Round 36, May 8-10

Nothing is completely decided, but it’s down to the last spot on both ends.

Bielefeld isn’t going up just yet. They’re in a commanding position to get auto qualification, but they were only able to draw at Wehen, so they couldn’t finish things off. However next week they face Regensburg at home and should wrap up the promotion.

Duisburg has continued their good run, five in a row. They’ve set up the “final” with Kiel next week for the automatic spot. Their win in Erfurt was routine.

Kiel kept their options open as they blasted Fortuna Köln. The Holsteiners seem ready for their clash with Duisburg, but they probably need to win.

Stuttgarter Kickers are probably out, despite a decent effort at Preußen Münster. The silver lining is that they’ve pretty much wrapped up 4th place, barring getting slaughtered in the next couple of matches. The 4th place at least means automatic seeding into the lucrative main round of next year’s DFB-Cup.

Dortmund-II was impressive in grabbing their last chance and thumping Energie Cottbus away. The BVB-Bubis still could sneak through, as they trail Mainz by two points. Mainz got a point against Osnabrück, so they remain with an advanatge for the lone safety spot remaining.

Unterhaching looked like they’re going down. The mini-Münch(en)kins were ripped at Dresden, and their inferior goal difference leaves them at a disadvantage. But it’s only two points, so a win next week could still give them a chance. Justin Eilts nailed a hat-trick for Dynamo.

Rostock still needs to be careful, as their loss at Stuttgart-II still leaves them mathematically risky. The VfB U23 however has secured their survival.

Total attendance 58,474 (avg 5,847), 35.2% capacity

VfB Stuttgart II    -  	Hansa Rostock	       3:2 (2:1)    1,200
1. FSV Mainz 05 II  -  	VfL Osnabrück	       1:1 (0:1)      844
Energie Cottbus	    -  	Borussia Dortmund II   0:3 (0:0)    7,386
Dynamo Dresden	    -  	SpVgg Unterhaching     5:1 (2:0)   20,202
Preußen Münster	    -  	Stuttgarter Kickers    2:3 (1:0)    6,096
Holstein Kiel	    -  	Fortuna Köln	       4:0 (1:0)    8,411
SV Wehen Wiesbaden  -  	Arminia Bielefeld      1:1 (1:1)    5,667
Jahn Regensburg     -  	Chemnitzer FC	       0:1 (0:0)    2,304
Rot-Weiß Erfurt	    -   MSV Duisburg	       0:2 (0:1)    4,864
SG S-hof Großaspach -  	Hallescher FC	       2:1 (0:1)    1,500


 1  Arminia Bielefeld (A)	36   21   7  8    72:39  +33 	  70
 2  MSV Duisburg	  	36   19  11  6 	  60:38  +22 	  68
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 3  Holstein Kiel	  	36   18  13  5 	  52:25  +27 	  67
-------------------------------------------------------------------- 
 4  Stuttgarter Kickers	  	36   17  10  9 	  59:47  +12 	  61 
 5  Chemnitzer FC	  	36   16  7  13 	  41:35  +6 	  55 
 6  Preußen Münster	  	36   15  9  12 	  52:46  +6 	  54 
 7  Hallescher FC	  	36   15  8  13 	  50:49  +1 	  53 
 8  Energie Cottbus (A)	  	36   14  11 11 	  47:47   0 	  53 
 9  SV Wehen Wiesbaden	  	36   14  8  14 	  52:42  +10 	  50 
10  Dynamo Dresden (A)	  	36   14  8  14 	  47:45  +2 	  50 
11  VfL Osnabrück	  	36   13  9  14 	  47:51  -4 	  48 
12  Rot-Weiß Erfurt	  	36   13  8  15 	  46:54  -8 	  47 
13  SG Sonnenhof Großaspach (N)	36   12  10 14 	  39:57  -18 	  46 
14  Fortuna Köln (N)	  	36   11  10 15 	  36:42  -6 	  43 
15  VfB Stuttgart II	  	36   12  7  17 	  45:55  -10 	  43 
16  Hansa Rostock	  	36   11  8  17 	  53:65  -12 	  41 
17  1. FSV Mainz 05 II (N)	36    9  11 16 	  40:50  -10 	  38
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18  Borussia Dortmund II	36    7  15 14 	  37:47  -10 	  36 
19  SpVgg Unterhaching	  	36   10  8  18 	  50:66  -16 	  36 
20  Jahn Regensburg	  	36    7  6  23 	  38:63  -25 	  27


A = Absteiger just relegated 
N = Neuling just promoted

1st line: Promotion to 2.Liga
2nd line: Promotion Playoff with 2.Liga 16th place 
3rd line: Relegation to Regionalliga

Bayern München has not had a particularily good recent run. After their brilliant destrction of FC Porto, they’ve really sucked. Struggled to win against Hertha BSC, then knocked out of the DFB-Cup at home by rivals Dortmund, disgracefully not being able to make a single penalty. Then pretty much owned by Leverkusen, albiet with a somewhat “Rumpf-elf”. But that was part of the master plan to face off against Barcelona in the Champions League semis. Well, apparently only Manuel Neuer was with it, as he was brilliant, but Leo Messi and Barcelona were relentless and routed the German giants 3-0. Seems unlikely they can make that up in the return.

A lot of fingers are now beginning to point to Pep Guardiola. Remember that Jupp Heynckes won everything, including the Champions League before being essentially “forced” to retire. Bayern got their man, Guardiola, but hasn’t been able to duplicate Heynckes’ success. Furthermore, he has imposed his boring tikki-taka that often puts people to sleep. Bayern is known to be demanding, so chances are that Pep is out unless he wins everything next year. Maybe they replace him with Jürgen Klopp, hehehe.

The relegation battle is huge, and is likely to go down to the wire. The clubs listed below are the ones that are fighting for survival. From what I’ve gathered, most clubs figure on cutting budget at least 50% if they go down. And unlike the Premier League, there aren’t those lucrative “parachute payments” from the massive TV contracts around to help out. Most players have clauses that renew their contracts for the 2.Liga, but the better ones can almost always force a transfer, and usually the club can’t afford to turn down an offer.

13th Hertha BSC Berlin 34 pts

Remaining Fixtures:
A Dortmund
H Frankfurt
A Hoffenheim

Berlin is probably safe, although sucking could perhaps drop them into the drop playoff. However they have a home match against Frankfurt, which is basically just dicking around, and that is likely full points. So their prospects are good and they should be around next season.

14th Hamburger SV 31 pts

Remaining Fixtures:
H Freiburg
A Stuttgart
H Schalke

Relegation would be a disaster. HSV is of course the only “eternal Bundesligist”, having been every season since founding in 1963. But the financial and sporting perspectives would be dire as well in the case of a drop. Star players would likely all be gone, as the salary budget would drop about 50%, sponsors have “outs”, and some of their talented non-stars might be able to force moves. As it is, a house cleaning is likely with some of the high-priced underperformers (70% of the squad). However, Bruno Labbadia might just be lucky with his timing as new coach, and the schedule is quite favorable. Two matches against fellow strugglers, and a home match against a less than impressive Schalke give them decent prospects of staying up.

15th SC Paderborn 07 (N) 31 pts

Remaining Fixtures:
H Wolfsburg
A Schalke
H Stuttgart

Paderborn would actually whether a relegation fairly well. Their salary budget was only around 14 million euros, which is half of even somebody like Freiburg, who are the next lowest. Management has already stated that even in the event of relegation, they wouldn’t go back to the previous 2.Liga budget of 8 million, so they could be competitive. They many problem is that the best players that have proven Bundesliga quality, such as midfielder Moritz Stoppelkamp, would probably receive offers. A difficult next two matches, and then perhaps a “final” at home to Stuttgart is also a tough end run.

16th SC Freiburg 30 pts

Remaining Fixtures:
A HSV
H Bayern
A Hannover

Freiburg has been here before. Although their player budget would drop from 28 million to around 14, that would still be decent in the 2.Liga. But some of their best players would likely be offered 1st division transfers. Nevertheless, they are prepared for a bounceback if needed. Their run in is fairly difiicult, since they likely lose their only home tie against Bayern, and the two away matches are at fellow strugglers who will also be desperate for points.

17th Hannover 96 30 pts

Relegation would be a disaster for Hannover. They expected to challenge for Europe and and are on the verge a collapse. The club is not prepared for budget slashing in the 2.Liga, and would lose all their best players in the event of a drop.

Remaining Fixtures:
H Bremen
A Augsburg
H Freiburg

18th VfB Stuttgart 27 pts

Oddly enough, Stuttgart might be able to survive a drop. The club has been planning, and although the salary budget would get slashed and star players like Harnik are likely gone, sponsors have apparently decided to stay, and the club financially would be OK for at least one 2.Liga year (the expectation is for average attendance to be around 30,000+, which seems reasonable.) And they may need it, as they have ground to catch up. They have to win both their home matches and set themselves up for a final in Paderborn. They have the talent to do it, but seem to do something stupid that costs points, so it seems likely they will be going down and test their theory of 2.Liga recovery…

Remaining Fixtures:
H Mainz
H HSV
A Paderborn

If I had to pick, I would say that Paderborn, Freiburg and Stuttgart go down, although any one of those could qualify for the playoff spot.

Round 31, May 1-4

Some important “statements” were made in crucial matches at top and bottom. A couple of relegation threatened sides had huge wins against favored teams. A couple of others folded like wimps. One club hoping for promotion took a huge leap in a direct confrontation with a rival to stay alive.

Darmstadt needed a win against Kaiserslautern, whereas the visitors could almost book their Bundesliga ticket with a win. Indeed, the 98ers played like there was no tomorrow and overpowered FCK in the first half. The visitors had been running strong recently, but were simply outplayed by the hungrier team. They still have the edge, but the advantage has shrunk.

Erzgebirge Aue desperately needed something, and they faced Karlsruhe, who could jump into promotion with a win. The Auers outhustled the guests, and although they benefited from some terrible KSC defending, couldn’t get the second goal. Then KSC began to show their technical superiority in the 2nd half and equalized. Erzgebirge wildly threw everything forward, and were again rewarded by sloppy Karlsruhe defending. A huge win that gives them hope.

St.Pauli also made a statement that they want to survive. They faced the antithesis of everything the Paulista fans root for, corporate “Rasenball”. It was a fierce battle, and the Hamburgers came out on top, getting a massive win, pulling themselves out of the drop zone barely.

It was time for Greuther Fürth to “put up or shut up”. They’ve been sliding towards the drop, and desperately needed to apply the brakes. They answered critics with a thumping of Fortuna Düsseldorf. This broke their nine game winless streak and keeps their head barely above water. Fortuna is going nowhere, and they played like a club waiting for summer vacation.

Two threatened sides also made statements. Namely “We suck!”. 1860 was owned by Union Berlin. The Lions seemingly tried, but they were too incompetant, and Union easily got their first road win of 2015, and actually their first in 14 tries against 1860. München is in huge trouble and it is looking grim.

Aalen also got biatch-slapped. They have shown some spark, and you’d expect against a listless Bochum (whole season) they’d have a chance. Instead they got rolled like a joint and kicked in the balls. Both sides had players kicked out after only 18 minutes, but Bochum was the one that woke up and mercilessly dissected the hapless hosts. Aalen tried a late comeback, but that train had left the station..

Braunschweig looked like their last slim promotion chance was slipping away. FSV Frankfurt was fighting hard, and the Lions could get no advantage. But Danish Striker Emil Berggreen scored a double in the 2nd period that gives Eintracht some small hope, at least for the playoff spot. FSV has probably done enough work to stay safe from relegation.

An entertaining game in the “who cares?” match between Sandhausen and Heidenheim. Both clubs worked hard enough through the season to get the points to say up, and can presumably relax…

On Monday, Ingolstadt had a rare sellout as they strengthened their position at the top, splitting the points with Nürnberg.

Total attendance 128,641 (avg 14,293), 59.4% capacity, sellouts in Darmstadt, Hamburg, Ingolstadt

 	
Eintr. Braunschweig  -   FSV Frankfurt	        2:0 (0:0)   21,050

                    1:0  Berggreen (59., Decarli)
                    2:0  Berggreen (69., Boland)

SV Darmstadt 98	     -   1. FC Kaiserslautern	3:2 (3:1)   16,150 *

                    0:1  Demirbay (13., direct freekick)
                    1:1  Bregerie (19., penalty, Heller)
                    2:1  König (22.)
                    3:1  Behrens (40.)
                    3:2  Stöger (88., direct freekick)

SpVgg Greuther Fürth -   Fortuna Düsseldorf	3:0 (1:0)   11,845

                    1:0  Stiepermann (29., Lam)
                    2:0  Zulj (49., Schröck)
                    3:0  Sukalo (66., Stiepermann)

1860 München	     -   1. FC Union Berlin	0:3 (0:1)   18,800

                    0:1  Polter (19., Quiring)
                    0:2  Kreilach (80., Schönheim)
                    0:3  Polter (89., Nebihi)


FC St. Pauli	     -   RasenBall Leipzig	1:0 (1:0)   23,584 *

                    1:0  Thy (45., Kalla)

VfR Aalen	     -   VfL Bochum	        2:4 (0:2)    8,566

                    0:1  O. Bulut (16., Perthel)
                    0:2  Terodde (32., Terrazzino)
                    0:3  Terrazzino (54., Gregoritsch)
                    0:4  Quaner (62., own goal, Celozzi)
                    1:4  Steinhöfer (66., penalty, Quaner)
                    2:4  Ademi (75., Ofosu-Ayeh)

SV Sandhausen	     -   1. FC Heidenheim	2:2 (0:0)    4,546

                    0:1  Niederlechner (54., Heise)
                    1:1  Bouhaddouz (71.)
                    1:2  Niederlechner (75., Heise)
                    2:2  Jovanovic (79., Kulovits)

Erzgebirge Aue	     -   Karlsruher SC	        3:1 (1:0)    9,100

                    1:0  Mugosa (19.)
                    1:1  Torres (71., Meffert)
                    2:1  Mugosa (75., Hertner)
                    3:1  Fandrich (85.)

FC Ingolstadt 04     -   1. FC Nürnberg	        1:1 (0:0)   15,000 * 


 1  FC Ingolstadt 04	  	31   16  12  3 	  49:27  +22 	  60 
 2  1. FC Kaiserslautern	31   14  12  5 	  44:28  +16 	  54
--------------------------------------------------------------------
 3  SV Darmstadt 98 (N)	  	31   13  14  4 	  42:25  +17 	  53
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 4  Karlsruher SC	  	31   13  13  5 	  42:25  +17 	  52 
 5  Eintracht Braunschweig (A)	31   15  5  11 	  43:34  +9 	  50 
 6  RasenBallsport Leipzig (N)	31   12  11  8 	  36:25  +11 	  47 
 7  Fortuna Düsseldorf	  	31   10  11  10   44:47  -3 	  41 
 8  1. FC Union Berlin	  	31   10  11  10   40:48  -8 	  41 
 9  1. FC Heidenheim (N)	31   10  9   12   40:40   0 	  39 
10  1. FC Nürnberg (A)	  	31   11  6   14   36:43  -7 	  39 
11  VfL Bochum	  	        31    8  14  9 	  49:49   0 	  38 
12  SV Sandhausen	  	31    9  11  11   28:35  -7 	  38 
13  FSV Frankfurt	  	31    9  9   13   37:47  -10 	  36 
14  SpVgg Greuther Fürth	31    7  13  11   33:37  -4 	  34 
15  FC St. Pauli	  	31    8  7   16   33:49  -16 	  31
--------------------------------------------------------------------
16  Erzgebirge Aue	  	31    8  7   16   28:44  -16 	  31
--------------------------------------------------------------------
17  1860 München	  	31    7  9   15   38:48  -10 	  30 
18  VfR Aalen	  	        31    6  12  13   29:40  -11 	  28
	
Aalen deducted two points for being wankers, err, financial shenanigans.

1st line: Promotion to Bundesliga
2nd line: Playoff with 16th Bundesliga
3rd line: Playoff with no.3 of 3.Liga
4th line: Relegation to 3.Liga

A = Absteiger just relegated 
N = Neuling just promoted

Round 35, May 2-3

It’s officially over for Regensburg, as Jahn becomes the first relegated side, losing in Halle. Next year the “Bayern-liga”

Duisburg is driving to the 2.Liga. The Zebras beat down Preußen Münster to vault over Kiel into 2nd. After a near collapse in teh relegation year, MSV has recovered and

Bielefeld was hoping to drive in the final nail for promotion, but was unable to beat down Kiel. The hosts were much improved from the midweek 0-4 Cup drubbing at the hands of Wolfsburg, but despite nursing the lead until the very end, they just weren’t able to put things away. Kiel remains on target, but they will have to battle out with Duisburg for the 2nd promotion spot.

Unterhaching showed great spirit in coming from behind constantly against Cottbus and wringing out a draw. However the fierce relegation struggle remains. Mainz-II got a critical win against in-form Sonnnehof, and was able to leap over the mini-Münch(en)kins

Stuttgarter Kickers are almost done. They needed a win, but were stunned at home by Dresden. Things looked especially grim as they were down 1-3 and down a man. But they put in a last great effort to level the score, only to lose at the end. Even with a point, things were looking grim for promotion, and it is just about finished now.

Dortmund-II took their last slim chance to save themselves and defeated VfB-II. It’s still going to be very difficult, but they have a chance. The Neon Bubis are coached by ex-US international David Wagner.

Erfurt gets a draw! Woo-hoo! OK, there was a tiny reason to celebrate for RWE in their draw at Fortuna Köln. If they had lost Erfurt would have broken the 3.Liga record for consecutive losses at 9 (dubious honor goes to Werder Bremen-II). Of course even this will come with some flak, since they blew a two goal lead and should have had a win…

Total attendance 83,651 (avg 8,365), 46.9% capacity

1. FSV Mainz 05 II   -   SG S-hof Großaspach	3:1 (2:1)      746
Hallescher FC	     -   Jahn Regensburg	2:1 (2:0)    6,054
Chemnitzer FC	     -   SV Wehen Wiesbaden	2:1 (1:1)    5,200
Arminia Bielefeld    -   Holstein Kiel	        2:2 (2:1)   24,249
Fortuna Köln	     -   Rot-Weiß Erfurt	2:2 (2:2)    1,623
Stuttgarter Kickers  -   Dynamo Dresden	        3:4 (1:2)    8,000
SpVgg Unterhaching   -   Energie Cottbus	3:3 (1:2)    3,000 	
Borussia Dortmund II -   VfB Stuttgart II	2:0 (0:0)    2,516
VfL Osnabrück	     -   Hansa Rostock	        1:0 (1:0)    9,500
MSV Duisburg	     -   Preußen Münster	2:1 (1:0)   22,763


 1  Arminia Bielefeld (A)	35   21  6   8 	  71:38  +33 	  69 
 2  MSV Duisburg	  	35   18  11  6 	  58:38  +20 	  65
--------------------------------------------------------------------
 3  Holstein Kiel	  	35   17  13  5 	  48:25  +23 	  64
--------------------------------------------------------------------
 4  Stuttgarter Kickers	  	35   16  10  9 	  56:45  +11 	  58 
 5  Preußen Münster	  	35   15  9  11 	  50:43  +7 	  54 
 6  Energie Cottbus (A)	  	35   14  11 10 	  47:44  +3 	  53 
 7  Hallescher FC	  	35   15  8  12 	  49:47  +2 	  53 
 8  Chemnitzer FC	  	35   15  7  13 	  40:35  +5 	  52 
 9  SV Wehen Wiesbaden	  	35   14  7  14 	  51:41  +10 	  49 
10  Dynamo Dresden (A)	  	35   13  8  14 	  42:44  -2 	  47 
11  VfL Osnabrück	  	35   13  8  14 	  46:50  -4 	  47 
12  Rot-Weiß Erfurt	  	35   13  8  14 	  46:52  -6 	  47 
13  Fortuna Köln (N)	  	35   11  10 14 	  36:38  -2 	  43 
14  SG Sonnenhof Großaspach (N)	35   11  10 14 	  37:56  -19 	  43 
15  Hansa Rostock	  	35   11  8  16 	  51:62  -11 	  41 
16  VfB Stuttgart II	  	35   11  7  17 	  42:53  -11 	  40 
17  1. FSV Mainz 05 II (N)	35   9 	 10 16 	  39:49  -10 	  37
--------------------------------------------------------------------
18  SpVgg Unterhaching	  	35   10  8  17 	  49:61  -12 	  36 
19  Borussia Dortmund II	35   6 	 15 14 	  34:47  -13 	  33 
20  Jahn Regensburg	  	35   7 	 6  22 	  38:62  -24 	  27

A = Absteiger just relegated 
N = Neuling just promoted

1st line: Promotion to 2.Liga
2nd line: Promotion Playoff with 2.Liga 16th place 
3rd line: Relegation to Regionalliga

Round 31, May 2-3

The relegation battle remains the primary focus in The Bundesliga. The bottom five clubs are scrambling to get points, and only Stuttgart seems to be lagging. The fierce battle seems likely to go down to the wire, and even Hertha Berlin, which looked completely safe, may be a bit nervous.

Hamburg might have been given up for dead, but perhaps their latest coaching change came at the right moment. Usually you get a short-term bonus when the new coach comes in, and Bruno Labbadia may be the beneficiary. HSV travelled to Mainz and got a huge away win that lifts them out of the drop. It was a decent performance, never letting Mainz control the match.

Paderborn got a stunning win at Freiburg and have suddenly made themselves relevant again. This is the type of match you’d expect Freiburg to win, given they have lots of experience in relegation battles. Indeed, the Breisgauer dominated the first period, and took the lead as on-loan Nils Petersen stroked home once again. It seemed like they would have no trouble holding on, but Paderborn coach Andre Breitenreiter decided to go for broke. He threw everything into attack and brought on more offensive players – and hos moves worked brilliantly. Lukas Rupp got both goals, Mahir Saglik assisted on the 2nd. Freiburg was stunned an reacted with last minute furious attack that resulted in a shot crashing off the post, but that was it.

Hannover had perhaps their best performance of the year (2015 that is). The 96ers faced off at Wolfsburg in a Niedersachsen derby and should have lost. The VWs are in decent form and the 96ers have stunk. And Wolfsburg was up by two goals at half-time and cruising. However Hannover showed fight that has been lacking since winterbreak and came storming back to salvage a point, the piece-de-resistance a bicycle-kick goal by Sane from almost top of the box. Despite their heroics, the 96ers drop into the relegation zone given the other results.

Stuttgart continues to have no luck. VfB put in a decent performance at Schalke, who have been struggling. The Blues got an early boost as Huntelaar scored – his first in something like 1,100 minutes. But Stuttagrt fought back and surprisingly took the lead. Schalke reacted with gumption, something that has been missing recently. Huntelaar scored again, and then at the death, A Stuttgart own goal gave them the win. It’s not over, but time is running out for VfB.

Normally Bayern München losing would be the headline, but this wasn’t too unexpected. Pep Guardiola wasn’t too happy with the midweek DFB-Cup failure against Dortmund, and decided also to rest some players for Champions League. So teh champs showed up with a make shift side that included youngsters like Gaudino, Weiser and Streider. Dinosaur Claudio Pizarro started, and was eventually replaced by another youngster, Görtler. So a determined Leverkusen side could very well be expected to have some advantage. By and large the Aspirins were the better team, although World Champion Mario Götze wasted a coupe of sitters in embarrassing fashion. Hakan Calhanhoglu brought Leverkusen into the lead with another of his wonderful freekicks, and the home was on their way to victory.

Hoffenheim and Dortmund battled to a fair draw, as both teams try to sneak into Europe. The Neons got a somewhat suspect equalizer, as the first half was rather bereft of chances. The 2nd period was more lively, both teams having chances for a lead, but nothing scored, and both keep their hope for Euroliga alive.

Largely a snoozer in Augsburg, as FCA was unable to turn their positional advanatge into anything against Köln. I think was the 9th 0-0 for the guests, likely a Bundesliga record.

The highlight of the Bremen-Frankfurt match was probably the return of Bremen legend Thomas Schaaf…as coach of Frankfurt. He received a standing ovation from the Werder fans for his almost lifetime of service as a player and coach. The match itself was a bit ragged, neither side able to impose their will, and Bremen ended up winning, probably fair enough given the balance of play.

Gladbach won at Hertha to re-claim the auto-group qualifier for the Champions League. They were the better side and deserved the win. Berlin was too defensive, and really needs to be careful that they don’t slip into the drop zone. They could use a couple of points to be safe, but as perhaps the most boring team in the league, they are relying on their opponents to fall asleep, which may not be a clever strategy.

Total attendance 337,986 (avg 37,554), 94.6% capacity, sellouts in Schalke, Hoffenheim, Bremen, Freiburg, Leverkusen, Mainz

 	
 	
FC Schalke 04	     -   VfB Stuttgart	        3:2 (1:1)   61,973 *

                    1:0  Huntelaar (9.)
                    1:1  Harnik (22., Ginczek)
                    1:2  Kostic (51., Ginczek)
                    2:2  Huntelaar (78., K.-P. Boateng)
                    3:2  Klein (89., own goal, K.-P. Boateng)

VfL Wolfsburg	     -   Hannover 96	        2:2 (2:0)   29,514

                    1:0  Dost (24., De Bruyne)
                    2:0  Perisic (45., De Bruyne)
                    2:1  Briand (47., Prib)
                    2:2  S. Sané (58.)

FC Augsburg	     -   1. FC Köln	        0:0 (0:0)   29,158

TSG Hoffenheim	     -   Borussia Dortmund	1:1 (1:1)   30,150 *

                    1:0  Volland (33., Schwegler)
                    1:1  Hummels (35., H. Mkhitaryan)

Werder Bremen	     -   Eintracht Frankfurt	1:0 (0:0)   42,100 *

                    1:0  Selke (66., Lukimya)

SC Freiburg	     -   SC Paderborn 07	1:2 (1:0)   24,000 *

                    1:0  Petersen (40., Schmid)
                    1:1  Rupp (70., Lakic)
                    1:2  Rupp (80., Saglik)

Bayer 04 Leverkusen  -   Bayern München	        2:0 (0:0)   30,210 *

                    1:0  Calhanoglu (55., direct freekick)
                    2:0  Brandt (81., Bellarabi)

1. FSV Mainz 05	     -   Hamburger SV	        1:2 (0:1)   34,000 *

                    0:1  Baumgartlinger (37., own goal, Westermann)
                    1:1  Malli (76., Jairo)
                    1:2  Kacar (87.)

Hertha BSC	     -   Bor. Mönchengladbach	1:2 (1:1)   56,881

                    0:1  M. Kruse (11., Raffael)
                    1:1  Stocker (13., Kalou)
                    1:2  Traoré (85., Hazard)
 


 1  Bayern München (M, P)	31   24  4  3 	  77:15  +62 	  76 
 2  VfL Wolfsburg	  	31   18  8  5 	  65:34  +31 	  62 
 3  Bor. Mönchengladbach	31   17  9  5 	  47:23  +24 	  60
 4  Bayer 04 Leverkusen	  	31   16  10 5 	  59:32  +27 	  58
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 5  FC Schalke 04	  	31   12  9  10 	  41:36  +5 	  45 
 6  FC Augsburg	  	        31   13  4  14 	  38:40  -2 	  43
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 7  Werder Bremen	  	31   11  9  11 	  47:59  -12 	  42 
 8  TSG Hoffenheim	  	31   11  8  12 	  46:49  -3 	  41 
 9  Borussia Dortmund	  	31   11  7  13 	  41:38  +3 	  40 
10  1. FSV Mainz 05	  	31    8  13 10 	  43:43   0 	  37 
11  1. FC Köln (N)	  	31    8  12 11 	  30:36  -6 	  36 
12  Eintracht Frankfurt	  	31    9  9  13 	  51:60  -9 	  36 
13  Hertha BSC Berlin	  	31    9  7  15 	  35:48  -13 	  34 
14  Hamburger SV	  	31    8  7  16 	  21:47  -26 	  31 
15  SC Paderborn 07 (N)	  	31    7  10 14 	  29:59  -30 	  31 
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16  SC Freiburg	  	        31    6  12 13 	  32:43  -11 	  30
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17  Hannover 96	  	        31    7  9  15 	  35:53  -18 	  30
18  VfB Stuttgart	  	31    6  9  16 	  36:58  -22 	  27


M = Meister, defending Champion
P = Pokalsieger, Cup winner
N = Neuling, just promoted