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.
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.
Teams 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.
Stadiums and locations 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 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
Personnel and sponsorships TeamHead coachTeam captainKitmakerShirt sponsor Alemannia Aachen René van Eck Albert Streit (to January)NikeGaller Arminia Bielefeld Stefan Krämer Thomas HübenerSallerVacant SV Babelsberg 03 Dieter Timme Daniel ReicheUmbroEWP (Energie und Wasser Potsdam) Borussia Dortmund II David Wagner Florian HübnerPumaEvonik Chemnitzer FC Gerd Schädlich Carsten SträßerSalleraetka Communication Center SV Darmstadt 98 Dirk Schuster Jan ZimmermannNikeSoftware AG Hallescher FC Sven Köhler Maik WagefeldReebokHelplus Hansa Rostock Marc Fascher Sebastian PelzerNikeVeolia 1. FC Heidenheim Frank Schmidt Marc SchnattererNikeHartmann Gruppe Karlsruher SC Markus Kauczinski Dirk OrlishausenHummelKlaiber Markisen Kickers Offenbach Rico Schmitt Sead MehićNikeEVO (Energieversorgung Offenbach) VfL Osnabrück Claus-Dieter WollitzUntil Matchday 37 Claus CostaPumaSparkasse Osnabrück Preußen Münster Pavel Dochev Stefan KühneNikeTuja Zeitarbeit Rot-Weiß Erfurt Alois Schwartz Nils Pfingsten-ReddigJakoE.ON Thüringen 1. FC Saarbrücken Jürgen Luginger Marc LerandyNikeVictor's Residenz-Hotels VfB Stuttgart II Jürgen Kramny Tobias RathgebPumaGAZI Stuttgarter Kickers Massimo Morales Vincenzo MarcheseUmbroSubaru SpVgg Unterhaching Claus Schromm Stefan RiedererAdidasVacant Wacker Burghausen Georgi Donkov Alexander EberleinHummelOMV SV Wehen Wiesbaden Peter Vollmann Nils-Ole BookNikeno shirt sponsor
Managerial changes Team Outgoing manager Manner of departure Date of vacancy Position in table Replaced by Date of appointmentSV Babelsberg 03 Dietmar DemuthSacked15 May 2012Off-season Christian Benbennek15 May 2012SpVgg Unterhaching Heiko HerrlichResigned25 May 2012Off-season Claus Schromm28 June 2012Wacker Burghausen Reinhard StumpfEnd of contract30 June 2012Off-season Georgi Donkov1 July 2012Rot-Weiß Erfurt Stefan EmmerlingSacked25 August 201220th Alois Schwartz10 September 2012SV Darmstadt 98 Kosta RunjaićSigned by MSV Duisburg2 September 201218th Jürgen Seeberger5 September 2012Hansa Rostock Wolfgang WolfSacked3 September 201214th Marc Fascher5 September 2012Alemannia Aachen Ralf AußemSacked3 September 201213th René van Eck10 September 2012Stuttgarter Kickers Dirk SchusterSacked19 November 201218th Guido Buchwald (interim)20 December 2012SV Darmstadt 98 Jürgen SeebergerSacked17 December 201220th Dirk Schuster28 December 2012Stuttgarter Kickers Guido BuchwaldAppointment of permanent manager20 December 201218th Gerd Dais20 December 2012Kickers Offenbach Arie van LentSacked6 February 201312th Rico Schmitt13 February 2013Stuttgarter Kickers Gerd DaisSacked7 April 201317th Massimo Morales7 April 2013SV Babelsberg 03 Christian BenbennekSacked9 April 201318th Almedin Civa (interim)19 April 2013SV Babelsberg 03 Almedin CivaAppointment of permanent manager29 April 201318th Dieter Timme29 April 2013VfL Osnabrück Claus-Dieter WollitzSacked17 May 20134th Alexander Ukrow (interim)17 May 2013
League table
Results
Season statistics
Top goalscorers Source: kicker (German) RankPlayerClubGoals1 Anton FinkChemnitzer FC20 Fabian KlosArminia Bielefeld203 Marco GrüttnerStuttgarter Kickers184 Hakan ÇalhanoğluKarlsruher SC175 Marc Schnatterer1. FC Heidenheim16 Matthew TaylorSC Preußen Münster16 Marcel Ziemer1. FC Saarbrücken168 Zlatko JanjićSV Wehen Wiesbaden15 Koen van der BiezenKarlsruher SC15 Simon ZollerVfL Osnabrück15
Player awards
The following players were named as player of the month throughout the season.
August: Hakan Çalhanoğlu (Karlsruher SC) September: Ondrej Smetana (Hansa Rostock) October: Ondrej Smetana (Hansa Rostock) November: Rouwen Hennings (Karlsruher SC) February: Dirk Orlishausen (Karlsruher SC) March: Dirk Orlishausen (Karlsruher SC) April: Koen van der Biezen (Karlsruher SC)
Hakan Çalhanoğlu was voted as player of the season.
Team of the Year
The following players were named as the team of the year.
GK: Patrick Platins (Arminia Bielefeld) RB: Philipp Klingmann (Karlsruher SC) CB: Jan Mauersberger (Karlsruher SC) LB: Stephan Salger (Arminia Bielefeld) CB: Manuel Hornig (Arminia Bielefeld) RM: Sebastian Hille (Arminia Bielefeld) CM: Dominic Peitz (Karlsruher SC) CM: Tom Schütz (Arminia Bielefeld) LM: Hakan Çalhanoğlu (Karlsruher SC) CF: Fabian Klos (Arminia Bielefeld) CF: Koen van der Biezen (Karlsruher SC) Coach: Stefan Krämer (Arminia Bielefeld)
References
External links 3rd Liga on DFB page