1. FC Köln and
1. FC Kaiserslautern were relegated to the
2012–13 2. Bundesliga after finishing in one of the bottom two spots at the end of the 2011–12 season. Köln were relegated to the second level after four Bundesliga seasons, while Kaiserslautern ended a two-year tenure in the top flight. The two relegated teams were replaced by
SpVgg Greuther Fürth and
Eintracht Frankfurt. Greuther Fürth made their Bundesliga debut while also returning to the top level after 49 seasons, as predecessors
SpVgg Fürth missed out on
qualification for the Bundesliga at the end of the 1962–63 season. In turn, Eintracht Frankfurt made an immediate comeback to the league after being relegated at the end of the
2010–11 season. A further place in the league was determined by a two-legged play-off between
Hertha BSC, the 16th-placed team of the 2011–12 season, and
Fortuna Düsseldorf, the third-placed team of the 2011–12 2. Bundesliga. Düsseldorf won the play-off by 4–3 on aggregate; the club returned to the top level after 15 years in lower levels of the
league pyramid. Hertha made only a cameo appearance in the league and immediately dropped back to the 2. Bundesliga.
Stadiums and locations Promotees SpVgg Greuther Fürth expanded the capacity of their
Trolli Arena to 18,000 spectators in order to guarantee all matches of the campaign being played at their own ground. Bayern Munich also expanded the capacity of their Allianz Arena by 2,000 people; the new total capacity for the ground is 71,000 spectators.
Personnel and kits Borussia Dortmund changed their kit suppliers from
Kappa to
Puma, signing a contract through the 2019–20 season with the German sports brand. Furthermore, a couple of shirt sponsoring contracts were not renewed. VfB Stuttgart replaced the
Gazi brand of dairy product company
garmo with the banking section of automobile company
Mercedes-Benz as their new shirt sponsors, and Fortuna Düsseldorf changed from home retail chain
Bauhaus to discount phone company
o.tel.o. Three further clubs finalized new sponsoring contracts shortly before the first matches were played.
Fraport chose not to renew their contract with Eintracht Frankfurt; the
Hessian club announced a deal with brewery
Krombacher at the end of July. Elsewhere, the agreements between 1. FC Nürnberg and
Areva and between Werder Bremen and
Targobank expired. Werder announced their new main sponsor to be poultry giant
Wiesenhof in early August 2012, despite prolonged protests due to the company's suspected animal abuse. Finally, Nürnberg agreed to a multi-year contract with clothing retailers
NKD just days before the start of the season.
Managerial changes ==League table==