyenoord, reached two Champions' League finals with Milan and now will turn out for Schalke in the Champions' League.

RAFAEL VAN DER VAART (Hamburg, midfielder)

"I don't know what Van der Vaart is doing in Hamburg," said Johan Cruyff when the £3.5m deal was sealed. One answer is the former Ajax captain left the Netherlands because of the spectator abuse and media attention he and his partner, an ex-model TV presenter, received.

LUKAS PODOLSKI (Cologne, striker)

Only turned 20 in June but already has 14 international caps, scoring six times. Kept involved despite sticking by Cologne after they were relegated a year ago to lead their return. Polish-born, he became Germany's third youngest debutant when capped two days past his 19th birthday.