The 2010–11 Bundesliga was the 48th season of the Bundesliga, Germany's premier football league. It began on 20 August 2010 and concluded on 14 May 2011.[2] The winter break was in effect between weekends around 18 December 2010 and 15 January 2011.[3] The defending champions were Bayern Munich. The league had also updated its logo for the season. The official match ball was Adidas Torfabrik 2010.
At the end of the 2009–10 season, VfL Bochum and Hertha BSC were directly relegated after finishing in the bottom two places of the league table. They were replaced by 1. FC Kaiserslautern, champions of the 2009–10 2. Bundesliga, and runners-up FC St. Pauli. Kaiserslautern returned to the Bundesliga after four years, and St. Pauli re-entered the top division after eight years.
A further place in the league was decided through a two-legged play-off. As in the previous year, 1. FC Nürnberg had to compete, although they were the Bundesliga team this time. FC Augsburg was the 2. Bundesliga's representative. Nuremberg won both matches on aggregate, 3–0, and thus defended their Bundesliga spot.
This was the first-ever season since reunification without any teams from either the former East Germany or West Berlin, since Hertha BSC was relegated.
Millerntor-Stadion was undergroing reconstruction and expansion.
Mercedes-Benz Arena was converted to a football-only stadium during the 2009–10 and 2010–11 seasons. As a consequence, the usual capacity of 58,000 was reduced to 39,950 for the 2010–11 season.
Weserstadion was undergoing minor reconstruction during the season, with varying reduced capacities during that time.
In addition, all matches featured one match ball as Adidas presented a new ball called "Jabulani Torfabrik" ("Goal Factory"). Previously, the home team was responsible for supplying the match ball.[14] More often than not, it was provided by the kitmakers for the teams.
Source: DFB Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win. Notes:
^The FC St. Pauli v Schalke 04 match from 1 April 2011 was suspended after 87 minutes and a score of 0–2 due to an assistant referee being hit by a beverage cup thrown from the stands. The match was abandoned and later awarded on 5 April 2011 to Schalke 04 with a score of 0–2.[34][35]
^Smentek, Klaus; et al. (28 July 2010). "kicker Bundesliga Sonderheft 2010/11". kicker Sportmagazin (in German). Nuremberg: Olympia Verlag. ISSN0948-7964.