The 2010–11 3. Liga was the third season of the 3. Liga, Germany's third tier of its football league system. The season commenced on the weekend of 23 July 2010 and ended with the last games on 14 May 2011. The winter break was in effect between weekends around 18 December 2010 and 29 January 2011.
Teams As in the previous year, the league comprised the teams placed fourth through seventeenth of the 2009–10 season, the worst two teams from the 2009–10 2. Bundesliga, the losers of the 2. Bundesliga relegation play-off between the 16th-placed 2. Bundesliga team and the third-placed 3rd Liga team and the champions from the three 2009–10 Regionalliga divisions.
2009–10 3. Liga champions VfL Osnabrück and runners-up Erzgebirge Aue were promoted to the 2. Bundesliga. They were replaced by TuS Koblenz and Rot Weiss Ahlen who finished 17th and 18th respectively in the 2009–10 2. Bundesliga season.
Borussia Dortmund II, Holstein Kiel and Wuppertaler SV Borussia were relegated after the 2009–10 season. They were replaced by the three 2009–10 Regionalliga champions SV Babelsberg 03, 1. FC Saarbrücken and VfR Aalen.
A further spot was available through relegation/promotion play-offs, which was eventually taken by 16th placed 2nd Bundesliga team FC Hansa Rostock after losing on aggregate score against FC Ingolstadt 04.
Stadia and locations No major changes happened to the capacities of the team's stadia during the off-season.
Team Location Stadium Stadium capacity Aalen Scholz-Arena 11,183 Potsdam Karl-Liebknecht-Stadion 10,499 FC Bayern Munich II Munich Stadion an der Grünwalder Straße 10,240 FC Carl Zeiss Jena Jena Ernst-Abbe-Sportfeld 12,990 Dynamo Dresden Dresden Glücksgas-Stadion 32,066 Eintracht Braunschweig Braunschweig Eintracht-Stadion 25,540 Hansa Rostock Rostock DKB-Arena 29,000 Heidenheim Voith-Arena1 10,000 SSV Jahn Regensburg Regensburg Jahnstadion 11,800 Kickers Offenbach Offenbach Stadion am Bieberer Berg 26,500 Koblenz Stadion Oberwerth 15,000 Ahlen Wersestadion 12,500 Erfurt Steigerwaldstadion 17,500 Saarbrücken Ludwigspark 35,303 Sandhausen Hardtwald 10,231 Stuttgart Gazi-Stadion auf der Waldau 10,100 Unterhaching Generali Sportpark 15,053 SV Wacker Burghausen Burghausen Wacker-Arena 10,000 SV Wehen Wiesbaden Wiesbaden BRITA-Arena 12,250 SV Werder Bremen II Bremen Weserstadion Platz 11 5,500
Notes 1 Voith-Arena was named GAGFAH-Arena until mid-February 2011.
League table
Results
Top goalscorers Source: kicker (German)
19 goals Dominick Kumbela (Eintracht Braunschweig) Patrick Mayer (1. FC Heidenheim)
17 goals Alexander Esswein (Dynamo Dresden) Matthew Taylor (Rot Weiss Ahlen)
16 goals Dennis Kruppke (Eintracht Braunschweig) Olivier Occean (Kickers Offenbach)
14 goals Björn Ziegenbein (Hansa Rostock)
13 goals Eric Agyemang (Wacker Burghausen) Frank Löning (SV Sandhausen)
12 goals Zlatko Janjić (SV Wehen Wiesbaden) Marcel Reichwein (FC Rot-Weiß Erfurt) Marc Schnatterer (1. FC Heidenheim)
Season awards
Player of the month August: Tobias Jänicke (Hansa Rostock) September: Alexander Esswein (Dynamo Dresden) October: Björn Ziegenbein (Hansa Rostock) November: Björn Ziegenbein (Hansa Rostock) December: Deniz Dogan (Eintracht Braunschweig) February: Marjan Petković (Eintracht Braunschweig) March: Dennis Kruppke (Eintracht Braunschweig) April: Alexander Esswein (Dynamo Dresden)
Player of the season The following players were nominated as the 3. Liga Player of the season, with Alexander Esswein announced as the winner on 3 June after a public vote.
Alexander Esswein (Dynamo Dresden) Dennis Kruppke (Eintracht Braunschweig) Patrick Mayer (1. FC Heidenheim) Marjan Petkovic (Eintracht Braunschweig) Björn Ziegenbein (Hansa Rostock)
References
External links German Football Association (DFB) Kicker magazine