Bundesliga
Bayern Munich will once again raise the curtain on the new Bundesliga season as defending champions, hosting RB Leipzig in the 2025/26 opener, but who will take their place in history as the first goalscorer of the Bundesliga's 63rd season?
One thing we know is that Thomas Müller won't be extending his league record of having scored the season's first goal three times (2010, 2014 and 2018) as a Bundesliga season kicks off without him for the first time since 2007/08.
A Bayern player has taken the honour a total of 18 times in 62 previous seasons. That may not come as a complete surprise, given their presence in 14 of the last 19 opening matches. Thirteen of those 18 goals have come during that run of domestic dominance.
Watch: Bayern's 2024/25 Bundesliga-winning moments
The Bundesliga season has opened with a standalone Friday game featuring the defending champions since 2002.
In 21 of the 23 opening games since 2002, the first goal has landed in the first half. Only in 2004 (Werder Bremen vs. Schalke) and 2009 (Wolfsburg vs. VfB Stuttgart) did the opener come after the interval.
The quickest goal of a Bundesliga season, meanwhile, fell in 2002, when Bart Goor struck for Hertha Berlin after just 55 seconds against Borussia Dortmund.
Serge Gnabry needed just four minutes to put Bayern on their way to an 8-0 win over Schalke in 2020/21 - the biggest margin of victory on an opening day yet.
Watch: Bayern brush aside Schalke on opening night
The previous best was Bayern's 6-0 rout of Bremen on Matchday 1 of 2016/17. They also put six past Eintracht Frankfurt in 2022/23, albeit with Randal Kolo Muani scoring a second-half consolation.
It was another four, including Harry Kane's maiden Bundesliga strike, when they visited Bremen in August 2023. Leroy Sané also needed only four minutes that season.
Watch: Bremen 0-4 Bayern - highlights from 2023
Only twice in the last decade has a non-Bayern player taken the honour. Alassane Pléa put Borussia Mönchengladbach ahead against the Bavarians in 2021, while Granit Xhaka fired in a 12th-minute rocket past Gladbach in the only Bayern-less opening fixture since 2014.
Watch: Xhaka kicks off opening-night thriller in 2024
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 also face Stuttgart in the Franz Beckenbauer Supercup the week before the new season
Watch: The first goals of the last 10 seasons
Scorer of season's first goal prior to official opening match:
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)
Watch: The first ever Bundesliga goal
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)
