KOZOOM - Two months before the start of the competition, the teams for the upcoming season in the German bundesliga are announced. The highest league, where Bergisch Gladbach defends the title, again consists of ten teams. Most known foreign players like Frédéric Caudron, Torbjörn Blomdahl, Dani Sánchez, Dick Jaspers, Eddy Merckx, Nikos Polychronopoulos Dion Nelin, Michael Nilsson, Eddy Leppens, Raimond Burgman, Jean van Erp, Peter Ceulemans and many others can be admired in the strongest league of the world. The German league starts in the weekend of 17th and 18th September.
Marco Zanetti leaves the team of BC Munich, Martin Horn left the champion team Bergisch Gladbach and signed for BC International Berlin, that is playing in the second division.
Twenty teams, divided into two classes, are starting in the second bundesliga.
Bergisch Gladbach was the champion last season three points ahead of the teams BC Munich and BC Magdeburg. The first national title for the team was celebrated with a new German record team average 2.051, achieved with Torbjörn Blomdahl, Nikos Polychronopoulos, Martin Horn and Jens Eggers as the base team. The best match was played by Marco Zanetti with 40 points in seven innings (5.714). Dick Jaspers was the best over the whole season with 2.264 in sixteen matches.
The teams of Sterkrade and Ravensburg will not come back in the highest league. The new teams are BSV Munich and BSV Velbert (with Eddy Merckx as leader).
The teams and line-ups in the 1st bundesliga:
BERGISCH GLADBACHER BC 1966
Blomdahl, Polychronopoulos, Soumagne, Christiani, Eggers, Eversmann, Raspel, Probhardt, Horcher, Hanft, Ravasi, Schiefer, Wieseler, Spriewald
BC MÜNCHEN
Sánchez, Cenet, Papakonstantinou, Palazon, Schirmbrand, Zenkner, Christodoulidis, Hermann, Mölich-Zebhauser, Buchner, Wittmann, Müller, Polat, Zunker
1.BILLARDCLUB MAGDEBURG 1950
Jaspers, Nelin, Schönhoff, Zöllner, Novak, Kohout, Eder, Jordan, Plack, Hessing, Träger, Schmidt
BC 1921 ELVERSBERG
Caudron, Nilsson, De Bruijn, Peter Ceulemans, Philipoom, Ruben Legazpi, Bosel, Marx, Günther, Briere, Dossmann, Sander, Schmitt, Bernarding
BC GRÜNER TISCH BUER 1931
Burgman, Lohse, Stefan Galla, Markus Galla, Hetzel, Kerls, Ortmeier, Musberg, Haack, Kroke, Andres, Hennig, Hennemann, Maruda
BOTTROPER BILLARD AKADEMIE
Rudolph, Van Erp, De Kleine, Jäschke, Forton, Broux, van Geel, Ohagen, van den Heuvel, Janzen, Löbert, Müller Hans Dieter, Mikolaiczak, Gaspari
BCC WITTEN
Leppens, Bulut, Haack-Sörensen, Miatton, Lindemann, Kühl, Bettzieche, Birner, Salz, Nickel, Czerwanski Kurt, Czerwanski Martin, Meier, Kirsten
BG ROT-WEIß KREFELD
Frings, Valentijn, Van Beers, De Jaeger, Dericks, Weeremans, Gökmen, Durdu, Pompetzki, Schlieper, Hallmann, Matuszak, Heller, Ranff
BILLARDSPORT VEREIN MÜNCHEN
Puse, Horvath, Szivacz, Siepmann, Bleimuth, Sieger, Kneittinger, Singer, Skupin, Guinand, Kieferle, Suckau
BSV VELBERT
Merckx, Habraken, Anders, Dirks, Simanowski, Leu, Krümmel, Klingenberg, Leis, Sonnenschein, Nekes