Karlsruher SC and
Arminia Bielefeld were directly relegated at the end of the
2008–09 season after finishing in the bottom two places of the table. Karlsruhe ended a two-year stint in Germany's top flight, while Arminia were relegated for the sixth time since the introduction of the
Bundesliga, a current record, after five years. The relegated teams were replaced by
2008–09 2. Bundesliga champions
SC Freiburg and runners-up
Mainz 05. Freiburg returned to the Bundesliga after four years, and Mainz began a second tenure in the top division after being relegated in the
2006–07 season. A further place in the league was decided through a
two-legged play-off.
Energie Cottbus, as the 16th-placed Bundesliga team, had to face
1. FC Nürnberg, who finished third in 2. Bundesliga. Nürnberg won both matches by an
aggregated score of 5–0 and thus earned their seventh promotion to the Bundesliga since its introduction, also a current record. Their opponents ended a second three-year top flight tenure and left the Bundesliga without a club from former
East Germany for only the second time since East German teams were included before the
1991–92 season, with the other time being in
2005–06.
Stadia and locations BayArena, home of Bayer Leverkusen, was expanded from 22,500 to 30,000 spectators during the first half of 2009. Other stadia which are recently undergoing renovation or expansion are
Weserstadion in Bremen,
HSH Nordbank Arena in Hamburg and
Mercedes-Benz Arena in Stuttgart. ;Notes • Weserstadion will be increased in capacity during the season. • HSH Nordbank Arena will be expanded to a capacity of 61,000 from January 2010. • Mercedes-Benz Arena will be converted to a
football-only stadium during the 2009–10 and 2010–11 seasons. As a consequence, the usual capacity of 58,000 is currently reduced to 42,101.
Personnel and sponsoring Managerial changes Eight teams underwent coaching changes during the off-season, among them champions
VfL Wolfsburg and runners-up
Bayern Munich.
Christoph Daum made use of a unilateral contract option to terminate his contract at
1. FC Köln. ==League table==