Ah, the summer of 2012: it will forever bring back teary-eyed memories of the wrong kind. It was a time when good old German Fußball was supposed to make a splash in the big pond again but saw its post-season challenges peter out like a leaky paddling pool instead. First Bayern Munich were transfixed in horror as their self-assured "mia san mia" (we are who we are) motto gave way to "mia san meek" at the penalty spot. Jupp Heynckes' side somehow concocted to lose the Champions League trophy on their home ground to a befuddled middle-aged man in a cardigan and an over-eager spectator who evaded security in full match-day apparel. Work that one out, android David.

Not to be outdone, the national manager Jogi Löw then made matters much worse in Germany's Euro 2012 semi-final against Italy by overaccommodating the opposition with the narrowest of midfields. It was, without a doubt, the biggest lineup screw-up since special agent Dave Kujan let Verbal Kint hobble off.

If those two giant mishaps served one good purpose it was to reinforce the lust for the Bundesliga, a world of wonder successfully isolated from decades of international underachievement. The German football lover is a fiercely loyal, upstanding creature of simple taste. Not for him the wallet-busting dreams of exotic, racy conquests on European nights; domestic, dependable action is where it's at. That sense of contentment at home is, as usual, reflected in the ever-growing number of season ticket sales. 428,495 jahreskarten were sold by the end of this week in the top flight, and that figure is artificially kept low by capped allocations, in an effort to keep seats available for casual fans. Fortuna Düsseldorf, finally back in the Bundesliga after dropping all the way down to the fourth division after relegation in 1997, have managed to flog 31,000 season tickets – an impressive fourth in the table behind Borussia Dortmund (54,000), Schalke (43,195) and Bayern (38,000). Those three and nine further clubs have sold out their available season tickets contingents.

After last season's double, Dortmund's emergence as a bona-fide heavyweight has undoubtedly enhanced the appeal of the league's 50th instalment. For the first time since the Black-Yellow's heyday in the mid-90s, they have been name-checked as title favourites alongside Bayern by the 18 Bundesliga coaches, a constituency that reliably voted Bavarian by huge margins in seasons gone by. So can Borussia, who start their title defence against Werder Bremen on Friday night, make it the first non-red and white hat-trick since Borussia Mönchengladbach 35 years ago?

On paper, the champions look just as tasty as before. Despite much real and much more made-up interest in their star players, they managed to keep all their important names apart from Shinji Kagawa. And in Marco Reus, the German Player of the Year, they've signed an even better man in the hole as the Japanese's replacement. Officially, a Champions League finish is the modest target but the manager Jürgen Klopp has said that his side's hunger for success is undiminished. "The team are fortunate to have me, because I can never get enough," stated the 45-year-old. It'll be interesting to find out if the coach can at last adapt his side's ultra-energetic pressure game to the European stage. Better performances are mandatory after last season's embarrassing Champions League exit.

Werder, their opponents in the Signal Iduna Park, have more humble concerns. The sporting director Klaus Allofs and the coach Thomas Schaaf have set out to rebuild the squad after two seasons without international football. The Nigerian striker Jonathan Akpala has joined from FC Brügge along with Kevin de Bruyne, the on-loan winger from Chelsea, Juventus's Dutch enigma Eljero Elia and Nils Petersen from Bayern, also on loan. "I'm keen to see whether we'll have enough to get a result," said Schaaf after an encouraging pre-season that was somewhat marred by a DFB Cup defeat at the hands of third division Preußen Münster last weekend. The supporters are also unhappy with the new shirt-sponsor Wiesenhof. It's a chicken company with a decidedly mixed record – and naturally the starting point of 1,000 poultry-based puns over the course of the campaign.

Schalke, who finished third last season, have more realistic ambitions to rule the roost and are widely seen as the most likely side to challenge Bayern and Dortmund. The Royal Blues still have the league's best striker in Klaas-Jan Huntelaar as well as good depth in the squad following the acquisition of the Swiss winger Tranquilo Barnetta from Bayer Leverkusen and the midfielder Roman Neustädter from Gladbach. Wolfsburg, prolific in the transfer market as is Felix Magath's wont, have aspirations for a top-four-finish, too.

Bayern, meanwhile, have added yet another outspoken big ego to their board: self-styled "firehead" Matthias Sammer has joined as sporting director in place of the quiet Christian Nerlinger. It's an interesting set-up with far-reaching implications for the struggle for control behind the scenes and for Heynckes' standing at the club. But so far, it seems to work. After the arrival of Swiss winger Xherdan Shaqiri, Brazilian defender Danté from (Gladbach and the two strikers Claudio Pizarro from Werder and Mario Mandzukic from Wolfsburg, there are much-needed alternatives in the squad.

The Athletic Bilbao midfielder Javi Martínez might yet join for €40m but the transfer is being hampered by the intricacies of Spanish tax law and the immovability of Athletic's president Josu Urrutia. "We will fight until the last day for the player," said Bayern's executive chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge. Last year's runners-up in all competitions will start the season away to newly promoted Greuther Fürth who host matches in the deliciously-named Trolli ARENA. True fact: the ground used to be called Playmobil Stadion before, back when it could be quickly re-configured into a pirate ship, knight's castle or lunar station. (That last bit is not actually true, sadly).

For Gladbach, meanwhile, the new beginning also marks the end, unfortunately: their Champions League dreams are all but over after crashing to a 3-1 defeat at home in the first leg of their qualifier against Dynamo Kiev. Lucien Favre seemed to blame new striker Luuk de Jong, a €15m addition from FC Twente, for the defeat, or perhaps the sporting director Max Eberl: "Our forwards are too similar," scoffed the Swiss coach. A finish in the top half of the table is the Foals' very modest aim but maybe the luck of Lucien will return in the Europa League? Some international pulling power really wouldn't hurt the league's efforts to wrestle with Serie A and La Liga for second billing on global TV schedules, even if most German supporters, punch-drunk on what is still the world's most fan-friendly competition, really couldn't care less.