As defending champions, Bayern Munich is set to kick off the 2025/26 Bundesliga season at home against RB Leipzig. This raises the question: who will etch their name into history as the first player to score in the league`s 63rd campaign?
One certainty is that Thomas Müller will not improve his record of scoring the season`s first goal three times (in 2010, 2014, and 2018), as a Bundesliga season begins without him for the first time since 2007/08.
A Bayern player has achieved this honor 18 times out of 62 previous seasons. This is perhaps unsurprising, given their participation in 14 of the last 19 opening fixtures. Thirteen of those 18 goals occurred during this period of domestic dominance.
Since 2002, the Bundesliga season has traditionally started with a single Friday match featuring the reigning champions.
In 21 of the 23 opening matches since 2002, the first goal was scored in the first half. Only in 2004 (Werder Bremen vs. Schalke) and 2009 (Wolfsburg vs. VfB Stuttgart) did the opening strike come after the break.
The fastest goal to start a Bundesliga season occurred in 2002, when Bart Goor netted for Hertha Berlin just 55 seconds into their match against Borussia Dortmund.
Serge Gnabry needed only four minutes to set Bayern on their way to an 8-0 victory over Schalke in the 2020/21 opener, marking the largest margin of victory on an opening day to date.
The previous record margin for Bayern on opening day was their 6-0 win against Bremen in the 2016/17 season. They also scored six goals against Eintracht Frankfurt in 2022/23, although Randal Kolo Muani scored a late consolation in that match.
Bayern also scored four goals when visiting Bremen in August 2023, a match that included Harry Kane`s debut Bundesliga goal. Leroy Sané also found the net after just four minutes that season.
In the last decade, only two non-Bayern players have scored the season`s opening goal. Alassane Pléa gave Borussia Mönchengladbach the lead against Bayern in 2021, while Granit Xhaka scored with a powerful strike in the 12th minute during the 2024 opening fixture against Gladbach, which was the only opening match without Bayern since 2014.
Opening Goalscorers Season by Season (Since 2002)
- 2024/25: 12th minute – Granit Xhaka (Bayer Leverkusen)
- 2023/24: 4th minute – Leroy Sané (Bayern Munich)
- 2022/23: 5th minute – Joshua Kimmich (Bayern Munich)
- 2021/22: 10th minute – Alassane Pléa (Borussia Mönchengladbach)
- 2020/21: 4th minute – Serge Gnabry (Bayern Munich)
- 2019/20: 24th minute – Robert Lewandowski (Bayern Munich)
- 2018/19: 23rd minute – Thomas Müller (Bayern Munich)
- 2017/18: 9th minute – Niklas Süle (Bayern Munich)
- 2016/17: 9th minute – Xabi Alonso (Bayern Munich)
- 2015/16: 27th minute – Medhi Benatia (Bayern Munich)
- 2014/15: 37th minute – Thomas Müller (Bayern Munich)
- 2013/14: 12th minute – Arjen Robben (Bayern Munich)
- 2012/13: 11th minute – Marco Reus (Borussia Dortmund)
- 2011/12: 17th minute – Kevin Großkreutz (Borussia Dortmund)
- 2010/11: 9th Minute – Thomas Müller (Bayern Munich)
- 2009/10: 71st minute – Zvjezdan Misimović (Wolfsburg)
- 2008/09: 12th minute – Bastian Schweinsteiger (Bayern Munich)
- 2007/08: 25th minute – Levan Kobiashvili (Schalke)
- 2006/07: 24th minute – Roy Makaay (Bayern Munich)
- 2005/06: 28th minute – Owen Hargreaves (Bayern Munich)
- 2004/05: 84th minute – Nelson Valdez (Werder Bremen)
- 2003/04: 16th minute – Zé Roberto (Bayern Munich)
- 2002/03: 1st minute – Bart Goor (Hertha Berlin)
Bayern is also scheduled to play Stuttgart in the Franz Beckenbauer Supercup the week before the new season begins.
First Goalscorers Prior to Official Opening Match Format
- 2001/02: 12th minute – Marcio Amoroso (Borussia Dortmund)
- 2000/01: 61st minute – Heiko Herrlich (Borussia Dortmund)
- 1999/2000: 17th minute – Claus Thomsen (Wolfsburg, own goal)
- 1998/99: 18th minute – Uwe Spies (Duisburg)
- 1997/98: 10th minute – Ulf Kirsten (Bayer Leverkusen)
- 1996/97: 19th minute – Martin Driller (St. Pauli)
- 1995/96: 2nd minute – Richard Cyron (Fortuna Düsseldorf)
- 1994/95: 11th minute – Andreas Müller (Schalke)
- 1993/94: 3rd minute – Sergio Zarate (Nuremberg)
- 1992/93: 13th minute – Andreas Thom (Bayer Leverkusen)
- 1991/92: 29th minute – Michael Tönnies (Duisburg)
- 1990/91: 38th minute – Fritz Walter (VfB Stuttgart)
- 1989/90: 1st minute – Stefan Kuntz (Kaiserslautern)
- 1988/89: 18th minute – Rainer Zietsch (VfB Stuttgart)
- 1987/88: 37th minute – Christian Schreier (Bayer Leverkusen)
- 1986/87: 12th minute – Atli Edvaldsson (Uerdingen)
- 1985/86: 32nd minute – Rudi Völler (Werder Bremen)
- 1984/85: 1st minute – Klaus Fischer (Bochum)
- 1983/84: 40th minute – Jan Svensson (Eintracht Frankfurt)
- 1982/83: 31st minute – Marcel Raducanu (Borussia Dortmund) – Matchday 2 fixture brought forward
- 1981/82: 6th minute – Ilija Zavišić (Eintracht Braunschweig)
- 1980/81: 24th minute – Atli Edvaldsson (Borussia Dortmund)
- 1979/80: 3rd minute – Bernd Dürnberger (Bayern Munich)
- 1978/79: 38th minute – Ronald Worm (Duisburg)
- 1977/78: 2nd minute – Holger Willmer (Cologne)
- 1976/77: 3rd minute – Rudi Bommer (Fortuna Düsseldorf)
- 1975/76: 7th minute – Henning Jensen (Borussia Mönchengladbach)
- 1974/75: 2nd minute – Ludwig Bründel (Eintracht Braunschweig)
- 1973/74: 3rd minute – Hans Walitza (Bochum)
- 1972/73: 2nd minute – Klaus Budde (Fortuna Düsseldorf)
- 1971/72: 7th minute – Theo Bücker (Borussia Dortmund)
- 1970/71: 5th minute – Otto Rehhagel (Kaiserslautern)
- 1969/70: 2nd minute – Gerd Müller (Bayern Munich)
- 1968/69: 2nd minute – Rainer Ohlhauser (Bayern Munich)
- 1967/68: 19th minute – Đorđe Pavlić (Duisburg)
- 1966/67: 3rd minute – Willy Reitgaßl (Kaiserslautern)
- 1965/66: 1st minute – Timo Konietzka (1860 Munich)
- 1964/65: 2nd minute – Josef Marx (Karlsruhe)
- 1963/64: 1st minute – Timo Konietzka (Borussia Dortmund)
Curious about how the Bundesliga fixture list is compiled?
