| Competition: | 3. Liga |
| Season: | 2012–13 |
| Winners: | Karlsruher SC |
| Promoted: | Karlsruher SC Arminia Bielefeld |
| Relegated: | Kickers Offenbach SV Babelsberg 03 Alemannia Aachen |
| League Topscorer: | Anton Fink Fabian Klos (20 goals) |
| Biggest Home Win: | Rot-Weiß Erfurt 5–0 Borussia Dortmund II (1 September 2012) 1. FC Saarbrücken 5–0 Hallescher FC (24 November 2012) Chemnitzer FC 5–0 SpVgg Unterhaching (18 May 2013) |
| Biggest Away Win: | Rot-Weiß Erfurt 0–4 1. FC Heidenheim (28 July 2012) Alemannia Aachen 0–4 Karlsruher SC (9 February 2013) SV Babelsberg 03 0–4 SV Wacker Burghausen (11 May 2013) |
| Highest Scoring: | SC Preußen Münster 5–2 F.C. Hansa Rostock (9 August 2012) SpVgg Unterhaching 4–3 Borussia Dortmund II (22 September 2012) Kickers Offenbach 5–2 SV Babelsberg 03 (6 October 2012) SpVgg Unterhaching 4–3 Chemnitzer FC (24 November 2012) Karlsruher SC 5–2 1. FC Heidenheim (1 December 2012) Alemannia Aachen 3–4 Hansa Rostock (12 April 2013) Borussia Dortmund II 4–3 Rot-Weiß Erfurt (7 May 2013) |
| Longest Wins: | 10 games Karlsruher SC |
| Longest Unbeaten: | 19 games Karlsruher SC |
| Longest Losses: | 6 games F.C. Hansa Rostock |
| Longest Winless: | 14 games SV Wehen Wiesbaden |
| Matches: | 380 |
| Total Goals: | 953 |
| Prevseason: | 2011–12 |
| Nextseason: | 2013–14 |
The 2012–13 3. Liga was the fifth season of the 3. Liga, Germany's third-level football league. The season began on the weekend of 21 July 2012 and ended with the last games on 18 May 2013, with a winter break held between the weekends around 15 December 2012 and 26 January 2013.[1]
The league consisted of twenty teams: The teams placed fourth through seventeenth of the 2011–12 season, the worst two teams from the 2011–12 2nd Bundesliga, the three division champions of the 2011–12 Fußball-Regionalliga and the losers of the relegation play-off between the 16th-placed 2nd Bundesliga team and the third-placed 3rd Liga team.
At the end of the 2011–12 season, SV Sandhausen and VfR Aalen were directly promoted to the 2012–13 2nd Bundesliga. Sandhausen, having been a charter member of the 3rd Liga for its first four seasons, left the third level after five seasons overall, while Aalen celebrated their second consecutive promotion within twelve months. The two promoted teams were replaced by Alemannia Aachen and Hansa Rostock, who finished in the bottom two places of the 2011–12 2nd Bundesliga table and thus were directly relegated. Aachen gave their debut in the 3rd Liga, returning to the third level after thirteen seasons, while Rostock returned to the league after only one year in the second tier.
On the other end of the table, Rot-Weiß Oberhausen, FC Carl Zeiss Jena and SV Werder Bremen II were relegated to the 2012–13 Fußball-Regionalliga; Oberhausen entered the newly formed Regionalliga West, with Jena going to the Regionalliga Nordost and Werder Bremen reserves being admitted to the Regionalliga Nord. The three relegated teams will be replaced by the champions of the three 2011–12 Regionalliga divisions. Borussia Dortmund II from the Western division and Stuttgarter Kickers from the Southern Division returned after absences of two and three years respectively, while Hallescher FC from the Northern division will return to a national level of football for the first time since the 1991–92 2nd Bundesliga season and to third level after 18 years.
A further place in the league was available via a two-legged play-off between third-placed 2011–12 3rd Liga team Jahn Regensburg and 16th-placed 2011–12 2. Bundesliga sides Karlsruher SC. The tie ended 3–3 on aggregate and saw Jahn promoted via the away goal rule. Being a charter member of the 3rd Liga, Regensburg returned to the second level after eight years in the third tier of the German football league system; in turn, Karlsruhe gave their debut in the 3rd Liga after finishing a three-year 2nd Bundesliga spell, returning to the third level for the first time since the 2000–01 season in the process.
One ground change occurred for the 2012–13 season, as Kickers Offenbach completed the re-building of their new ground, Sparda-Bank Hessen Stadium, at the same spot of their former home, Stadion am Bieberer Berg.
| Team | Location | Stadium | Stadium capacity[2] | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alemannia Aachen | Aachen | New Tivoli | 32,960 | |
| Arminia Bielefeld | Bielefeld | Schüco-Arena | 27,300 | |
| Potsdam | Karl-Liebknecht-Stadion | 10,786 | ||
| Borussia Dortmund II | Dortmund | Stadion Rote Erde | 10,000 | |
| Chemnitzer FC | Chemnitz | Stadion an der Gellertstraße | 18,712 | |
| Darmstadt | Stadion am Böllenfalltor | 19,000 | ||
| Hallescher FC | Halle | Erdgas Sportpark | 15,057 | |
| Hansa Rostock | Rostock | DKB-Arena | 29,000 | |
| Heidenheim | Voith-Arena | 10,001 | ||
| Karlsruher SC | Karlsruhe | Wildparkstadion | 29,699 | |
| Kickers Offenbach | Offenbach | Sparda Bank Hessen Stadium | 20,500 | |
| Osnabrück | Osnatel-Arena | 16,667 | ||
| Preußen Münster | Münster | Preußenstadion | 15,050 | |
| Rot-Weiß Erfurt | Erfurt | Steigerwaldstadion | 17,500 | |
| Saarbrücken | Ludwigspark | 35,303 | ||
| Stuttgart | Gazi-Stadion auf der Waldau | 10,100 | ||
| Stuttgarter Kickers | Stuttgart | Gazi-Stadion auf der Waldau | 10,100 | |
| Unterhaching | Stadion am Sportpark | 15,053 | ||
| Burghausen | Wacker-Arena | 10,000 | ||
| Wiesbaden | BRITA-Arena | 12,250 |
| Team | Outgoing manager | Manner of departure | Date of vacancy | Position in table | Replaced by | Date of appointment | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SV Babelsberg 03 | Dietmar Demuth | Sacked | 15 May 2012[4] | Off-season | Christian Benbennek | 15 May 2012 | |
| SpVgg Unterhaching | Heiko Herrlich | Resigned | 25 May 2012[5] | Off-season | Claus Schromm | 28 June 2012[6] | |
| Wacker Burghausen | Reinhard Stumpf | End of contract | 30 June 2012[7] | Off-season | Georgi Donkov | 1 July 2012[8] | |
| Rot-Weiß Erfurt | Stefan Emmerling | Sacked | 25 August 2012[9] | 20th | Alois Schwartz | 10 September 2012[10] | |
| SV Darmstadt 98 | Kosta Runjaić | Signed by MSV Duisburg | 2 September 2012[11] | 18th | Jürgen Seeberger | 5 September 2012[12] | |
| Hansa Rostock | Wolfgang Wolf | Sacked | 3 September 2012[13] | 14th | Marc Fascher | 5 September 2012[14] | |
| Alemannia Aachen | Ralf Außem | Sacked | 3 September 2012[15] | 13th | René van Eck | 10 September 2012[16] | |
| Stuttgarter Kickers | Dirk Schuster | Sacked | 19 November 2012[17] | 18th | Guido Buchwald (interim) | 20 December 2012 | |
| SV Darmstadt 98 | Jürgen Seeberger | Sacked | 17 December 2012[18] | 20th | Dirk Schuster | 28 December 2012[19] | |
| Stuttgarter Kickers | Guido Buchwald | Appointment of permanent manager | 20 December 2012 | 18th | Gerd Dais | 20 December 2012[20] | |
| Kickers Offenbach | Arie van Lent | Sacked | 6 February 2013[21] | 12th | Rico Schmitt | 13 February 2013[22] | |
| Stuttgarter Kickers | Gerd Dais | Sacked | 7 April 2013[23] | 17th |  Massimo Morales | 7 April 2013 | |
| SV Babelsberg 03 | Christian Benbennek | Sacked | 9 April 2013[24] | 18th |  Almedin Civa (interim) | 19 April 2013 | |
| SV Babelsberg 03 | Almedin Civa | Appointment of permanent manager | 29 April 2013[25] | 18th | Dieter Timme | 29 April 2013 | |
| VfL Osnabrück | Claus-Dieter Wollitz | Sacked | 17 May 2013[26] | 4th | Alexander Ukrow (interim) | 17 May 2013 |
Source: kicker (German)
The following players were named as player of the month throughout the season.[27]
Hakan Çalhanoğlu (Karlsruher SC)
Ondrej Smetana (Hansa Rostock) Ondrej Smetana (Hansa Rostock)Hakan Çalhanoğlu was voted as player of the season.
The following players were named as the team of the year.[28]
Hakan Çalhanoğlu (Karlsruher SC)