Even before this summer's World Cup, the German league was the most popular in Europe, with average gates of nearly 41,000 last season. The boom in attendances will, if anything, increase further this term as new converts to the beautiful game, inspired by the recent exploits of Miroslav Klose, Torsten Frings and Lukas Podolski, rush to support their local clubs.

Yet, in England and elsewhere, German football is viewed as essentially second-rate – and it’s easy to see why. Few foreign stars of note ply their trade in the Bundesliga; the league’s biggest single name, Michael Ballack, has packed his bags for the Premiership; and Bayern Munich’s year-on-year domination is getting almost as boring as Rangers’ annihilation of the Scottish Premier League in the 1990s.