Bayern with successive home games v Leverkusen and Dortmund
Bayern Munich players huddle during a training session at the ESPN Sports Complex ahead Sunday's FIFA Club World Cup round of 16 soccer match against CR Flamengo. Sven Hoppe/dpa
Champions Bayern Munich have the chance to make an early Bundesliga season statement when they play runners-up Bayer Leverkusen and Borussia Dortmund in back-to-back home games in autumn.
The German Football League (DFL) published the full schedule on Friday, the after announcing that Bayern would start the season on August 22 against RB Leipzig.
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Leverkusen start the post-Xabi Alonso and Florian Wirtz era against Hoffenheim, and Dortmund are at St Pauli.
Bayern will play Dortmund on matchday seven October 17-19 after an international break, and then host Leverkusen on matchday nine two weeks later. The reverse fixtures are in spring.
Bayern end the season at home against promoted Cologne on May 16, after finishing the past two campaigns in Hoffenheim.
Dortmund also finish away, at Werder Bremen, while Leverkusen's last game is at home against SV Hamburg.
Promoted Cologne and SV Hamburg both start away, at Mainz and Borussia Mönchengladbach, respectively.
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Hamburg then have a home derby against St Pauli before travelling to Munich on matchday three, which also features Leverkusen v third-place finishers Eintracht Frankfurt.
The first Gladbach v Cologne derby is on matchday 10 in early November.
The 15th matchday ends this year's action, with Bayern at Heidenheim, and the champions restart after a short two-week winter break against Wolfsburg on January 9-11. Dortmund play Frankfurt the same weekend.
Other matchday one fixtures meanwhile are Freiburg v Augsburg, Union Berlin v Stuttgart, Heidenheim v Wolfsburg and Frankfurt v Bremen.
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