caught the bug

I'm getting into German football (soccer). European soccer, like the airline industry, has a high entry price and requires a good amount of capital to gain any traction. But now that I'm in I've gotten swept up by both the quality and quantity of play. Here's a summary of my (elementary) understanding so far:
The most confusing part is the heinous amount of leagues. Here's a simple breakdown:
On one level you have the Nationalmannschaft: they national team. They play in the World Cup and the UEFA Eurocup, and are collected as the cream of the German Fußball citizenry. During off years (odd numbered years) without the WM or EM they play qualifying matches sporadically. While playing for this team is a high honor, it is is not a directly lucrative honor: every player on the national team is a member of another team, a team that's based in a city and part of the worldwide open market for football players.
These teams make up the thousands of teams in Europe and play in the handful of leagues. In Germany, teams compete in the Bundesliga (1, 2, and 3), the Champions League, the UEFA Cup and the DFB-Pokal. Most important for most of the teams is the 1. Bundesliga- the top 18 teams in Germany play to be German Champs. The 2nd and 3rd leagues are proving grounds for younger, less experienced clubs: but if a team wins the 2nd league, they're invited to play in the 1st, and if you're terrible (schrott) in the 1st league you can drop down. Kind of like the Washingtion Nationals getting demoted to AA where they belong. This system allows for some amazing Cinderella stories, like that of Heidelbergs local team 1899 Hoffenheim- two years ago they were buried in the 2nd league and have risen to lead the standings in the first league.
The Champions League is an international tournament of the best clubs from UEFA countries (basically Europe). Bayern München represents Germany almost perennially. The UEFA trophy is the highest honor a team can recieve.
Just below Champions League is the UEFA Cup, where slightly poorer teams compete to get into the Champs League.
The DFB-Pokal is the second most important German competition, and it's also interesting because it allows all 32 1st and 2nd league teams to compete, as well as the best 3rd leaguers and some top regional teams. This as well allows for upsets and surprises.
So most important, beyond who's playing and when, is to see under the auspices of what tournament or league the game is taking place. In context it all makes sense.
People take this stuff seriously here- it is without question the national sport. And now that I understand what it all means, I'm excited to enjoy the next few months of it.
Now to figure out which team I support...



Listening to Oh Lonesome Me by M. Ward