Stars of old and of the future feature in our alternative Bundesliga Team of the Decade. - © DFL
Stars of old and of the future feature in our alternative Bundesliga Team of the Decade. - © DFL
bundesliga

Bundesliga Team of the Decade - excluding Klassiker players

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Bayern and Dortmund may have shared the league title in the last 10 years, but from Kevin de Bruyne to Klaas-Jan Huntelaar, there are many others who have lit up the division…

Goalkeeper

Oliver Baumann (Freiburg, Hoffenheim)

Since making his professional debut in May 2010, Baumann has been a near-constant sight between Bundesliga posts. He featured in another 130 league appearances for Freiburg following that bow in the 3-1 win over Borussia Dortmund before moving to Hoffenheim at the start of the 2014/15 campaign. Since then, the 29-year-old has been - and still is - an ever-present for TSG and has featured in more Bundesliga matches (316) than any other player over the past 10 years. Not only that, he has made the most saves of any 'keeper, repelling 1,131 opposition shots - a whole 197 more than the next best, Ron-Robert Zieler. His best spell at the Rhein-Necker-Stadium came under Julian Nagelsmann when Hoffenheim finished third and fourth in the Bundesliga before featuring in the UEFA Champions League group stage in 2018/19.

With more appearances and saves than anyone else over the past decade, Hoffenheim stopper Oliver Baumann is our man between the posts. - Matthias Hangst/Bundesliga/DFL via Getty Images

Right-back

Steven Cherundolo (Hannover)

Now known as the 'Mayor of Hannover', Illinois native Cherundolo spent his entire professional career at Hannover after joining them at the age of 20 in 1999. He soon established himself as the team's go-to right-back and was a key member of the side that earned promotion to the Bundesliga in 2001/02. Cherundolo, who now speaks fluent German after his time at the club, became Hannover captain in 2010 and, by the time he hung up his boots for good in 2014 as a result of a knee injury, the 87-time USA international had 302 Bundesliga appearances to his name – more than any other American before or since.

Centre-back

Benedikt Höwedes (Schalke)

A product of Schalke's famed youth academy that also honed the likes of Manuel Neuer, Julian Draxler and Leroy Sane, among others, local boy Höwedes joined the Royal Blues at the age of 13. A tenacious centre-back – although he is able to play anywhere across the backline – he made his competitive debut for the first team in the Champions League in 2007 and was subsequently barely out of the side, making 240 Bundesliga appearances over the following 10 years. Höwedes was a key part of the Schalke team that lifted the 2011 DFB Cup and was also one of just three players - alongside Neuer and captain Philipp Lahm - to play every minute of Germany's 2014 FIFA World Cup-winning campaign.

Benedikt Höwedes played anywhere in defence for his beloved Schalke and was crucial for Germany in the 2014 FIFA World Cup success. - DFL

Centre-back

Naldo (Werder Bremen, Wolfsburg, Schalke)

Naldo arrived in the Bundesliga from his native Brazil in 2005 and spent the best part of the next 15 years dominating matches at both ends of the pitch. Standing at 6'5", his aerial prowess was second to none and was also a huge factor in him scoring 46 goals in 358 league games for Bremen, Wolfsburg and Schalke. His legacy will arguably live on longest at the Royal Blues, where he had a three-year spell from 2016-2019, owing to his 94th-minute equaliser to secure a dramatic 4-4 for Schalke, who had been 4-0 down at half-time.

Left-back

Jonas Hector (Cologne)

In an age of academy-groomed footballers, Hector goes against the grain somewhat, having played in Germany's fifth division with Auersmacher until the age of 20, when he joined Cologne's reserve side in 2010. He did not play for the first team until two years later – in Bundesliga 2. By the time the Billy Goats won promotion in time for the 2014/15 season, Hector was more than ready to make the step up. The left-back's career soon skyrocketed and he became a regular in the Germany national team after making his debut in November 2014, reliably filling what had been a problem position for Die Mannschaft for years. Hector made headlines by signing a new contract and staying at Cologne even after their relegation in spring 2018, and overall made 134 Bundesliga appearances throughout the decade, scoring seven goals – including the 2018 Goal of the Year winner.

Watch: Hector's 2018 Goal of the Year winner!

Defensive midfielder

Makoto Hasebe (Wolfsburg, Nuremberg, Eintracht Frankfurt)

Defensive midfielders are often among the most underrated players in any side, doing the unglamorous jobs, the dirty work needed to keep the team ticking over. And Makoto Hasebe is an expert in his craft, having graced Bundesliga pitches since 2008 from when the 114-time Japan international arrived at Wolfsburg. He won the Bundesliga title in his maiden season in Germany and donned the Wolves' jersey 159 times, scoring six goals, over five years at the Volkswagen Arena. A brief stint at Nuremberg followed before he agreed a move to Eintracht Frankfurt in 2014. Now 35, he is still as highly prized an asset as ever, moonlighting at centre-back more often than not. "He's like a fine wine: the older he gets, the better he becomes," cooed Frankfurt head coach Adi Hütter last season. "He's a key player for us. In the two and a half months preceding his injury [in December 2018], I didn't see him make a single mistake, with or without the ball."

Makoto Hasebe has been one of the unsung heroes in the Bundesliga over the past decade. - DFL

Right winger

Daniel Caligiuri (Freiburg, Wolfsburg, Schalke)

Like Baumann, Caligiuri's longevity can only be praised. The right-sided specialist, who is able to play as full-back, wing-back or as a more traditional winger, made the breakthrough at local club Freiburg in 2009, eventually earning a move to Wolfsburg four years later after a particularly impressive 2012/13 season in which he registered five goals and as many assists. He was a key member of the Wolves side that finished as Bundesliga runners-up in 2014/15, a campaign they crowned by lifting the DFB Cup. A mainstay at Schalke since 2017, only four players made more Bundesliga appearances than Caligiuri's 281 over the last decade: Baumann, Thomas Müller (314), Robert Lewandowski (307) and Manuel Neuer (284).

Watch: Caligiuri's incredible Revierderby free-kick among the top 10 derby goals!

Attacking midfielder

Kevin de Bruyne (Werder Bremen, Wolfsburg)

Sometimes a player comes along who is destined for the top and Kevin de Bruyne was one such example, with Werder Bremen and Wolfsburg the early beneficiaries of Chelsea's reluctance to give the Belgian attacker a chance at first-team football. De Bruyne initially arrived in the Bundesliga on loan at the Weser-Stadion as a 21-year-old in 2012 and immediately set the league alight, registering 10 goals and nine assists in 33 Bundesliga appearances to almost single-handedly keep the Green-Whites from relegation. He returned to Chelsea in summer 2013 but was back in Germany six months later, this time on a permanent contract at Wolfsburg, who beat off a host of other teams for his signature. The move paid off and De Bruyne was outstanding over the following 18 months, setting a new Bundesliga assist record in 2014/15 providing 21 goals, that still remains to this day.

Watch: Kevin De Bruyne: Made in Bundesliga!

"Looking ahead to the 2020s" - Kai Havertz may also feature in the Bundesliga Team of the Decade for the 2020s if he keeps things up. - 2019 DFL

Attacking midfielder

Kai Havertz (Bayer Leverkusen)

The youngest player in this team by a considerable margin, Havertz may still not legally be able to drink alcohol in some countries but he has already left many a Bundesliga defender nursing a throbbing hangover. A Leverkusen academy graduate, the attacking midfielder was thrust into the first team as the club's youngest-ever debutant at 17 years, 126 days in October 2016. A number of other records have tumbled in the ensuing years, including becoming the youngest player to reach 50 Bundesliga appearances (18 years, 307 days), and the highest-scoring teenager in a single league season (17 in 2018/19). Already a full Germany international, Havertz seems to effortlessly glide over the pitch, his deft left boot equally able score or pick out the killer pass.

Left winger

Juan Arango (Borussia Mönchengladbach)

You've heard of the phrase "a wand of a left boot", right? Well, it could well have been coined exclusively for Juan Arango. The Venezuelan spent five years at Gladbach and by the time he moved on in 2014 he was a club legend, largely thanks to his habit of scoring regular – and spectacular – long-range goals. His coach at the time – current Dortmund boss Lucien Favre – is not renowned for dishing out praise to individuals, but even he was moved to hail Arango as "one of the best left-footed players in the world" after a sensational 50-yard strike against Mainz in December 2012. Also a set-piece specialist, Arango was the kind of player who would have fans on the edge of their seats whenever he touched the ball and his Gladbach stint ended with 25 goals and 43 assists in 155 Bundesliga outings.

Watch: Arango's top 5 Bundesliga strikes!

Striker

Klaas-Jan Huntelaar (Schalke)

Known as 'The Hunter', the Schalke forward more than lived up to his nickname during his seven-year spell at the Veltins Arena between 2010 and 2017. The Dutchman had struggled to find his feet at Real Madrid and AC Milan prior to arriving in Germany, but showed his true colours as a Royal Blue, scoring 82 goals in 175 league games – including a whopping 29 to top the Bundesliga scoring charts in 2011/12. Huntelaar helped Schalke win both the DFB Cup and DFL Supercup in 2011 and by the time he returned to his boyhood club Ajax in 2017, he was Schalke's all-time top scorer in UEFA competition and a Bundesliga legend.

Watch: Huntelaar's top 5 Schalke goals!