The 2017–18 Bundesliga was the 55th 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 ...
competition. It began on 18 August 2017 and concluded on 12 May 2018. The fixtures were announced on 29 June 2017.
Following an offline test phase in the previous season, the
video assistant referee
The video assistant referee (VAR) is a match official in association football who reviews decisions made by the referee.
The assistant video assistant referee (AVAR) is a current or former referee appointed to assist the VAR in the video ope ...
system was used for the first time in the Bundesliga on a trial basis following approval from
IFAB
The International Football Association Board (IFAB) is the body that determines the Laws of the Game of association football. IFAB was founded in 1886 to agree standardised Laws for international competition, and has since acted as the "guardia ...
.
Bayern Munich
Fußball-Club Bayern München e. V. (FCB, ), also known as FC Bayern (), Bayern Munich, or simply Bayern, is a German professional sports club based in Munich, Bavaria. It is best known for its professional men's football team, which pla ...
were the defending champions and won their 27th Bundesliga title on 7 April with five games to spare, winning a sixth consecutive title for the first time in their history.
1. FC Köln and
Hamburger SV
Hamburger Sport-Verein e.V. (), commonly known as Hamburger SV () or Hamburg (), is a German sports club based in Hamburg, with its largest branch being its football section. Though the current HSV was founded in June 1919 from a merger of three ...
were relegated at the end of the season, with the latter therefore losing their status as the only ever-presents in Bundesliga history.
Summary
One of the managerial changes before the start of the season was at
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 ...
, who had finished third the previous season. After sacking
Thomas Tuchel
Thomas Tuchel (; born 29 August 1973) is a German professional football manager and former player who last managed Premier League club Chelsea.
Born in Krumbach, Tuchel retired at age 25 after a chronic knee cartilage injury; in 2000, he b ...
, they hired the Dutchman
Peter Bosz
Peter Sylvester Bosz (, born 21 November 1963) is a Dutch professional football manager and former player. Playing career
Club
A midfielder, Bosz started his professional career played with Vitesse in 1981; after a loan season with then amat ...
in June 2017, after he had led
Ajax
Ajax may refer to:
Greek mythology and tragedy
* Ajax the Great, a Greek mythological hero, son of King Telamon and Periboea
* Ajax the Lesser, a Greek mythological hero, son of Oileus, the king of Locris
* ''Ajax'' (play), by the ancient Greek ...
to the
2017 UEFA Europa League Final. Dortmund were also the German club involved in the biggest transfer of the summer, selling young French forward
Ousmane Dembélé
Masour Ousmane Dembélé (born 15 May 1997) is a French professional footballer who plays as a winger for La Liga club Barcelona and the France national team.
Dembélé began his career at Rennes before joining Borussia Dortmund in 2016. He ...
to
Barcelona
Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...
for an initial €105 million. Meanwhile, reigning champions
Bayern Munich
Fußball-Club Bayern München e. V. (FCB, ), also known as FC Bayern (), Bayern Munich, or simply Bayern, is a German professional sports club based in Munich, Bavaria. It is best known for its professional men's football team, which pla ...
prepared for the season by breaking the league's transfer record in their purchase of French midfielder
Corentin Tolisso
Corentin Tolisso (born 3 August 1994) is a French professional footballer who plays as a central midfielder for Ligue 1 club Lyon and the France national team.
A graduate of the Lyon academy, Tolisso made his professional debut for the club in ...
from
Lyon
Lyon,, ; Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the third-largest city and second-largest metropolitan area of France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of t ...
for €41.5 million.
On 28 September 2017, Bayern sacked manager
Carlo Ancelotti
Carlo Ancelotti , (born 10 June 1959) is an Italian professional football manager and former player who is the manager of La Liga club Real Madrid. Regarded as one of the greatest managers of all time, Ancelotti is the most decorated manager ...
amidst reports of player unrest, despite the club sitting in third place. He was replaced by
Jupp Heynckes in his fourth spell at the club. On 28 October, a 2–0 win over
RB Leipzig
RasenBallsport Leipzig e.V. (), commonly known as RB Leipzig, and colloquially referred to as Red Bull Leipzig, is a German professional football club based in Leipzig, Saxony. The club was founded in 2009 by the initiative of the company Red Bu ...
put Bayern on top of the table for the first time in the season. In December, Dortmund sacked Bosz with the team in seventh, and replaced him with the Austrian
Peter Stöger
Peter Stöger (; born 11 April 1966) is an Austrian football coach and a former player.
As a player Stöger won the Austrian championship 4 times, the cup 3 times. As a coach or sporting director Stöger won the Austrian championship 2 times and ...
who himself had recently been dismissed by winless bottom team
1. FC Köln.
In the January 2018 transfer window, Dortmund lost the season's second-top scorer, Gabonese forward
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang
Pierre-Emerick Emiliano François Aubameyang (born 18 June 1989) is a professional footballer who plays as a striker for Premier League club Chelsea. He is renowned for his pace, finishing, and off-ball movement. Born in France, he is a former ...
, who moved to
Arsenal
An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...
for a €63 million fee. They replaced him by bringing in
Chelsea
Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to:
Places Australia
* Chelsea, Victoria
Canada
* Chelsea, Nova Scotia
* Chelsea, Quebec
United Kingdom
* Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames
** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...
's
Michy Batshuayi
Michy Batshuayi-Atunga (born 2 October 1993) is a Belgian professional footballer who plays as a striker for Süper Lig club Fenerbahçe and the Belgium national team.
Batshuayi began his professional career at Standard Liège in 2011, scorin ...
on loan. From December to February, Bayern went on a 10-match winning streak that ended with a goalless draw with
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 ...
at the
Allianz Arena
Allianz Arena (; known as Fußball Arena München for UEFA competitions) is a football stadium in Munich, Bavaria, Germany with a 70,000 seating capacity for international matches and 75,000 for domestic matches. Widely known for its exterior ...
, and managed 13 unbeaten until a 1–2 loss at Leipzig on 18 March.
Dortmund remained unbeaten for 12 games between December and 31 March, when they lost 0–6 away to Bayern.
Schalke 04
Fußballclub Gelsenkirchen-Schalke 04 e. V., commonly known as FC Schalke 04 (), Schalke 04 (), or abbreviated as S04 (), is a professional German football and multi-sports club originally from the Schalke district of Gelsenkirchen, North Rhine ...
, who finished only 10th the previous season, were in the top 3 for most of the season. They were unbeaten for 11 games between September and January, putting together six consecutive victories in February and March before a 2–3 loss at bottom team
Hamburg
(male), (female) en, Hamburger(s),
Hamburgian(s)
, timezone1 = Central (CET)
, utc_offset1 = +1
, timezone1_DST = Central (CEST)
, utc_offset1_DST = +2
, postal ...
.
Bayern won their 27th Bundesliga and 28th German title (6th consecutive) on 7 April 2018, with five games left to play after defeating fellow Bavarian club
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 ...
4–1.
Three weeks later, Köln were the first team relegated after a 2–3 loss to
SC Freiburg
Sport-Club Freiburg e.V., commonly known as SC Freiburg () or just Freiburg, is a German football club, based in the city of Freiburg im Breisgau, Baden-Württemberg. It plays in the Bundesliga, having been promoted as champions from the 2. Bund ...
. On 5 May, Schalke secured second place and a return to the Champions League for the first time in four years, with a 2–1 win at Augsburg. On the last matchday,
1899 Hoffenheim beat Dortmund 3–1 to finish ahead of the latter on goal difference at an all-time high third place and securing a spot in the Champions League group stage for the first time in their history. Following
VfL Wolfsburg
Verein für Leibesübungen Wolfsburg e. V., commonly known as VfL Wolfsburg () or Wolfsburg, is a German professional sports club based in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony. The club grew out of a multi-sports club for Volkswagen workers in the city of W ...
's 4–1 win over Köln, Hamburg were relegated from the Bundesliga for the first time in their history.
Bayern Munich's
Robert Lewandowski
Robert Lewandowski (; born 21 August 1988) is a Polish professional footballer who plays as a striker for La Liga club Barcelona and captains the Poland national team. Recognised for his positioning, technique and finishing, Lewandowski is co ...
was the
league's top scorer for the third time, a record for a foreign player. He scored 29 goals, 14 more than second-placed
Nils Petersen
Nils Petersen (; born 6 December 1988) is a German professional association football, footballer who plays as a forward (association football), forward for Bundesliga club SC Freiburg and the Germany national football team, Germany national team. ...
of Freiburg.
Teams
A total of 18 teams participated in this edition of the Bundesliga.
Team changes
Stadiums and locations
Personnel and kits
Managerial changes
League table
Results
Relegation play-offs
''All times are
UTC+2
UTC+02:00 is an identifier for a time offset from UTC of +02:00. In ISO 8601, the associated time would be written as 2020-11-08T23:41:45+02:00. This time is used in:
As standard time (year-round)
''Principal cities: Cairo, Pretoria, Cape ...
''.
First leg
Second leg
''VfL Wolfsburg won 4–1 on aggregate and therefore both clubs remain in their respective leagues.''
Statistics
Top scorers
Hat-tricks
Clean sheets
Awards
Goal of the year (2017)
Sebastien Haller won that award for his goal for
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 ...
.
Number of teams by state
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:2017-18 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 ...