The 2011–12 Bundesliga was the 49th season of the

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany. At the top of the German football league system, the Bundesliga is Germany's primary footba ...

, Germany's premier

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

league. The season started on 5 August 2011 with the opening match involving defending champions

Borussia Dortmund Ballspielverein Borussia 09 e. V. Dortmund, commonly known as Borussia Dortmund (), BVB (), or simply Dortmund (), is a German professional sports club based in Dortmund, North Rhine-Westphalia. It is best known for its men's professional footb ...

and ended with the last games on 5 May 2012. The traditional winter break was held between the weekends around 17 December 2011 and 20 January 2012. The league comprised eighteen teams: The best fifteen teams of the 2010–11 season, the best two teams from the

2010–11 2. Bundesliga The 2010–11 2. Bundesliga was the 37th season of the 2. Bundesliga, Germany's second tier of its Association football, football league system. The season started on the weekend of 21 August 2010 and ended with the last games on 15 May 2011. Th ...

and the winners of the

relegation play-off In sports leagues, promotion and relegation is a process where teams are transferred between multiple divisions based on their performance for the completed season. Leagues that use promotion and relegation systems are often called open leagues. ...

between the 16th-placed Bundesliga team and the third-placed 2. Bundesliga team. Since Germany climbed from fourth to third place in the UEFA association coefficient rankings at the end of the 2010–11 season, the league gained an additional group stage berth for the

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...

Teams

The league comprised eighteen teams:

Eintracht Frankfurt Eintracht Frankfurt e.V. () is a professional sports club based in Frankfurt, Hesse, Germany. It is best known for its football club, which was founded on 8 March 1899. The team is currently playing in the Bundesliga, the top tier of the Germa ...

and

FC St. Pauli Fußball-Club St Pauli von 1910 e.V., commonly known as simply FC St Pauli (), is a German professional football club based in the St. Pauli district of Hamburg, that competes in the 2. Bundesliga. The football department is part of a larger sp ...

were directly relegated after finishing the 2010–11 season in the bottom two places. Frankfurt ended a six-year tenure in the Bundesliga, while St. Pauli only made a cameo one-year appearance in the top flight and directly returned to the second level. The relegated teams were replaced by

Hertha BSC Hertha, Berliner Sport-Club e. V., commonly known as Hertha BSC (), and sometimes referred to as Hertha Berlin, Hertha BSC Berlin, or simply Hertha, is a German professional football club based in the locality of Westend of the borough of Charl ...

, champions of the

, and runners-up

FC Augsburg Fußball-Club Augsburg 1907 e. V., commonly known as FC Augsburg () or Augsburg, is a German football club based in Augsburg, Bavaria. FC Augsburg play in the Bundesliga, the top tier of the German football league system. The team was founded as ...

. The Bavarian side made their debut at the highest level of football in Germany, while Hertha directly returned to the Bundesliga after just one year at the second tier. A further place in the league was decided through a two-legged play-off between

Borussia Mönchengladbach Borussia Verein für Leibesübungen 1900 e. V. Mönchengladbach, commonly known as Borussia Mönchengladbach (), Mönchengladbach () or Gladbach (; abbreviated as Borussia MG, BMG), is a professional Association football, football club based in ...

, the 16th-placed team of the 2010–11 Bundesliga, and

VfL Bochum Verein für Leibesübungen Bochum 1848 Fußballgemeinschaft, commonly referred to as simply VfL Bochum (), is a Football in Germany, German association football club based in the city of Bochum, North Rhine-Westphalia. The club has spent 35 seas ...

, the third-placed 2. Bundesliga team. Mönchengladbach won the series 2–1 on aggregate and therefore retained its Bundesliga spot.

Stadiums and locations

The most prominent change regarding stadiums occurred at Mainz, where

FSV Mainz 05 1. Fußball- und Sportverein Mainz 05 e. V., usually shortened to 1. FSV Mainz 05, Mainz 05 () or simply Mainz (), is a German sports club, founded in 1905 and based in Mainz, Rhineland-Palatinate. 1. FSV Mainz 05 play in the Bundesliga, the top ...

moved from

Stadion am Bruchweg The Bruchwegstadion is a multi-purpose stadium in Mainz, Germany. It is currently used mostly for football matches. The stadium is able to hold 18,700 people and was built in 1929. It was the home stadium of Bundesliga club Mainz 05 before bein ...

into their newly built

Coface Arena Mewa Arena (; stylised as MEWA ARENA; also known as the 1. FSV Mainz 05 Arena due to UEFA sponsorship regulations) is a multi-purpose stadium in Mainz, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, that opened in July 2011. It is used for football matches, an ...

. Other changes included the completion of works at Mercedes-Benz Arena, which was converted to a football-only stadium during the 2009–10 and 2010–11 seasons, and the renaming of Impuls Arena, the ground of promoted team

, to ''SGL Arena'' effective from the beginning of the season after

SGL Carbon SGL Carbon SE is a European company based in Germany. It is one of the world's leading manufacturers of products from carbon. With 31 production sites around the globe (17 in Europe, 9 in North America and 5 in Asia), and a service network in ov ...

acquired the naming rights for the structure in May 2011.

Personnel and kits

In addition to the individual sponsorships of each club listed below, all teams used a league-wide ball named "Torfabrik" (goal factory), provided by Adidas; the ball was updated to a new design for the 2011–12 season. ;Notes # FC Augsburg have determined Paul Verhaegh as new captain, after incumbent Uwe Möhrle was transferred to

Energie Cottbus FC Energie Cottbus ( Lower Sorbian: ''Energija Chóśebuz'') is a German football club based in Cottbus, Brandenburg. It was founded in 1963 as SC Cottbus in what was East Germany. After the reunification of Germany, Energie played six seasons i ...

during the 2011–12 winter transfer window. # Werder Bremen have determined Clemens Fritz as new captain after

Per Mertesacker Per Mertesacker (; born 29 September 1984) is a German football coach and former professional player who played as a centre back. He is the current manager of the Arsenal Academy. Mertesacker began his senior career after being promoted from th ...

, who was assigned by coach Thomas Schaaf at the beginning of the season, was transferred to

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

side Arsenal on 31 August 2011. # VfB Stuttgart have determined Serdar Tasci as new captain after

Matthieu Delpierre Matthieu Delpierre (born 26 April 1981 in Nancy, France) is a retired French footballer who played as a centre back. Delpierre's professional career started with Lille OSC, before a move to VfB Stuttgart in Germany where he eventually became ...

, who was captain since 1 December 2009, asked, not to be appointed as captain again.

Managerial changes

League table

Results

Relegation play-offs

as 16th-placed team faced third-placed 2011–12 2. Bundesliga side

Fortuna Düsseldorf Düsseldorfer Turn- und Sportverein Fortuna 1895 e.V., commonly known as Fortuna Düsseldorf (), is a German football club in Düsseldorf, North Rhine-Westphalia, which competes in the 2. Bundesliga. Founded in 1895, Fortuna entered the league ...

in a two-legged play-off. Fortuna Düsseldorf won 4–3 on aggregate and thus were promoted for the 2012–13 Bundesliga season. Hertha BSC were relegated to the 2012–13 2. Bundesliga. Following the second leg, which was marred by several incidents of crowd disturbances, Hertha appealed against the result. On 21 May the

DFB Sports Court The DFB Sports Court (German: DFB-Sportgericht) is a regulatory body in the German Football Association (german: Deutscher Fussball-Bund, DFB) and may adopt different sanctions on clubs and players. History Together with the Bundesliga, the DFB Sp ...

rejected this appeal, having considered that these crowd disturbances did not psychologically impinge the Hertha players and that the referee's handling of the situation was sound. However, Hertha appealed again, this time to the Federal Court of the German FA. On 25 May, the Federal Court of the German FA also rejected the appeal. On 19 June, Hertha BSC decided not to appeal the decision, marking their immediate return to the 2. Bundesliga. ----

Season statistics

Top scorers

References

External links

Official website

Bundesliga on DFB page
{{DEFAULTSORT:2011-12 Bundesliga Bundesliga seasons 1

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...