Season 2012–13 Dates 21 Jul 2012 – 18 May 2013 Goals scored 953 | Champions Karlsruher SC Champion Karlsruher SC Matches played 380 | |
 | ||
Promoted Karlsruher SC
Arminia Bielefeld Top goalscorer Anton Fink
Fabian Klos
(20 goals) Biggest home win Rot-Weiß Erfurt 5–0 Borussia Dortmund II
(1 September 2012)
1. FC Saarbrücken 5–0 Hallescher FC
(24 November 2012)
Chemnitzer FC 5–0 SpVgg Unterhaching
(18 May 2013) Biggest away win Rot-Weiß Erfurt 0–4 1. FC Heidenheim
(28 July 2012)
Alemannia Aachen 0–4 Karlsruher SC
(9 February 2013)
SV Babelsberg 03 0–4 SV Wacker Burghausen
(11 May 2013) Relegated Kickers Offenbach, SV Babelsberg 03, Alemannia Aachen Similar 2014–15 3 Liga, 2015–16 3 Liga, 2008–09 3 Liga, 2012–13 Bundesliga, 2013–14 2 Bundesliga | ||
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.
Contents
- Teams
- Stadiums and locations
- League table
- Results
- Top goalscorers
- Player awards
- Team of the Year
- References
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.
League table
Source: kicker
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored
1 Offenbach has two points deducted for using bond money from a DFB fund. After the end of the season, Offenbach were not granted a license for the following season and are thus relegated.
2 Aachen has five points deducted for using bond money from a DFB fund and not paying back in time.
(C) = Champion; (R) = Relegated; (P) = Promoted; (E) = Eliminated; (O) = Play-off winner; (A) = Advances to a further round.
Only applicable when the season is not finished:
(Q) = Qualified to the phase of tournament indicated; (TQ) = Qualified to tournament, but not yet to the particular phase indicated; (RQ) = Qualified to the relegation tournament indicated; (DQ) = Disqualified from tournament.
Alemannia Aachen took voluntary relegation on 23 November 2012, due to financial insolvency.
Results
Source: kicker (German)
1 ^ The home team is listed in the left-hand column.
Colours: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.
Top goalscorers
Source: kicker (German)
Player awards
The following players were named as player of the month throughout the season.
Hakan Çalhanoğlu was voted as player of the season.
Team of the Year
The following players were named as the team of the year.