| Competition: | Bundesliga |
| Pixels: | 220 |
| Season: | 2012–13 |
| Dates: | 24 August 2012 – 18 May 2013 |
| Winners: | Bayern Munich 22nd Bundesliga title 23rd German title |
| Relegated: | Fortuna Düsseldorf Greuther Fürth |
| Continentalcup1: | Champions League |
| Continentalcup1 Qualifiers: | Bayern Munich Borussia Dortmund Bayer Leverkusen Schalke 04 |
| Continentalcup2: | Europa League |
| Continentalcup2 Qualifiers: | SC Freiburg Eintracht Frankfurt VfB Stuttgart (via domestic cup) |
| League Topscorer: | Stefan Kießling (25 goals) |
| Biggest Home Win: | Bayern Munich 9–2 Hamburger SV |
| Biggest Away Win: | Fortuna Düsseldorf 0–5 Bayern Munich Werder Bremen 0–5 Borussia Dortmund Greuther Fürth 1–6 Borussia Dortmund Hannover 96 1–6 Bayern Munich |
| Highest Scoring: | Bayern Munich 9–2 Hamburger SV |
| Longest Wins: | 14 games Bayern Munich |
| Longest Unbeaten: | 25 games Bayern Munich |
| Longest Losses: | 6 games 1899 Hoffenheim |
| Longest Winless: | 17 games Greuther Fürth |
| Matches: | 306 |
| Total Goals: | 898 |
| Highest Attendance: | 80,645[1] 12 games |
| Lowest Attendance: | 14,425 Greuther Fürth 0–3 Mainz 05 |
| Average Attendance: | 42,421[2] |
| Prevseason: | 2011–12 |
| Nextseason: | 2013–14 |
The 2012–13 Bundesliga was the 50th season of the Bundesliga, Germany's premier football league. The season began on 24 August 2012 with the season opening match at Westfalenstadion involving defending champions Borussia Dortmund and SV Werder Bremen[3] 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.[4] Bayern Munich managed to secure the championship of the 2012–13 season after only 28 match days, beating their previous record by two matches.[5] [6]
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.
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.
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.[7] 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.[8]
| Team | Location | Stadium | Capacity[9] | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Augsburg | SGL arena | 30,660 | ||
| Bayer Leverkusen | Leverkusen | BayArena | 30,210 | |
| Bayern Munich | Munich | Allianz Arena | 71,000 | |
| Borussia Dortmund | Dortmund | Signal Iduna Park | 80,645 | |
| Borussia Mönchengladbach | Borussia-Park | 54,010 | ||
| Frankfurt | Commerzbank-Arena | 51,500 | ||
| Düsseldorf | Esprit Arena | 54,600 | ||
| Freiburg | Dreisamstadion | 24,000 | ||
| Trolli Arena | 18,000 | |||
| Hamburger SV | Hamburg | Imtech Arena | 57,000 | |
| Hannover 96 | Hanover | AWD-Arena | 49,000 | |
| Sinsheim | Rhein-Neckar Arena | 30,150 | ||
| Mainz | Coface Arena | 34,000 | ||
| Nuremberg | Frankenstadion | 50,000[10] | ||
| Gelsenkirchen | Veltins-Arena | 61,673 | ||
| Stuttgart | Mercedes-Benz Arena | 60,300 | ||
| SV Werder Bremen | Bremen | Weserstadion | 42,100 | |
| Wolfsburg | Volkswagen Arena | 30,000 |
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;[11] 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.[12] Finally, Nürnberg agreed to a multi-year contract with clothing retailers NKD just days before the start of the season.[13]
| Team | Manager | Captain | Kit manufacturer[14] | Shirt sponsor | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | Jako | AL-KO | |||
| Bayer Leverkusen |   | | adidas | SunPower | |
| Bayern Munich | | | Adidas | T-Mobile | |
| Borussia Dortmund | | | Puma | Evonik | |
| Borussia Mönchengladbach |  |  | Lotto | Postbank | |
| Eintracht Frankfurt | Jako | Krombacher | |||
| Fortuna Düsseldorf | | | Puma | o.tel.o | |
| | | Nike | Ehrmann | ||
 | Jako | Ergo Direkt | |||
| Hamburger SV | | | adidas | Fly Emirates | |
| Hannover 96 | |  | Jako | TUI | |
| | | Puma | Suntech | ||
| | Nike | Entega | |||
| | | adidas | NKD | ||
| (caretaker) | | adidas | Gazprom | ||
| | | Puma | Mercedes-Benz Bank | ||
| SV Werder Bremen | (caretaker) | | Nike | Wiesenhof | |
| | | adidas | Volkswagen/Golf/Golf GTI (in cup matches) |
| Team | Outgoing manager | Manner of departure | Date of vacancy | Position in table | Incoming manager | Date of appointment | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FC Augsburg | Jos Luhukay | Resigned | 5 May 2012[15] | Pre-season | Markus Weinzierl | 17 May 2012[16] | |
| VfL Wolfsburg | Felix Magath | Mutual consent | 25 October 2012[17] | 18th | Dieter Hecking | 22 December 2012[18] | |
| TSG 1899 Hoffenheim | Markus Babbel | Sacked | 3 December 2012[19] | 16th | Marco Kurz | 1 January 2013[20] | |
| Schalke 04 | Huub Stevens | Sacked | 16 December 2012[21] | 7th | Jens Keller | 16 December 2012 | |
| 1. FC Nürnberg | Dieter Hecking | Signed by VfL Wolfsburg | 22 December 2012[22] | 14th | Michael Wiesinger | 24 December 2012[23] | |
| Greuther Fürth | Mike Büskens | Sacked | 20 February 2013[24] | 18th | Frank Kramer | 11 March 2013[25] | |
| TSG 1899 Hoffenheim | Marco Kurz | Sacked | 2 April 2013[26] | 17th | Markus Gisdol | 2 April 2013 | |
| Werder Bremen | Thomas Schaaf | Mutual consent | 15 May 2013[27] | 14th | Wolfgang Rolff | 15 May 2013 |
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.
| Player | For | Against | Result | Date | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | 1. FSV Mainz 05 | 1899 Hoffenheim | 3–0[29] | ||
 | Werder Bremen | 1899 Hoffenheim | 4–1[30] | ||
 | VfB Stuttgart | Schalke 04 | 3–1[31] | ||
| Borussia Dortmund | Eintracht Frankfurt | 3–0[32] | |||
 4 | Bayern Munich | Hamburger SV | 9–2[33] | ||
| Schalke 04 | Hamburger SV | 4–1[34] | |||
 | Borussia Mönchengladbach | 1. FSV Mainz 05 | 4–2[35] |
