| Competition: | Bundesliga |
| Season: | 2011–12 |
| Dates: | 5 August 2011 – 5 May 2012 |
| Winners: | Borussia Dortmund 5th Bundesliga title 8th German title |
| Relegated: | Hertha BSC (via play-off) 1. FC Köln 1. FC Kaiserslautern |
| Continentalcup1: | Champions League |
| Continentalcup1 Qualifiers: | Borussia Dortmund Bayern Munich Schalke 04 Bor. Mönchengladbach |
| Continentalcup2: | Europa League |
| Continentalcup2 Qualifiers: | Bayer Leverkusen VfB Stuttgart Hannover 96 |
| League Topscorer: | Klaas-Jan Huntelaar (29 goals) |
| Biggest Home Win: | Bayern Munich 7–0 Freiburg |
| Highest Scoring: | Werder Bremen 5–3 Freiburg Bayern Munich 7–1 Hoffenheim B. Dortmund 4–4 VfB Stuttgart |
| Longest Wins: | 8 matches Borussia Dortmund[1] |
| Longest Unbeaten: | 28 matches by Borussia Dortmund |
| Longest Losses: | 6 matches by Hertha BSC 1. FC Kaiserslautern |
| Longest Winless: | 21 matches by 1. FC Kaiserslautern |
| Matches: | 306 |
| Total Goals: | 875 |
| Average Attendance: | 45,116[2] |
| Prevseason: | 2010–11 |
| Nextseason: | 2012–13 |
The 2011–12 Bundesliga was the 49th season of the Bundesliga, Germany's premier football league. The season started on 5 August 2011 with the opening match involving defending champions Borussia Dortmund 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.[3]
The league comprised eighteen teams: The best fifteen teams of the 2010–11 season, the best two teams from the 2010–11 2. Bundesliga, and the winners of the relegation play-off 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,[4] [5] [6] the league gained an additional group stage berth for the UEFA Champions League.
The league comprised eighteen teams: Eintracht Frankfurt and FC St. Pauli 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, champions of the 2010–11 2. Bundesliga, and runners-up FC Augsburg. 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, the 16th-placed team of the 2010–11 Bundesliga, and VfL Bochum, the third-placed 2. Bundesliga team. Mönchengladbach won the series 2–1 on aggregate and therefore retained its Bundesliga spot.
The most prominent change regarding stadiums occurred at Mainz, where FSV Mainz 05 moved from Stadion am Bruchweg into their newly built Coface Arena.[7] 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 FC Augsburg, to SGL Arena effective from the beginning of the season after SGL Carbon acquired the naming rights for the structure in May 2011.[8]
| Team | Location | Stadium | Capacity | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Augsburg | SGL arena | 30,660 | ||
| Bayer Leverkusen | Leverkusen | BayArena | 30,210 | |
| Bayern Munich | Munich | Allianz Arena | 69,000 | |
| Borussia Dortmund | Dortmund | Signal Iduna Park | 80,720 | |
| Borussia Mönchengladbach | Mönchengladbach | Stadion im Borussia-Park | 54,057 | |
| Freiburg | Mage Solar Stadion | 25,000 | ||
| Hamburger SV | Hamburg | Imtech Arena | 57,000 | |
| Hannover 96 | Hanover | AWD-Arena | 49,000 | |
| Hertha BSC | Berlin | Olympiastadion | 74,244 | |
| Sinsheim | Rhein-Neckar Arena | 30,150 | ||
| Kaiserslautern | Fritz-Walter-Stadion | 49,780 | ||
| Cologne | RheinEnergieStadion | 50,000 | ||
| Mainz | Coface Arena | 34,034 | ||
| Nuremberg | EasyCredit-Stadion | 48,548 | ||
| Schalke 04 | Gelsenkirchen | Veltins-Arena | 61,673 | |
| Stuttgart | Mercedes-Benz Arena | 60,300 | ||
| Werder Bremen | Bremen | Weserstadion | 42,000 | |
| Wolfsburg | Volkswagen Arena | 30,000 |
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.[9]
| Team | Manager | Captain[10] | Kit manufacturer | Shirt sponsor | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | 1 | Jako | AL-KO | ||
| Bayer Leverkusen |  (caretaker) |  | adidas | SunPower[11] | |
| Bayern Munich | | | adidas | T-Home (Home and Third), LIGAtotal (Away) | |
| Borussia Dortmund | | | Kappa | Evonik | |
| Borussia Mönchengladbach |  |  | Lotto | Postbank | |
| | | Nike | Ehrmann | ||
| Hamburger SV | | | adidas | Emirates | |
| Hannover 96 | |  | Jako | TUI | |
| Hertha BSC | |  | Nike | Deutsche Bahn | |
| | | Puma | Suntech | ||
 | | uhlsport | Allgäuer Latschenkiefer | ||
| |  | Reebok | REWE | ||
| | Nike | Entega | |||
| | | adidas | Areva | ||
| Schalke 04 | | | adidas | Gazprom | |
| | 3 | Puma | Gazi | ||
| Werder Bremen | | 2 | Nike | Targobank | |
| | | adidas | Volkswagen/Up! |
| Team | Outgoing manager | Manner of departure | Date of vacancy | Position in table | Incoming manager | Date of appointment | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bayer Leverkusen | Jupp Heynckes | End of contract | 30 June 2011 | Off-season | Robin Dutt | 1 July 2011[16] | |
| Bayern Munich | Andries Jonker | End of tenure as caretaker | 30 June 2011[17] | Jupp Heynckes | 1 July 2011[18] | ||
| SC Freiburg | Robin Dutt | Bayer Leverkusen purchased rights | 30 June 2011 | Marcus Sorg | 1 July 2011[19] | ||
| 1899 Hoffenheim | Marco Pezzaiuoli | Mutual consent | 30 June 2011[20] | Holger Stanislawski | 1 July 2011[21] | ||
| 1. FC Köln | Volker Finke | End of tenure as caretaker | 30 June 2011[22] |  Ståle Solbakken | 1 July 2011 | ||
| Hamburger SV | Michael Oenning | Sacked | 19 September 2011[23] | 18th |  Rodolfo Cardoso (caretaker) | 19 September 2011 | |
| FC Schalke 04 | Ralf Rangnick | Resigned | 22 September 2011[24] | 9th | Huub Stevens | 27 September 2011[25] | |
| Hamburger SV | Rodolfo Cardoso (caretaker) | End of tenure as caretaker | 10 October 2011[26] | 18th | Thorsten Fink | 13 October 2011 | |
| Hertha BSC | Markus Babbel | Sacked | 18 December 2011[27] | 11th | Michael Skibbe | 22 December 2011[28] | |
| SC Freiburg | Marcus Sorg | Sacked | 29 December 2011[29] | 18th | Christian Streich | 29 December 2011 | |
| 1899 Hoffenheim | Holger Stanislawski | Sacked | 9 February 2012[30] | 8th | Markus Babbel | 10 February 2012[31] | |
| Hertha BSC | Michael Skibbe | Sacked | 12 February 2012[32] | 15th | Otto Rehhagel | 18 February 2012[33] | |
| 1. FC Kaiserslautern | Marco Kurz | Sacked | 20 March 2012[34] | 18th | Krasimir Balakov | 22 March 2012[35] | |
| Bayer Leverkusen | Robin Dutt | Sacked | 1 April 2012[36] | 6th | Sami Hyypiä (caretaker) | 1 April 2012 | |
| 1. FC Köln | Ståle Solbakken | Sacked | 12 April 2012[37] | 16th | Frank Schaefer | 12 April 2012 |
Hertha BSC as 16th-placed team faced third-placed 2011–12 2. Bundesliga side Fortuna Düsseldorf 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.[38] On 21 May the DFB Sports Court 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.[39] On 25 May, the Federal Court of the German FA also rejected the appeal.[40] On 19 June, Hertha BSC decided not to appeal the decision, marking their immediate return to the 2. Bundesliga.[41] ----
