BERLIN (AFP) -- Bayern Munich kick off the new Bundesliga season on Saturday with a squad rebuilt at a cost of 69 million euros as the German giants seek to bounce back after their worst season for a decade.

In the hunt for their 21st German title, Bayern showed their full spending might to overhaul their side after stumbling to fourth spot last season.
Italian World Cup-winning striker Luca Toni and German striker Miroslav Klose were brought in to provide firepower up front while French midfielder Franck Ribery was snapped up for 26 million euros from Marseille in a bid to fill a hole that has been gaping since Michael Ballack moved to Chelsea last year.
Ribery, who was courted by a host of top European clubs, is expected to line up alongside talented Bastian Schweinsteiger and Dutch hardman Mark van Bommel, forming a trio with the potential to develop into a formidable midfield.
Defensive midfielder Owen Hargreaves was granted his long-awaited transfer to Manchester United while strikers Roque Santa Cruz and Claudio Pizarro have also left for the English Premiership.
Question marks remain however over a defense that conceded 40 goals last year with no major reinforcements except Marcell Jansen, who is nursing an injury.
Bayern coach Ottmar Hitzfeld said that while the club had undertaken the most expensive recruitment campaign in Bundesliga history, he could not guarantee success.
""That is the goal, but I cannot guarantee to win the title,"" Hitzfeld told Kicker magazine.
Bayern will also have to suffer the humiliation of sitting and watching as the continent's best teams do battle in the Champions League -- the four-time European champions have only qualified for the UEFA Cup.
Newly promoted Hansa Rostock will be the first visitors to the Allianz Arena. They are on a high after destroying their amateur opponents 8-0 in Saturday's German Cup first round win.
Defending champions VfB Stuttgart start the 2007-2008 campaign on Friday when they host last season's runners-up Schalke 04.
In contrast to Bayern, Stuttgart have had a quiet buildup to the new season.
They were beaten by Bayern Munich in the German League Cup semifinal in preseason and will be looking to emulate last term when they saw off the challenge of Schalke, Werder Bremen and Bayern.
Stuttgart have lost the services of goalkeeper Timo Hildebrand while coach Armin Veh has brought in Romanian striker Ciprian Marica, from Ukrainian side Shakhtar Donetsk, while Brazilian forward Ewerthon returns to the Bundesliga on loan from Real Zaragoza.
Schalke were one of the big disappointments of last season, having squandered their lead at the end of the season to allow Stuttgart to sneak the title.
Brazilian midfielder Lincoln has been sold to Turkish club Galatasaray, with only 19-year-old Croatian midfielder Ivan Rakitic and the highly promising but fragile Jermaine Jones recruited.
Having dropped off the pace at the conclusion of last season's title race, Bremen must now cope with life without Klose.
Ivory Coast striker Boubacar Sanogo has been signed from Hamburg to compensate, but Bremen suffered a pre-season blow when experienced midfielder Torsten Frings went down with a knee injury.
Bremen start their campaign at VfL Bochum and are visibly still looking to gel as a unit.
Of the other teams, Bayer Leverkusen, who entertain Energie Cottbus, and SV Hamburg, who start at Hanover, are the dark horses to launch a title challenge.
Leverkusen, last season's UEFA Cup quarterfinalists, lost Ukrainian striker Andrei Voronin to Liverpool on a free transfer, but have recruited last season's Bundesliga top scorer Theofanis Gekas from Bochum