8 Weeks And Counting: Fixture List Released Ahead of 2018/19 Bundesliga Season

The Bundesliga fixture list has been released over in Germany ahead of the 2018/19 season, and the season kicks off with a Friday night encounter whereby

The Bundesliga fixture list has been released over in Germany ahead of the 2018/19 season, and the season kicks off with a Friday night encounter whereby champions Bayern Munich host Julian Nagelsmann's Hoffenheim.

As the weeks until kick off count down around Europe, the German top flight will begin on Friday August 24, and some huge games in the opening week will begin the season with some serious competition.

Matthias Hangst/GettyImages

Available to view on the league's official website, the first Saturday will see Borussia Dortmund welcome RB Leipzig to Signal Iduna Park, with Borussia Monchengladbach hosting Bayer Leverkusen at the same time, and Schalke 04 visit Wolfsburg.

The first edition of the hugely exciting Revierderby between Dortmund and Schalke will take place on matchday 14 (at some point between December 7 and 9 depending on TV scheduling), and Der Klassiker will be settled over matchdays 11 and 28.

Germany's usual winter break will begin around the 21st and 23 of December, and the Bundesliga will resume - with players nicely refreshed - on January 18.

The final gameweek will take place on May 18, and the second tier of German football will also conclude the following day.

Only eight weeks are left before the Bundesliga finally returns, and while that may still seem like a long two months of waiting, it gives teams plenty of time to strengthen before the season starts again.

TF-Images/GettyImages

Will Bayern make it a seventh successive Bundesliga triumph? Will Hoffenheim continue to improve as they have done in recent years? How successful will Lucien Favre be at Dortmund? So many questions are waiting to be answered.