| Competition: | 3. Liga |
| Season: | 2013–14 |
| Winners: | 1. FC Heidenheim |
| Promoted: | 1. FC Heidenheim RB Leipzig SV Darmstadt 98 |
| Relegated: | SV Elversberg 1. FC Saarbrücken Wacker Burghausen |
| League Topscorer: | Dominik Stroh-Engel (27 goals) |
| Matches: | 380 |
| Total Goals: | 953 |
| Prevseason: | 2012–13 |
| Nextseason: | 2014–15 |
The 2013–14 3. Liga was the sixth season of the 3. Liga, Germany's third-level football league.
The league consisted of twenty teams: The teams placed fourth through seventeenth of the 2012–13 season, the worst two teams from the 2012–13 2nd Bundesliga, the three promoted teams the 2012–13 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 2012–13 season, Karlsruher SC and Arminia Bielefeld were directly promoted to the 2013–14 2nd Bundesliga. Karlsruhe made an immediate return to the 2nd Bundesliga after being relegated in 2011–12. Bielefeld returned to the 2nd Bundesliga after two seasons in the third tier. The two promoted teams were to be replaced by Jahn Regensburg and SV Sandhausen, who finished in the bottom two places of the 2012–13 2nd Bundesliga table and thus were to be directly relegated. Both Regensburg and Sandhausen were to be relegated after cameo appearances in the 2nd Bundesliga. However, MSV Duisburg were denied a licence for the 2nd Bundesliga (though not the licence for the 3rd Liga[1]) and were relegated. Sandhausen were given the free place in the 2nd Bundesliga.
At the other end of the table, Alemannia Aachen, SV Babelsberg 03 and SV Darmstadt 98 were to be relegated to the 2013–14 Regionalliga; Aachen entered the Regionalliga West. Babelsberg would be going to the Regionalliga North-East and Darmstadt were supposed to be relegated to the Regionalliga South-West. However, Kickers Offenbach were denied the license for the 3rd League and Darmstadt were instead allowed to stay in the 3rd League. Offenbach relegated to the Regionalliga South-West.
The three relegated teams were replaced by the three winners of the 2012–13 Regionalliga promotion playoffs. RB Leipzig from the North-Eastern division and SV Elversberg from the South-Western Division are playing their debut seasons in the 3rd Liga, while Holstein Kiel from the Northern division returned to the national level of football after three seasons in the fourth tier Regionalliga.
A further place in the league was available via a two-legged play-off between third-placed 2012–13 3rd Liga team VfL Osnabrück and 16th-placed 2012–13 2. Bundesliga sides Dynamo Dresden. The tie ended 2–1 on aggregate and saw Dresden remain in the 2nd Bundesliga.
| Team | Location | Stadium | Stadium capacity[2] | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chemnitzer FC | Chemnitz | Stadion an der Gellertstraße | 18,712 | |
| Darmstadt | Stadion am Böllenfalltor | 19,000 | ||
| Dortmund | Stadion Rote Erde | 10,000 | ||
| Duisburg | Schauinsland-Reisen-Arena | 31,500 | ||
| Spiesen-Elversberg | Waldstadion | 5,305 | ||
| Hallescher FC | Halle | Erdgas Sportpark | 15,057 | |
| Hansa Rostock | Rostock | DKB-Arena | 29,000 | |
| Heidenheim | Voith-Arena | 13,000 | ||
| Holstein Kiel | Kiel | Holstein-Stadion | 11,386 | |
| Jahn Regensburg | Regensburg | Jahnstadion | 12,500 | |
| Osnabrück | Osnatel-Arena | 16,667 | ||
| Preußen Münster | Münster | Preußenstadion | 15,050 | |
| RB Leipzig | Leipzig | Red Bull Arena | 44,345 | |
| 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 | Incoming manager | Date of appointment | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rot-Weiß Erfurt | Alois Schwartz | Resigned | 13 May 2013[3] | Pre-season |  Walter Kogler | 20 June 2013[4] | |
| SSV Jahn Regensburg |  Franciszek Smuda | Resigned | 14 May 2013[5] | Thomas Stratos | 11 June 2013[6] | ||
| Holstein Kiel | Thorsten Gutzeit | Resigned | 4 June 2013[7] | Karsten Neitzel | 18 June 2013[8] | ||
| VfL Osnabrück | Alexander Ukrow | End of tenure as caretaker | 22 June 2013 | Maik Walpurgis | 23 June 2013[9] | ||
| Hansa Rostock | Marc Fascher | End of contract | 30 June 2013[10] | Andreas Bergmann | 1 July 2013[11] | ||
| MSV Duisburg | Kosta Runjaić | Resigned | 1 July 2013[12] | Karsten Baumann | 8 July 2013[13] | ||
| SV Elversberg | Jens Kiefer | Resigned | 22 August 2013[14] | 19th | Dietmar Hirsch | 2 September 2013[15] | |
| Preußen Münster | Pavel Dochev | Sacked | 5 September 2013[16] | 16th | Ralf Loose | 15 September 2013[17] | |
| 1. FC Saarbrücken | Jürgen Luginger | Sacked | 5 September 2013[18] | 18th | Milan Šašić | 13 September 2013[19] | |
| Wacker Burghausen | Georgi Donkov | Sacked | 5 September 2013[20] | 20th | Uwe Wolf | 13 September 2013[21] | |
| Stuttgarter Kickers |  Massimo Morales | Sacked | 9 September 2013[22] | 18th | Horst Steffen | 30 September 2013[23] | |
| Chemnitzer FC | Gerd Schädlich | Resigned | 6 October 2013[24] | 15th | Karsten Heine | 9 October 2013[25] | |
| SV Wehen Wiesbaden | Peter Vollmann | Mutual consent | 21 October 2013[26] | 7th | Marc Kienle | 28 October 2013[27] | |
| SpVgg Unterhaching | Claus Schromm | Promoted to Director of Sport | 4 January 2014[28] | 10th | Manuel Baum | 4 January 2014 | |
| 1. FC Saarbrücken | Milan Šašić | Resigned | 10 February 2014[29] | 20th |  Fuat Kılıç | 12 February 2014[30] | |
| SpVgg Unterhaching | Manuel Baum | Sacked | 20 March 2014[31] | 18th | Christian Ziege | 20 March 2014 | |
| SV Elversberg | Dietmar Hirsch | Sacked | 14 April 2014[32] | 18th | Roland Seitz | 14 April 2014 | |
| Hansa Rostock | Andreas Bergmann | Sacked | 16 April 2014[33] | 12th | Dirk Lottner | 16 April 2014 |
As of 10 May 2014[34]
The following players were named as player of the month throughout the season.[35]
Kingsley Onuegbu (MSV Duisburg) David Blacha (Hansa Rostock)
