Bayern Munich

Bayern begin 2007 in what's for them a "lowly" third-place in the standings. Still, in a poll of Bundesliga coaches this winter, they were the only team beside Bremen given a shot of winning the league championship.

Bayern have yet to fully compensate fort he departure of Michael Ballack who left Munich for English side Chelsea in the summer. Nonetheless, the players think the squad is capable of earning some silverware. "Our team is strong enough to defend the league title and beat Real Madrid in knock-out phase of the Champions League."

The team will be bolstered by players returning from injury like defender Andreas Görlitz. But the squad suffered another blow in the winter break when former German national midfielder Sebastian Deisler announced that he was quitting the sport entirely.

Bayern have left the door open for him to return, but it's highly unlikely Deisler will take to the field again this season. Without him, Bayern face an uphill struggle to win a title, as they have already crashed out of the German cup.

And a year without a title would mean lots of squabbling in Munich and the perhaps the end of coach Felix Magath.

The Roster

Goal: Oliver Kahn, Michael Rensing, Bernd Dreher

Defense: Willy Sagnol, Lucio, Daniel van Buyten, Christian Lell, Andreas Görlitz, Philipp Lahm, Valerien Ismael

Midfield: Martin Demichelis, Mehmet Scholl, Ali Karimi, Stephan Fürstner, Hasan Salihamidzic, Owen Hargreaves , Bastian Schweinsteiger, Andreas Ottl, Mark van Bommel

Strikers: Roy Makaay, Lukas Podolski, Claudio Pizarro, Roque Santa Cruz

(as of January 2007)