Draft:Fitness Bundesliga

The Fitness Bundesliga is the national league for the sport of competitive functional fitness in Germany, and the largest competitive space for the sport in Germany.

Every season starts in August and runs until the following May. The league is held annually, and is based on three stages of competition: Box Battles, Region Battles and the Finals (Playoffs).

The Fitness Bundesliga is the first professionally live streamed functional fitness competition in Germany.

Athlete Participation
Any athlete who has reached the minimum age of 16 can sign up for the Fitness Bundesliga to represent a registered team. Each athlete must have gone through the registration process and created an account through the league portal prior to the start of the Box Battles in order to participate. Currently, there are 8,185 athletes from all over Germany in Fitness Bundesliga system. Athletes come from a variety of backgrounds, including olympic weightlifting and gymnastics. None of the athletes involved in the Fitness Bundesliga are full-time, or professional athletes.

Box Battles
The Box Battles serve as a qualification round for every athlete that would like to be part of a registered team.. The Fitness Bundesliga releases three workouts that need to be completed during the month of August, which initiates the corresponding season. At the end of the Box Battles, and after all results have been fully entered and the resulting standings have been evaluated, the top four female and top four male athletes from each registered training site will make up the team, and have qualified for the Region Battles

After the Box Battles, the teams are placed in the appropriate league based on the results entered. The results of the top four male and female athletes form the "Box Score". Based on this score, the top 50 scores are assigned to the 1st league. All teams from place 51 onwards are allocated to the 2nd league.

Second League
The Second League Region Battles take place between the months of October and December. The teams must complete the second league workout tests on an assigned Region Battle date inside their sports facility. These game days are live streamed. There are six Region Battle dates for the second league. The winners of each of the Region Battles, along with the eight best teams of the second league, qualify for the first league and can partake in the First League Region Battles. .l

First League
First League Region Battles take place on eight game days between January and April of the corresponding season. First League teams are grouped based on their geographic location to form a game day. Each game day is organized by the Fitness Bundesliga Team. The Team travels around the country of Germany to create the set-up for each game day event. Each game day features eight teams that compete against each other.

The winner of each of the game days, along with the following top 16 teams of the first league, qualify to compete at the Finals (Playoffs).

Season Finals
The season Finals, or the Playoffs, traditionally take place in Mühlhausen, Thuringia. The Finals take place over the span of three days, including workouts that test all areas of athleticism. The winner of the Finals is the German Title Holder.

National Champions
2018 - Crossfit Aorta 2019 - CrossFit Kraftmühle 2020 - Heart ´N´ Heavy Crossfit 2021 - CrossFit Vitus 2022 / 2023 - CrossFit Aorta

Founding the League
The Fitness Bundesliga was founded in May 2017. After developing the idea while living in a shared apartment with friends, Nico Bade shared his idea of the league with friend and Fitness Bundesliga co-founder, Simon Stützer, and together they founded the League.

The two, having been friends since childhood, brought different expertises together to found the league. Simon Stützer, founder and practitioner of the Boulder Bundesliga, had the experience of founding a national league (in German "Bundesliga"), and Nico Bade the experience with actively competing in the sport itself for four years prior. While Bade drives most of the effort behind the League, Stützer provided the infrastructure, live streaming set-up.

In 2018 the first season of the Fitness Bundesliga began.

The League is run by a team of 13 individuals and is supported by over 250 volunteers. It is funded by the participation fees and company sponsorships.

Timeline of Engagement
The evolution of the league can be traced back to the number of competing teams, or fitness institutions, and the number of registered athletes.