The 2011–12 season of Hertha BSC began on 31 July 2011 with a DFB-Pokal match against ZFC Meuselwitz, and ended on 15 May 2012 with the second leg of the Bundesliga relegation play-offs. For the first time since 2006–07, Hertha made it past the 2nd round of the DFB-Pokal, making it as far as the quarterfinals before losing to Borussia Mönchengladbach. In the Bundesliga, Hertha finished 16th, qualifying for the relegation play-off.

Review and events

Overview of season On 18 December, Hertha BSC fired head coach Markus Babbel after a disagreement with Michael Preetz. Preetz fired Babbel because there is no trust and so the club can "avert damage". Babbel he told Preetz that he would not sign a contract extension during the November international break while Preetz claim Babbel told him on 13 December. Babbel responded to Pretz's claim by stating that "when someone has another opinion, then maybe he wasn't listening properly". On 22 December, Michael Skibbe was named Babbel's replacement. On 12 February, Hertha BSC fired Skibbe after losing all 5 matches in charge. Otto Rehhagel was appointed as the clubs new manager on 18 February, on a deal until the end of the season.

Hertha BSC vs. Fortuna Düsseldorf

The matches Fortuna Düsseldorf won a spot in the promotion/relegation playoff against first division side Hertha BSC.

First leg Going into the playoff, Fortuna Düsseldorf hadn't been in the top flight for 15 seasons. They won the first leg against Hertha BSC 1:2 in Berlin's Olympic Stadium from goals from Thomas Bröker and an own goal from Hertha BSC's Adrián Ramos.

Second leg In the return leg in Düsseldorf, North Rhine-Westphalia, both teams drew 2-2. Fortuna Düsseldorf won on aggregate 4–3. However, the second half was marred by trouble. Hertha BSC supporter threw flares onto the field. Hertha BSC supporters did this after Fortuna Düsseldorf scored their second goal of the night to lead 2–1. The other problem of the night was when several Fortuna Düsseldorf supporters ran onto the field with about a minute left. It took 21 minutes to restore order and stoppage time ended up being 28 minutes by the time the final whistle blew. With Fortuna Düsseldorf winning the 2 legged affair, they returned to the Bundesliga after 15 seasons.

The appeal Hertha BSC appealed the result of the match. The German Football Association will be meeting on 18 May 2012 to discuss the incidents of the second leg. Campino, singer for Die Toten Hosen, called Hertha BSC's protest "indecent". The hearing at the German Football Association last for six hours. The panel's decision will not be known until a further meeting on Monday. It is expected to make a decision at 15:00 CET. The German Football Association stated that any possible disciplinary action against either club or any of the players will be taken at a later date. The players being investigated are Levan Kobiashvili, Christian Lell, Thomas Kraft and Andre Mijatović. 2nd leg referee Wolfgang Stark was a key witness at the first hearing at the German Football Association.

Sports law expert Michael Lehner said that Hertha BSC can hope for replay after the second leg of the promotion/relegation playoff. Lehner went on to state, "Is not the game has been properly placed on the principle of equal opportunity at the end there was a break in terms of game development" and "The team of Hertha BSC through the fault of third parties a real opportunity has been deprived of the game even. get why there should be a replay from a legal point of view".

The sports court of the German Football Association rejected the appeal of Hertha BSC. Hertha BSC will pay the cost of the proceedings. Hertha BSC appealed the decision of the German Football Association's sports court. The sports German Football Association court president Hans Eberhard Lorenz stated, "The appeal was unsuccessful, because no ground of opposition was to prove the referee has traded at any time conform to the rules, and the alleged Hertha BSC-sided weakness due to the interruption could not be proven.." He also stated that "There was no Berlin players injured or assaulted or were needed to be replaced. Had this been the case, the objection would have been done." The Federal Court of the German Football Association confirmed the Sports Court decision. Hertha BSC can appeal the decision to the Sports Court for Arbitration. After the final verdict, Hertha BSC players went on vacation while Fortuna Düsseldorf players were not immediately released for vacation.

The disciplinary panel of the German Football Association decided that Fortuna Düsseldorf must play their first home match of next season with no fans for the fans running onto the field during the 2nd leg of the promotion/relegation playoff. The club was also hit with a six figure fine.

Other incidents Another incident reported by Die Welt the next day was that Hertha BSC players attacked second leg referee Wolfgang Stark. Stark pressed charges against an unknown player for assaulting him off the field. Hertha BSC have apologized for the conduct of some of the club's players. The four players are accused of verbally and physically harassing the referee. The German Football Association (DFB) handed down suspensions for Levan Kobiashvili, who was banned for a year, Christian Lell, who was banned for six matches, Thomas Kraft, who was banned for five matches and Andre Mijatović, who was banned for four matches. Kobiashvili's suspension was reduced to seven and a half months and Lell's ban was eventually reduced to 5 matches.

Match results

Legend

Bundesliga Note: Results are given with Hertha BSC score listed first. GameDateVenueOpponentResultF–AAttendanceHertha BSC Goalscorers1 6 August 2011 Olympiastadion, Berlin 1. FC Nürnberg 0–1 61,118 2 13 August 2011 Imtech Arena, Hamburg Hamburger SV 2–2 52,100 Torun , Mijatović 3 21 August 2011 AWD-Arena, Hannover Hannover 96 1–1 41,200 Lasogga 4 26 August 2011 Olympiastadion, Berlin VfB Stuttgart 1–0 52,232 Raffael 5 10 September 2011 Signal Iduna Park, Dortmund Borussia Dortmund 2–1 80,720 Raffael , Niemeyer 6 17 September 2011 Olympiastadion, Berlin FC Augsburg 2–2 48,385 Lell , Torun 7 25 September 2011 Weserstadion, Bremen Werder Bremen 1–2 40,760 Ramos 8 1 October 2011 Olympiastadion, Berlin 1. FC Köln 3–0 59,491 Lasogga Raffael 9 15 October 2011 Allianz Arena, Munich Bayern Munich 0–4 69,000 10 22 October 2011 Olympiastadion, Berlin Mainz 05 0–0 47,064 11 29 October 2011 Volkswagen Arena, Wolfsburg VfL Wolfsburg 3–2 30,000 Raffael , Kobiashvili , Lasogga 12 5 November 2011 Olympiastadion, Berlin Borussia Mönchengladbach 1–2 60,556 Ramos 13 19 November 2011 badenova-Stadion, Freiburg SC Freiburg 2–2 21,500 Ramos Niemeyer 14 26 November 2011 Olympiastadion, Berlin Bayer Leverkusen 3–3 44,541 Lasogga , Toprak 15 3 December 2011 Fritz-Walter-Stadion, Kaiserslautern 1. FC Kaiserslautern 1–1 36,000 Raffael 16 9 December 2011 Olympiasadion, Berlin Schalke 04 1–2 52,382 Ramos 17 17 December 2011 Rhein-Neckar-Arena, Sinsheim 1899 Hoffenheim 1–1 28,000 Hubník 18 21 January 2012 easyCredit-Stadion, Nuremberg 1. FC Nürnberg 0–2 39,117 19 28 January 2012 Olympiastadion, Berlin Hamburger SV 1–2 49,168 Lasogga 20 4 February 2012 Olympiastadion, Berlin Hannover 96 0–1 36,997 21 11 February 2012 Mercedes-Benz Arena, Stuttgart VfB Stuttgart 0–5 45,000 22 18 February 2012 Olympiastadion, Berlin Borussia Dortmund 0–1 74,244 23 25 February 2012 SGL arena, Augsburg FC Augsburg 0–3 29,123 24 3 March 2012 Olympiastadion, Berlin Werder Bremen 1–0 52,744 Rukavytsya 25 10 March 2012 RheinEnergieStadion, Cologne 1. FC Köln 0–1 48,000 26 17 March 2012 Olympiastadion, Berlin Bayern Munich 0–6 74,244 27 24 March 2012 Coface Arena, Mainz Mainz 05 3–1 33,152 Ben-Hatira , Ramos 28 31 March 2012 Olympiastadion, Berlin VfL Wolfsburg 1–4 46,388 Kobiashvili 29 7 April 2012 Borussia Park, Mönchengladbach Borussia Mönchengladbach 0–0 52,691 30 10 April 2012 Olympiastadion, Berlin SC Freiburg 1–2 45,778 Hubník 31 14 April 2012 BayArena, Leverkusen Bayer Leverkusen 3–3 27,000 Lasogga , Torun 32 21 April 2012 Olympiastadion, Berlin 1. FC Kaiserslautern 1–2 51,461 Niemeyer 33 28 April 2012 Veltins-Arena, Gelsenkirchen Schalke 04 0–4 34 5 May 2012 Olympiastadion, Berlin 1899 Hoffenheim 3–1 51,834 Ben-Hatira , Raffael

Relegation play-off As 16th-placed team, Hertha BSC faces the 3rd-placed 2011–12 2. Bundesliga side in a two-legged play-off. The winner on aggregate score after both matches will earn a spot in the 2012–13 Bundesliga.

Dates and times of these matches were determined by the Deutsche Fußball-Liga as following:

DFB-Pokal Note: Results are given with Hertha BSC score listed first. GameDateVenueOpponentResultF–AAttendanceHertha BSC Goalscorers1 31 July 2011 bluechip-Arena, Meuselwitz ZFC Meuselwitz 4–0 7,707 Ramos Ottl Ebert 2 26 October 2011 Georg-Melches-Stadion, Essen Rot-Weiss Essen 3–0 14,000 Ramos , Lasogga , Rukavytsya 3 21 December 2011 Olympiastadion, Berlin 1. FC Kaiserslautern 3–1 40,944 Ramos , Lasogga , Ebert 4 8 February 2012 Olympiastadion, Berlin Borussia Mönchengladbach 0–2 a.e.t. 47,465

Player information

Roster and statistics

Roster, goals and appearances

Disciplinary action Disciplinary records for 2011–12 league matches. Players with 1 card or more included only. Last updated on 5 May 2012

No.Nat.Player 2 Christian Lell 11 1 03 Levan Kobiashvili 6 1 14 Roman Hubník 4 0 05 Andre Mijatović 7 0 07 Maik Franz 3 0 08 Andreas Ottl 3 0 19 Adrián Ramos 4 1 010 Raffael 4 0 111 Tunay Torun 3 0 014 Sebastian Neumann 2 1 017 Änis Ben-Hatira 2 0 018 Peter Niemeyer 7 1 019 Pierre-Michel Lasogga 4 0 020 Patrick Ebert 6 0 023 Fanol Perdedaj 2 0 027 Alfredo Morales 3 0 035 Thomas Kraft 3 0 0

Summer Transfers

In:

Out:

Winter transfers

In:

Out:

See also 2011–12 Bundesliga 2011–12 DFB-Pokal Hertha BSC

Sources