The 2012–13 Bundesliga was the 50th season of the Bundesliga, Germany's premier football league. The season began on 24 August 2012, with two-time defending champions Borussia Dortmund hosting the season’s opening match against SV Werder Bremen at Westfalenstadion and ended with the last games on 18 May 2013, with a winter break between the weekends around 15 December 2012 and 19 January 2013. Bayern Munich managed to secure the championship of the 2012–13 season after only 28 match days, beating their previous record by two matches.

The league comprises eighteen teams: The best fifteen teams of the 2011–12 season, the best two teams from the 2011–12 2. Bundesliga and the winners of the relegation play-off between the 16th-placed Bundesliga team and the third-placed 2. Bundesliga team.

Teams 1. FC Köln and 1. FC Kaiserslautern were relegated to the 2012–13 2. Bundesliga after finishing in one of the bottom two spots at the end of the 2011–12 season. Köln were relegated to the second level after four Bundesliga seasons, while Kaiserslautern ended a two-year tenure in the top flight.

The two relegated teams were replaced by SpVgg Greuther Fürth and Eintracht Frankfurt. Greuther Fürth made their Bundesliga debut while also returning to the top level after 49 seasons, as predecessors SpVgg Fürth missed out on qualification for the Bundesliga at the end of the 1962–63 season. In turn, Eintracht Frankfurt made an immediate comeback to the league after being relegated at the end of the 2010–11 season.

A further place in the league was determined by a two-legged play-off between Hertha BSC, the 16th-placed team of the 2011–12 season, and Fortuna Düsseldorf, the third-placed team of the 2011–12 2. Bundesliga. Düsseldorf won the play-off by 4–3 on aggregate; the club returned to the top level after 15 years in lower levels of the league pyramid. Hertha made only a cameo appearance in the league and immediately dropped back to the 2. Bundesliga.

Stadiums and locations Promotees SpVgg Greuther Fürth expanded the capacity of their Trolli Arena to 18,000 spectators in order to guarantee all matches of the campaign being played at their own ground. Bayern Munich also expanded the capacity of their Allianz Arena by 2,000 people; the new total capacity for the ground is 71,000 spectators.

Team Location Stadium CapacityAugsburgSGL arena 30,660Bayer LeverkusenLeverkusenBayArena 30,210Bayern MunichMunichAllianz Arena 71,000Borussia DortmundDortmundSignal Iduna Park 80,645Borussia MönchengladbachBorussia-Park 54,010FrankfurtCommerzbank-Arena 51,500DüsseldorfEsprit Arena 54,600FreiburgDreisamstadion 24,000Trolli Arena 18,000Hamburger SVHamburgImtech Arena 57,000Hannover 96HanoverAWD-Arena 49,000SinsheimRhein-Neckar Arena 30,150MainzCoface Arena 34,000NurembergFrankenstadion 50,000GelsenkirchenVeltins-Arena 61,673StuttgartMercedes-Benz Arena 60,300SV Werder BremenBremenWeserstadion 42,100WolfsburgVolkswagen Arena 30,000

Personnel and kits Borussia Dortmund changed their kit suppliers from Kappa to Puma, signing a contract through the 2019–20 season with the German sports brand. Furthermore, a couple of shirt sponsoring contracts were not renewed. VfB Stuttgart replaced the Gazi brand of dairy product company garmo with the banking section of automobile company Mercedes-Benz as their new shirt sponsors, and Fortuna Düsseldorf changed from home retail chain Bauhaus to discount phone company o.tel.o.

Three further clubs finalized new sponsoring contracts shortly before the first matches were played. Fraport chose not to renew their contract with Eintracht Frankfurt; the Hessian club announced a deal with brewery Krombacher at the end of July. Elsewhere, the agreements between 1. FC Nürnberg and Areva and between Werder Bremen and Targobank expired. Werder announced their new main sponsor to be poultry giant Wiesenhof in early August 2012, despite prolonged protests due to the company's suspected animal abuse. Finally, Nürnberg agreed to a multi-year contract with clothing retailers NKD just days before the start of the season.

TeamManagerCaptainKit manufacturerShirt sponsor Jako AL-KOBayer Leverkusen adidas SunPowerBayern Munich Adidas T-MobileBorussia Dortmund Puma EvonikBorussia Mönchengladbach Lotto PostbankEintracht Frankfurt Jako KrombacherFortuna Düsseldorf Puma o.tel.o Nike Ehrmann Jako Ergo DirektHamburger SV adidas Fly EmiratesHannover 96 Jako TUI Puma Suntech Nike Entega adidas NKD (caretaker) adidas Gazprom Puma Mercedes-Benz BankSV Werder Bremen (caretaker) Nike Wiesenhof adidas Volkswagen/Golf/Golf GTI (in cup matches)

Managerial changes Team Outgoing manager Manner of departure Date of vacancy Position in table Incoming manager Date of appointmentFC Augsburg Jos LuhukayResigned5 May 2012Pre-season Markus Weinzierl17 May 2012VfL Wolfsburg Felix MagathMutual consent25 October 201218th Dieter Hecking22 December 2012TSG 1899 Hoffenheim Markus BabbelSacked3 December 201216th Marco Kurz1 January 2013Schalke 04 Huub StevensSacked16 December 20127th Jens Keller16 December 20121. FC Nürnberg Dieter HeckingSigned by VfL Wolfsburg22 December 201214th Michael Wiesinger24 December 2012Greuther Fürth Mike BüskensSacked20 February 201318th Frank Kramer11 March 2013TSG 1899 Hoffenheim Marco KurzSacked2 April 201317th Markus Gisdol2 April 2013Werder Bremen Thomas SchaafMutual consent15 May 201314th Wolfgang Rolff15 May 2013

League table

Results

Relegation play-offs 1899 Hoffenheim as the 16th-placed team faced the 3rd-placed 2012–13 2. Bundesliga side 1. FC Kaiserslautern in a two-legged play-off.

1899 Hoffenheim won 5–2 on aggregate and retained its Bundesliga spot for the 2013–14 season.

Season statistics

Top scorers RankPlayerClubGoals1 Stefan KießlingBayer Leverkusen252 Robert LewandowskiBorussia Dortmund243 Alexander MeierEintracht Frankfurt164 Vedad IbiševićVfB Stuttgart15 Mario MandžukićBayern Munich156 Marco ReusBorussia Dortmund147 Thomas MüllerBayern Munich13 Ádám SzalaiMainz 05139 Mame Biram DioufHannover 9612 Artjoms RudņevsHamburger SV12 Son Heung-MinHamburger SV12

Hat-tricks Player For Against Result Date 1. FSV Mainz 05 1899 Hoffenheim 3–0 Werder Bremen 1899 Hoffenheim 4–1 VfB Stuttgart Schalke 04 3–1 Borussia Dortmund Eintracht Frankfurt 3–0 4 Bayern Munich Hamburger SV 9–2 Schalke 04 Hamburger SV 4–1 Borussia Mönchengladbach 1. FSV Mainz 05 4–2

4 Player scored 4 goals Awards Individual awards AwardWinnerClubRef. VDV Player of the Season Robert LewandowskiBorussia Dortmund VDV Coach of the Season Jupp HeynckesBayern Munich VDV Newcomer of the Season Max KruseSC Freiburg Top scorer Stefan KießlingBayer Leverkusen Player of the Year Franck RibéryBayern Munich Team of the Year Team of the Year Goalkeeper Manuel Neuer(Bayern Munich) Defenders Atsuto Uchida(Schalke 04) Mats Hummels(Borussia Dortmund) Dante(Bayern Munich) David Alaba(Bayern Munich) Midfielders İlkay Gündoğan(Borussia Dortmund) Bastian Schweinsteiger(Bayern Munich) Jakub Błaszczykowski(Borussia Dortmund) Mario Götze(Borussia Dortmund) Forwards Juan Arango(Borussia Mönchengladbach) Robert Lewandowski(Borussia Dortmund)

References

External links