| Season | 2020–21 |
|---|---|
| Dates | 18 September 2020 – 22 May 2021 |
| Champions | Bayern Munich 30th Bundesliga title 31stGerman 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 | 306 |
| Goals | 928 (3.03 per match) |
| Top goalscorer | Robert Lewandowski (41 goals) |
| Biggest home win | Munich 8–0 Schalke |
| Biggest away win | Dortmund 1–5Stuttgart 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 |
| Attendance | 160,321 (524 per match)[A] |
2021–22 → | |
The2020–21 Bundesliga was the 58th season of theBundesliga, Germany's premierfootball 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 theprevious season as a result of theCOVID-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 fifthgold star on their team badges and shirts.[5]
Bayern'sRobert Lewandowski set a new record for goals scored in a season with 41, surpassing the previous record of 40 goals set byGerd Müller in1971–72.[6]
On 3 September 2020, theDFL 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 theCOVID-19 pandemic.[7] The use of five substitutes, based on the decision of competition organisers, had been extended byIFAB until 2021.[8] Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the season began with matchesbehind closed doors or at reduced capacity due to restrictions across Germanstates.Leipzig allowed up to 8,500 spectators to begin the season, while regulations inBerlin allowed for up to 5,000 supporters.[9]
Bayern Munich began the season less than a month after defeatingParis Saint-Germain in theChampions League final, as the match had been delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In their first game, they beatSchalke 04 8–0, and were the dominant side early on in the season. After a 3–2 away victory over title contendersBorussia 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 managerPep 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 contenderRB 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 fifthstar 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 theGerman Cup.[17] They failed to win thirty Bundesliga matches in a row, falling one short of the all-time record set byTasmania Berlin in1965–66, before a 4–0 win against1899 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 starKlaas-Jan Huntelaar returned to Schalke fromAjax 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 forRobert Lewandowski led to early talk that he could breakGerd Müller's 49-year-old record of 40 goals scored in one Bundesliga season, with teammateThomas Müller suggesting it could happen back in October.[23] Lewandowski capped off a successful year in December by winning his firstFIFA 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 againstSC Freiburg with one match to spare, therefore equalling Gerd Müller's record tally from1971–72.[28] In the last match of the season the following week, Lewandowski scored his 41st league goal in the final minute of the match againstFC Augsburg to break Müller's record.[6]
A total of 18 teams participated in the 2020–21 edition of the Bundesliga.
| Promoted from 2019–20 2. Bundesliga | Relegated from 2019–20 Bundesliga |
|---|---|
| Arminia Bielefeld VfB Stuttgart | Fortuna Düsseldorf SC Paderborn |
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| Team | Outgoing | Manner | Exit date | Position in table | Incoming | Incoming date | Ref. | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Announced on | Departed on | Announced on | Arrived on | ||||||
| 1899 Hoffenheim | End of caretaker spell | 9 June 2020 | 30 June 2020 | Pre-season | 27 July 2020 | [48][49][50] | |||
| Schalke 04 | Sacked | 27 September 2020 | 18th | 30 September 2020 | [51][52] | ||||
| Mainz 05 | 28 September 2020 | 17th | 28 September 2020 | [53] | |||||
| Borussia Dortmund | 13 December 2020 | 5th | 13 December 2020 | [54] | |||||
| Schalke 04 | 18 December 2020 | 18th | 18 December 2020 | [55] | |||||
| End of caretaker spell | 22 December 2020 | 27 December 2020 | [56] | ||||||
| Mainz 05 | Sacked | 28 December 2020 | 17th | 28 December 2020 | [57] | ||||
| End of caretaker spell | 4 January 2021 | 4 January 2021 | [58] | ||||||
| Hertha BSC | Sacked | 24 January 2021 | 13th | 25 January 2021 | [59][60] | ||||
| Schalke 04 | 28 February 2021 | 18th | 2 March 2021 | [61][62] | |||||
| Arminia Bielefeld | 1 March 2021 | 16th | 2 March 2021 | [63][64] | |||||
| Bayer Leverkusen | 23 March 2021 | 6th | 23 March 2021 | [65] | |||||
| 1. FC Köln | 11 April 2021 | 17th | 12 April 2021 | [66][67] | |||||
| FC Augsburg | 26 April 2021 | 13th | 26 April 2021 | [68] | |||||
| Werder Bremen | 16 May 2021 | 16th | 16 May 2021 | [69] | |||||
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bayern Munich(C) | 34 | 24 | 6 | 4 | 99 | 44 | +55 | 78 | Qualification for theChampions League group stage |
| 2 | RB Leipzig | 34 | 19 | 8 | 7 | 60 | 32 | +28 | 65 | |
| 3 | Borussia Dortmund | 34 | 20 | 4 | 10 | 75 | 46 | +29 | 64 | |
| 4 | VfL Wolfsburg | 34 | 17 | 10 | 7 | 61 | 37 | +24 | 61 | |
| 5 | Eintracht Frankfurt | 34 | 16 | 12 | 6 | 69 | 53 | +16 | 60 | Qualification for theEuropa League group stage[a] |
| 6 | Bayer Leverkusen | 34 | 14 | 10 | 10 | 53 | 39 | +14 | 52 | |
| 7 | Union Berlin | 34 | 12 | 14 | 8 | 50 | 43 | +7 | 50 | Qualification for theEuropa Conference League play-off round[a] |
| 8 | Borussia Mönchengladbach | 34 | 13 | 10 | 11 | 64 | 56 | +8 | 49 | |
| 9 | VfB Stuttgart | 34 | 12 | 9 | 13 | 56 | 55 | +1 | 45 | |
| 10 | SC Freiburg | 34 | 12 | 9 | 13 | 52 | 52 | 0 | 45 | |
| 11 | 1899 Hoffenheim | 34 | 11 | 10 | 13 | 52 | 54 | −2 | 43 | |
| 12 | Mainz 05 | 34 | 10 | 9 | 15 | 39 | 56 | −17 | 39 | |
| 13 | FC Augsburg | 34 | 10 | 6 | 18 | 36 | 54 | −18 | 36 | |
| 14 | Hertha BSC | 34 | 8 | 11 | 15 | 41 | 52 | −11 | 35 | |
| 15 | Arminia Bielefeld | 34 | 9 | 8 | 17 | 26 | 52 | −26 | 35 | |
| 16 | 1. FC Köln(O) | 34 | 8 | 9 | 17 | 34 | 60 | −26 | 33 | Qualification for therelegation play-offs |
| 17 | Werder Bremen(R) | 34 | 7 | 10 | 17 | 36 | 57 | −21 | 31 | Relegation to2. Bundesliga |
| 18 | Schalke 04(R) | 34 | 3 | 7 | 24 | 25 | 86 | −61 | 16 |
| 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 | — |
| Team 1 | Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score | Team 2 | 1st leg | 2nd leg |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. FC Köln(B) | 5–2 | Holstein Kiel(2B) | 0–1 | 5–1 |
1. FC Köln won 5–2 on aggregate, and therefore both clubs remained in their respective leagues.
| Player | Club | Against | Result | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bayern Munich | Schalke 04 | 8–0 (H) | 18 September 2020 | |
| 1899 Hoffenheim | 1. FC Köln | 3–2 (A) | 19 September 2020 | |
| Werder Bremen | Schalke 04 | 3–1 (A) | 26 September 2020 | |
| Bayern Munich | Hertha BSC | 4–3 (H) | 4 October 2020 | |
| Bayern Munich | Eintracht Frankfurt | 5–0 (H) | 24 October 2020 | |
| Borussia Dortmund | Hertha BSC | 5–2 (A) | 21 November 2020 | |
| Mainz 05 | SC Freiburg | 3–1 (A) | 22 November 2020 | |
| Borussia Mönchengladbach | Eintracht Frankfurt | 3–3 (A) | 15 December 2020 | |
| Schalke 04 | 1899 Hoffenheim | 4–0 (H) | 9 January 2021 | |
| Bayern Munich | Borussia Dortmund | 4–2 (H) | 6 March 2021 | |
| Bayern Munich | VfB Stuttgart | 4–0 (H) | 20 March 2021 | |
| Union Berlin | Werder Bremen | 3–1 (H) | 24 April 2021 | |
| VfL Wolfsburg | Union Berlin | 3–0 (H) | 8 May 2021 | |
| Bayern Munich | Borussia Mönchengladbach | 6–0 (H) | 8 May 2021 |
| Award | Winner | Club | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|
| Player of the Season | Borussia Dortmund | ||
| Rookie of the Season | VfB Stuttgart | [75] | |
| Goal of the Season | Borussia Mönchengladbach |
| Team of the Season | ||
|---|---|---|
| Pos. | Player | Club |
| GK | Bayern Munich | |
| DF | ||
| RB Leipzig | ||
| Borussia Dortmund | ||
| VfL Wolfsburg | ||
| MF | Bayern Munich | |
| FW | Eintracht Frankfurt | |
| Bayern Munich | ||
| Borussia Dortmund | ||
Die Clubs, die seit 1963 in der Bundesliga eine bestimmte Anzahl von deutschen Meistertiteln errungen haben, sollen auf dem Trikot unmittelbar angrenzend an das Clubemblem als Titelsymbol einen oder mehrere Sterne nach den folgenden Maßgaben abbilden: ... e) Ab dreißig gewonnenen Meistertiteln: fünf Sterne. [The clubs that have won a certain number of German league titles since 1963 shall display one or more stars on the jersey immediately adjacent to the club emblem as a title symbol in accordance with the following requirements: ... e) From thirty championship titles won: five stars.]Alt URL