2020–21 Bundesliga

Bundesliga
Season	2020–21
Champions	Bayern Munich; 30th Bundesliga title; 31st German title
Relegated	Werder Bremen; Schalke 04
Champions League	Bayern Munich; RB Leipzig; Borussia Dortmund; VfL Wolfsburg
Europa League	Eintracht Frankfurt; Bayer Leverkusen
Europa Conference League	Union Berlin
Matches played	306
Goals scored	928 (3.03 per match)
Top goalscorer	Robert Lewandowski; (41 goals)
Biggest home win	Munich 8–0 Schalke
Biggest away win	Dortmund 1–5 Stuttgart; Köln 0–4 Leverkusen; Schalke 0–4 Munich; Bielefeld 1–5 Frankfurt; Schalke 0–4 Dortmund
Highest scoring	Munich 8–0 Schalke; Wolfsburg 5–3 Bremen
Longest winning run	7 games; Dortmund
Longest unbeaten run	12 games; Leverkusen; Munich
Longest winless run	14 games; Schalke
Longest losing run	7 games; Bielefeld; Bremen
	← 2019–20 2021–22 →

The 2020–21 Bundesliga was the 58th season of the Bundesliga, Germany's premier football competition. It began on 18 September 2020 and concluded on 22 May 2021.^[1] The season was originally scheduled to begin on 21 August 2020 and conclude on 15 May 2021,^[2] 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.^[3]

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.^[4] By winning their thirtieth Bundesliga title, Bayern Munich are honoured with a fifth gold star on their team badges and shirts.^[5]

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.^[6]

Effects of the COVID-19 pandemic

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.^[7] The use of five substitutes, based on the decision of competition organisers, had been extended by IFAB until 2021.^[8] 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.^[9]

Summary

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.^[10]^[11]^[12]^[13] This praise continued all season long, with former Bayern manager Pep Guardiola proclaiming them the best club in Europe in March.^[14] 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.^[15] 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.^[16]

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.^[17] 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.^[18] Schalke had announced before the season that they had debts of over 200 million, which led them to slash spending.^[19] The poor results led to departures for executives and managers.^[20] 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.^[21]^[22]

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.^[23] Lewandowski capped off a successful year in December by winning his first FIFA Men's Player of the Year award.^[24] As Lewandowski continued his strong performances, interest in him overtaking Müller's record grew from various media outlets.^[25] 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.^[26] Lewandowski returned to action in April, just five goals away from equalling the single-season goal record.^[27] 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.^[28] 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.^[6]

Teams

Locations of the 2020–21 Bundesliga teams

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

Team changes

Promoted from 2019–20 2. Bundesliga	Relegated from 2019–20 Bundesliga
Arminia Bielefeld VfB Stuttgart	Fortuna Düsseldorf SC Paderborn

Stadiums and locations

Team	Location	Stadium	Capacity	Ref.
FC Augsburg	Augsburg	WWK Arena	30,660	^[29]
Hertha BSC	Berlin	Olympiastadion	74,649	^[30]
Union Berlin	Berlin	Stadion An der Alten Försterei	22,012	^[31]
Arminia Bielefeld	Bielefeld	Schüco-Arena	27,300	^[32]
Werder Bremen	Bremen	Wohninvest Weserstadion	42,100	^[33]
Borussia Dortmund	Dortmund	Signal Iduna Park	81,365	^[34]
Eintracht Frankfurt	Frankfurt	Deutsche Bank Park	51,500	^[35]
SC Freiburg	Freiburg im Breisgau	Schwarzwald-Stadion	24,000	^[36]
1899 Hoffenheim	Sinsheim	PreZero Arena	30,150	^[37]
1. FC Köln	Cologne	RheinEnergieStadion	49,698	^[38]
RB Leipzig	Leipzig	Red Bull Arena	42,558	^[39]
Bayer Leverkusen	Leverkusen	BayArena	30,210	^[40]
Mainz 05	Mainz	Opel Arena	34,000	^[41]
Borussia Mönchengladbach	Mönchengladbach	Borussia-Park	54,057	^[42]
Bayern Munich	Munich	Allianz Arena	75,000	^[43]
Schalke 04	Gelsenkirchen	Veltins-Arena	62,271	^[44]
VfB Stuttgart	Stuttgart	Mercedes-Benz Arena	60,449	^[45]
VfL Wolfsburg	Wolfsburg	Volkswagen Arena	30,000	^[46]

Personnel and kits

Team	Manager	Captain	Kit manufacturer	Shirt sponsor
Team	Manager	Captain	Kit manufacturer	Front	Sleeve
FC Augsburg	Markus Weinzierl	Jeffrey Gouweleeuw	Nike	WWK	Siegmund
Hertha BSC	Pál Dárdai	Dedryck Boyata	Nike	Homeday^[47]	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 Ionos/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	Dimitrios 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.
Team	Outgoing	Manner	Announced on	Departed on	Position in table	Incoming	Announced on	Arrived on	Ref.
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		^[48]^[49]^[50]
Schalke 04	David Wagner	Sacked	27 September 2020		18th	Manuel Baum	30 September 2020		^[51]^[52]
Mainz 05	Achim Beierlorzer		28 September 2020		17th	Jan-Moritz Lichte (interim)	28 September 2020		^[53]
Borussia Dortmund	Lucien Favre		13 December 2020		5th	Edin Terzić (interim)	13 December 2020		^[54]
Schalke 04	Manuel Baum		18 December 2020		18th	Huub Stevens (interim)	18 December 2020		^[55]
Schalke 04	Huub Stevens (interim)	End of caretaker spell	22 December 2020		18th	Christian Gross	27 December 2020		^[56]
Mainz 05	Jan-Moritz Lichte (interim)	Sacked	28 December 2020		17th	Jan Siewert (interim)	28 December 2020		^[57]
Mainz 05	Jan Siewert (interim)	End of caretaker spell	4 January 2021		17th	Bo Svensson	4 January 2021		^[58]
Hertha BSC	Bruno Labbadia	Sacked	24 January 2021		13th	Pál Dárdai	25 January 2021		^[59]^[60]
Schalke 04	Christian Gross		28 February 2021		18th	Dimitrios Grammozis	2 March 2021		^[61]^[62]
Arminia Bielefeld	Uwe Neuhaus		1 March 2021		16th	Frank Kramer	2 March 2021		^[63]^[64]
Bayer Leverkusen	Peter Bosz		23 March 2021		6th	Hannes Wolf (interim)	23 March 2021		^[65]
1. FC Köln	Markus Gisdol		11 April 2021		17th	Friedhelm Funkel	12 April 2021		^[66]^[67]
FC Augsburg	Heiko Herrlich		26 April 2021		13th	Markus Weinzierl	26 April 2021		^[68]
Werder Bremen	Florian Kohfeldt		16 May 2021		16th	Thomas Schaaf (interim)	16 May 2021		^[69]

League table

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Results

Home \ Away	AUG	BSC	UNB	BIE	BRE	DOR	FRA	FRE	HOF	KÖL	LEI	LEV	MAI	MÖN	MUN	SCH	STU	WOL
FC Augsburg	—	0–3	2–1	0–0	2–0	2–0	0–2	1–1	2–1	2–3	0–2	1–1	3–1	3–1	0–1	2–2	1–4	0–2
Hertha BSC	2–1	—	3–1	0–0	1–4	2–5	1–3	3–0	0–3	0–0	0–3	3–0	0–0	2–2	0–1	3–0	0–2	1–1
Union Berlin	1–3	1–1	—	5–0	3–1	2–1	3–3	1–1	1–1	2–1	2–1	1–0	4–0	1–1	1–1	0–0	2–1	2–2
Arminia Bielefeld	0–1	1–0	0–0	—	0–2	0–2	1–5	1–0	1–1	1–0	0–1	1–2	2–1	0–1	1–4	1–0	3–0	0–3
Werder Bremen	2–0	1–4	0–2	1–0	—	1–2	2–1	0–0	1–1	1–1	1–4	0–0	0–1	2–4	1–3	1–1	1–2	1–2
Borussia Dortmund	3–1	2–0	2–0	3–0	4–1	—	1–2	4–0	2–2	1–2	3–2	3–1	1–1	3–0	2–3	3–0	1–5	2–0
Eintracht Frankfurt	2–0	3–1	5–2	1–1	1–1	1–1	—	3–1	2–1	2–0	1–1	2–1	1–1	3–3	2–1	3–1	1–1	4–3
SC Freiburg	2–0	4–1	0–1	2–0	1–1	2–1	2–2	—	1–1	5–0	0–3	2–4	1–3	2–2	2–2	4–0	2–1	1–1
1899 Hoffenheim	3–1	2–1	1–3	0–0	4–0	0–1	1–3	1–3	—	3–0	0–1	0–0	1–2	3–2	4–1	4–2	3–3	2–1
1. FC Köln	0–1	0–0	1–2	3–1	1–1	2–2	1–1	1–4	2–3	—	2–1	0–4	2–3	1–3	1–2	1–0	0–1	2–2
RB Leipzig	2–1	2–1	1–0	2–1	2–0	1–3	1–1	3–0	0–0	0–0	—	1–0	3–1	3–2	0–1	4–0	2–0	2–2
Bayer Leverkusen	3–1	0–0	1–1	1–2	1–1	2–1	3–1	1–2	4–1	3–0	1–1	—	2–2	4–3	1–2	2–1	5–2	0–1
Mainz 05	0–1	1–1	1–0	1–1	0–1	1–3	0–2	1–0	1–1	0–1	3–2	0–1	—	2–3	2–1	2–2	1–4	0–2
Borussia Mönchengladbach	1–1	1–1	1–1	5–0	1–0	4–2	4–0	2–1	1–2	1–2	1–0	0–1	1–2	—	3–2	4–1	1–2	1–1
Bayern Munich	5–2	4–3	1–1	3–3	1–1	4–2	5–0	2–1	4–1	5–1	3–3	2–0	5–2	6–0	—	8–0	4–0	2–1
Schalke 04	1–0	1–2	1–1	0–1	1–3	0–4	4–3	0–2	4–0	1–2	0–3	0–3	0–0	0–3	0–4	—	1–1	0–2
VfB Stuttgart	2–1	1–1	2–2	0–2	1–0	2–3	2–2	2–3	2–0	1–1	0–1	1–1	2–0	2–2	1–3	5–1	—	1–3
VfL Wolfsburg	0–0	2–0	3–0	2–1	5–3	0–2	2–1	3–0	2–1	1–0	2–2	0–0	2–3	0–0	2–3	5–0	1–0	—

Source: DFB

Relegation play-offs

All times are CEST (UTC+2).

Overview

Team 1	Agg.	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
1. FC Köln (B)	5–2	Holstein Kiel (2B)	0–1	5–1

Matches

1. FC Köln v Holstein Kiel

26 May 2021
18:30

1. FC Köln	0–1	Holstein Kiel
	https://www.dfb.de/bundesliga/relegation/?spieledb_path=%2Fmatches%2F2323091	Lorenz 59'

RheinEnergieStadion, Cologne
Attendance: 0^{[upper-alpha 1]}
Referee: Felix Zwayer

Holstein Kiel v 1. FC Köln

29 May 2021
18:00

Holstein Kiel	1–5	1. FC Köln
Lee 4'	https://www.dfb.de/bundesliga/relegation/?spieledb_path=%2Fmatches%2F2323092	Hector 3' Andersson 6', 13' Czichos 39' Skhiri 84'

Holstein-Stadion, Kiel
Attendance: 2,334
Referee: Deniz Aytekin

1. FC Köln won 5–2 on aggregate, and therefore both clubs remained in their respective leagues.

Statistics

Top scorers

Rank	Player	Club	Goals^[70]
1	Robert Lewandowski	Bayern Munich	41
2	André Silva	Eintracht Frankfurt	28
3	Erling Haaland	Borussia Dortmund	27
4	Andrej Kramarić	1899 Hoffenheim	20
4	Wout Weghorst	VfL Wolfsburg	20
6	Saša Kalajdžić	VfB Stuttgart	16
7	Lars Stindl	Borussia Mönchengladbach	14
8	Lucas Alario	Bayer Leverkusen	11
	Max Kruse	Union Berlin
	Thomas Müller	Bayern Munich
	Silas	VfB Stuttgart

Hat-tricks

Player	Club	Against	Result	Date
Serge Gnabry	Bayern Munich	Schalke 04	8–0 (H)	18 September 2020
Andrej Kramarić	1899 Hoffenheim	1. FC Köln	3–2 (A)	19 September 2020
Niclas Füllkrug	Werder Bremen	Schalke 04	3–1 (A)	26 September 2020
Robert Lewandowski⁴	Bayern Munich	Hertha BSC	4–3 (H)	4 October 2020
Robert Lewandowski	Bayern Munich	Eintracht Frankfurt	5–0 (H)	24 October 2020
Erling Haaland⁴	Borussia Dortmund	Hertha BSC	5–2 (A)	21 November 2020
Jean-Philippe Mateta	Mainz 05	SC Freiburg	3–1 (A)	22 November 2020
Lars Stindl	Borussia Mönchengladbach	Eintracht Frankfurt	3–3 (A)	15 December 2020
Matthew Hoppe	Schalke 04	1899 Hoffenheim	4–0 (H)	9 January 2021
Robert Lewandowski	Bayern Munich	Borussia Dortmund	4–2 (H)	6 March 2021
Robert Lewandowski	Bayern Munich	VfB Stuttgart	4–0 (H)	20 March 2021
Joel Pohjanpalo	Union Berlin	Werder Bremen	3–1 (H)	24 April 2021
Josip Brekalo	VfL Wolfsburg	Union Berlin	3–0 (H)	8 May 2021
Robert Lewandowski	Bayern Munich	Borussia Mönchengladbach	6–0 (H)	8 May 2021

⁴ Player scored four goals.

Clean sheets

Rank	Player	Club	Clean sheets^[71]
1	Péter Gulácsi	RB Leipzig	15
2	Koen Casteels	VfL Wolfsburg	14
3	Stefan Ortega	Arminia Bielefeld	11
4	Manuel Neuer	Bayern Munich	9
5	Lukáš Hrádecký	Bayer Leverkusen	8
5	Alexander Schwolow	Hertha BSC	8
7	Rafał Gikiewicz	FC Augsburg	7
7	Marwin Hitz	Borussia Dortmund	7
9	Oliver Baumann	1899 Hoffenheim	6
	Florian Müller	SC Freiburg
	Jiří Pavlenka	Werder Bremen
	Yann Sommer	Borussia Mönchengladbach

Number of teams by state

Position	State	Number	Teams
1	North Rhine-Westphalia	6	Arminia Bielefeld, Borussia Dortmund, 1. FC Köln, Bayer Leverkusen, Borussia Mönchengladbach and Schalke 04
2	Baden-Württemberg	3	SC Freiburg, 1899 Hoffenheim and VfB Stuttgart
3	Bavaria	2	FC Augsburg and Bayern Munich
3	Berlin	2	Hertha BSC and Union Berlin
5	Bremen	1	Werder Bremen
	Hesse	1	Eintracht Frankfurt
	Lower Saxony	1	VfL Wolfsburg
	Rhineland-Palatinate	1	Mainz 05
	Saxony	1	RB Leipzig

Awards

Monthly awards

Month	Player of the Month		Rookie of the Month		Goal of the Month		Ref.
Month	Player	Club	Player	Club	Player	Club	Ref.
September	Andrej Kramarić	1899 Hoffenheim	Jude Bellingham	Borussia Dortmund	Joshua Kimmich	Bayern Munich	^[72]^[73]^[74]
October	Robert Lewandowski	Bayern Munich	Mateo Klimowicz	VfB Stuttgart	Yussuf Poulsen	RB Leipzig
November	Erling Haaland	Borussia Dortmund	Silas		Valentino Lazaro	Borussia Mönchengladbach
December	Lars Stindl	Borussia Mönchengladbach	Silas		Leon Bailey	Bayer Leverkusen
January	André Silva	Eintracht Frankfurt	Matthew Hoppe	Schalke 04	Nadiem Amiri	Bayer Leverkusen
February	Jadon Sancho	Borussia Dortmund	Silas	VfB Stuttgart	Marcel Sabitzer	RB Leipzig
March	Filip Kostić	Eintracht Frankfurt	Ritsu Dōan	Arminia Bielefeld	Deyovaisio Zeefuik	Hertha BSC
April	Erling Haaland	Borussia Dortmund	Jamal Musiala	Bayern Munich	Ondrej Duda	1. FC Köln
May	N/A		N/A		Robert Lewandowski	Bayern Munich

Annual awards

Award	Winner	Club	Ref.
Player of the Season	Erling Haaland	Borussia Dortmund
Rookie of the Season	Silas Katompa Mvumpa	VfB Stuttgart	^[73]
Goal of the Season	Valentino Lazaro	Borussia Mönchengladbach

Team of the season

Pos.	Player	Club
GK	Manuel Neuer	Bayern Munich
DF	Alphonso Davies	Bayern Munich
	Angeliño	RB Leipzig
	Mats Hummels	Borussia Dortmund
	Ridle Baku	VfL Wolfsburg
MF	Leon Goretzka	Bayern Munich
	Joshua Kimmich
	Thomas Müller
FW	André Silva	Eintracht Frankfurt
	Robert Lewandowski	Bayern Munich
	Erling Haaland	Borussia Dortmund

Notes

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References