2020–21 Bundesliga

It began on 18 September 2020 and concluded on 22 May 2021. The season was originally scheduled to begin on 21 August 2020 and conclude on 15 May 2021, though this was delayed due to postponement of the previous season as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The fixtures were announced on 7 August 2020.

Bayern Munich were the defending champions and successfully defended their title, winning their record-extending 9th consecutive title and 31st title overall (30th in the Bundesliga era) on 8 May with three games to spare. By winning their thirtieth Bundesliga title, Bayern Munich are honoured with a fifth gold star on their team badges and shirts.

Bayern's Robert Lewandowski set a new record for goals scored in a season with 41, surpassing the previous record of 40 goals set by Gerd Müller in 1971–72.

On 3 September 2020, the DFL General Assembly voted to extend the use of five substitutions in matches to the 2020–21 season, which was implemented at the end of the previous season to lessen the impact of fixture congestion caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The use of five substitutes, based on the decision of competition organisers, had been extended by IFAB until 2021. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the season began with matches behind closed doors or at reduced capacity due to restrictions across German states. Leipzig allowed up to 8,500 spectators to begin the season, while regulations in Berlin allowed for up to 5,000 supporters.

Bayern Munich began the season less than a month after defeating Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League final, as the match had been delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In their first game, they beat Schalke 04 8–0, and were the dominant side early on in the season. After a 3–2 away victory over title contenders Borussia Dortmund in November, many pundits praised Bayern as the best team in Europe. This praise continued all season long, with former Bayern manager Pep Guardiola proclaiming them the best club in Europe in March. Bayern mathematically confirmed their ninth consecutive Bundesliga title on 8 May 2021 with three matches to spare, following closest contender RB Leipzig's 2–3 loss to Dortmund. The title was Bayern's 30th Bundesliga and 31st German championship overall, which would see them add a fifth star to their badge in the following season.

Meanwhile, Schalke 04 endured a disaster season, failing to win a game in nine consecutive months dating back to the previous season, before defeating a fourth-tier club in the German Cup. They failed to win thirty Bundesliga matches in a row, falling one short of the all-time record set by Tasmania Berlin in 1965–66, before a 4–0 win against 1899 Hoffenheim in January. Schalke had announced before the season that they had debts of over 200 million, which led them to slash spending. The poor results led to departures for executives and managers. Former Schalke star Klaas-Jan Huntelaar returned to Schalke from Ajax in January in an attempt to stave off relegation, but he was unable to prevent Schalke from being relegated for the first time in over thirty years.

A hot start to the season for Robert Lewandowski led to early talk that he could break Gerd Müller's 49-year-old record of 40 goals scored in one Bundesliga season, with teammate Thomas Müller suggesting it could happen back in October. Lewandowski capped off a successful year in December by winning his first FIFA Men's Player of the Year award. As Lewandowski continued his strong performances, interest in him overtaking Müller's record grew from various media outlets. However, a knee injury suffered whilst on international duty on 31 March threatened Lewandowski's record-chase and kept him out of action for a month. Lewandowski returned to action in April, just five goals away from equalling the single-season goal record. On 15 May 2021, Lewandowski scored his 40th goal of the season against SC Freiburg with one match to spare, therefore equalling Gerd Müller's record tally from 1971–72. In the last match of the season the following week, Lewandowski scored his 41st league goal in the final minute of the match against FC Augsburg to break Müller's record.

 

 

FC Augsburg

 

Hertha BSC

 

Union Berlin

 

Arminia Bielefeld

 

Werder Bremen

 

Borussia Dortmund

 

Eintracht Frankfurt

 

SC Freiburg

 

1899 Hoffenheim

 

1. FC Köln

 

RB Leipzig

 

Bayer Leverkusen

 

Mainz 05

 

Gladbach

 

Bayern Munich

 

Schalke 04

 

VfB Stuttgart

 

VfL Wolfsburg

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Locations of the 2020–21 Bundesliga teams

A total of 18 teams participated in the 2020–21 edition of the Bundesliga.

Team changes

Stadiums and locations

Personnel and kits

 

Wiki Commons has media related to 2020–21 Bundesliga kits.

Team	Manager	Captain	Kit manufacturer	Shirt sponsor
				Front	Sleeve
FC Augsburg	Markus Weinzierl	Jeffrey Gouweleeuw	Nike	WWK	Siegmund
Hertha BSC	Pál Dárdai	Dedryck Boyata	Nike	Homeday	Hyundai
Union Berlin	Urs Fischer	Christopher Trimmel	Adidas	Aroundtown	wefox
Arminia Bielefeld	Frank Kramer	Fabian Klos	Macron	Schüco	JAB Anstoetz Textilien
Werder Bremen	Thomas Schaaf	Niklas Moisander	Umbro	Wiesenhof	188bet
Borussia Dortmund	Edin Terzić (interim)	Marco Reus	Puma	1&1/Evonik (in cup and UEFA matches)	Opel
Eintracht Frankfurt	Adi Hütter	Makoto Hasebe	Nike	Indeed.com	dpd
SC Freiburg	Christian Streich	Christian Günter	Hummel	Schwarzwaldmilch	ROSE Bikes
1899 Hoffenheim	Sebastian Hoeneß	Benjamin Hübner	Joma	SAP	SNP
1. FC Köln	Friedhelm Funkel	Jonas Hector	Uhlsport	REWE	DEVK
RB Leipzig	Julian Nagelsmann	Marcel Sabitzer	Nike	Red Bull	CG Immobilien
Bayer Leverkusen	Hannes Wolf (interim)	Charles Aránguiz	Jako	Barmenia Versicherungen	Kieser Training
Mainz 05	Bo Svensson	Danny Latza	Kappa	Kömmerling	fb88.com
Borussia Mönchengladbach	Marco Rose	Lars Stindl	Puma	flatex/DEGIRO (in UEFA matches)	Sonepar
Bayern Munich	Hansi Flick	Manuel Neuer	Adidas	Deutsche Telekom	Qatar Airways
Schalke 04	Dimitris Grammozis	Sead Kolašinac	Umbro	Gazprom	Harfid
VfB Stuttgart	Pellegrino Matarazzo	Gonzalo Castro	Jako	Mercedes-Benz Bank	Mercedes-EQ
VfL Wolfsburg	Oliver Glasner	Josuha Guilavogui	Nike	Volkswagen	Linglong Tire

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing	Manner	Exit date		Position in table	Incoming	Incoming date		Ref.
			Announced on	Departed on			Announced on	Arrived on
1899 Hoffenheim	Matthias Kaltenbach [de]   Marcel Rapp   Kai Herdling (interim)	End of caretaker spell	9 June 2020	30 June 2020	Pre-season	Sebastian Hoeneß	27 July 2020
Schalke 04	David Wagner	Sacked	27 September 2020		18th	Manuel Baum	30 September 2020
Mainz 05	Achim Beierlorzer		28 September 2020		17th	Jan-Moritz Lichte (interim)	28 September 2020
Borussia Dortmund	Lucien Favre		13 December 2020		5th	Edin Terzić (interim)	13 December 2020
Schalke 04	Manuel Baum		18 December 2020		18th	Huub Stevens (interim)	18 December 2020
	Huub Stevens (interim)	End of caretaker spell	22 December 2020			Christian Gross	27 December 2020
Mainz 05	Jan-Moritz Lichte (interim)	Sacked	28 December 2020		17th	Jan Siewert (interim)	28 December 2020
	Jan Siewert (interim)	End of caretaker spell	4 January 2021			Bo Svensson	4 January 2021
Hertha BSC	Bruno Labbadia	Sacked	24 January 2021		13th	Pál Dárdai	25 January 2021
Schalke 04	Christian Gross		28 February 2021		18th	Dimitris Grammozis	2 March 2021
Arminia Bielefeld	Uwe Neuhaus		1 March 2021		16th	Frank Kramer	2 March 2021
Bayer Leverkusen	Peter Bosz		23 March 2021		6th	Hannes Wolf (interim)	23 March 2021
1. FC Köln	Markus Gisdol		11 April 2021		17th	Friedhelm Funkel	12 April 2021
FC Augsburg	Heiko Herrlich		26 April 2021		13th	Markus Weinzierl	26 April 2021
Werder Bremen	Florian Kohfeldt		16 May 2021		16th	Thomas Schaaf (interim)	16 May 2021