# 1996–97 Bundesliga

The 1996–97 Bundesliga was the 34th season of the Bundesliga, Germany's premier football league. It began on 16 August 1996 and ended on 31 May 1997. Borussia Dortmund were the defending champions.

## Competition format

Every team played two games against each other team, one at home and one away. Teams received three points for a win and one point for a draw. If two or more teams were tied on points, places were determined by goal difference and, if still tied, by goals scored. The team with the most points were crowned champions while the three teams with the fewest points were relegated to 2. Bundesliga.

## Team changes to 1995–96

1. FC Kaiserslautern, Eintracht Frankfurt and KFC Uerdingen 05 were relegated to the 2. Bundesliga after finishing in the last three places. They were replaced by VfL Bochum, Arminia Bielefeld and MSV Duisburg.

## Team overview

| Club | Location | Ground | Capacity |
| Arminia Bielefeld | Bielefeld | Stadion Alm | 22,512 |
| VfL Bochum | Bochum | Ruhrstadion | 36,344 |
| SV Werder Bremen | Bremen | Weserstadion | 36,000 |
| Borussia Dortmund | Dortmund | Westfalenstadion | 55,000 |
| MSV Duisburg | Duisburg | Wedaustadion | 30,128 |
| Fortuna Düsseldorf | Düsseldorf | Rheinstadion | 55,850 |
| SC Freiburg | Freiburg | Dreisamstadion | 22,500 |
| Hamburger SV | Hamburg | Volksparkstadion | 62,000 |
| Karlsruher SC | Karlsruhe | Wildparkstadion | 33,800 |
| 1. FC Köln | Cologne | Müngersdorfer Stadion | 55,000 |
| Bayer 04 Leverkusen | Leverkusen | BayArena | 22,500 |
| Borussia Mönchengladbach | Mönchengladbach | Bökelbergstadion | 34,500 |
| TSV 1860 Munich | Munich | Olympiastadion | 63,000 |
| FC Bayern Munich | Munich | Olympiastadion | 63,000 |
| FC Hansa Rostock | Rostock | Ostseestadion | 25,850 |
| FC Schalke 04 | Gelsenkirchen | Parkstadion | 70,000 |
| FC St. Pauli | Hamburg | Stadion am Millerntor | 20,550 |
| VfB Stuttgart | Stuttgart | Gottlieb-Daimler-Stadion | 53,700 |

## League table

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
| 1 | Bayern Munich (C) | 34 | 20 | 11 | 3 | 68 | 34 | +34 | 71 | Qualification to Champions League group stage |
| 2 | Bayer Leverkusen | 34 | 21 | 6 | 7 | 69 | 41 | +28 | 69 | Qualification to Champions League second qualifying round |
| 3 | Borussia Dortmund | 34 | 19 | 6 | 9 | 63 | 41 | +22 | 63 | Qualification to Champions League group stage |
| 4 | VfB Stuttgart | 34 | 18 | 7 | 9 | 78 | 40 | +38 | 61 | Qualification to Cup Winners' Cup first round |
| 5 | VfL Bochum | 34 | 14 | 11 | 9 | 54 | 51 | +3 | 53 | Qualification to UEFA Cup first round |
| 6 | Karlsruher SC | 34 | 13 | 10 | 11 | 55 | 44 | +11 | 49 | Qualification to UEFA Cup first round |
| 7 | 1860 Munich | 34 | 13 | 10 | 11 | 56 | 56 | 0 | 49 | Qualification to UEFA Cup first round |
| 8 | Werder Bremen | 34 | 14 | 6 | 14 | 53 | 52 | +1 | 48 | Qualification to Intertoto Cup group stage |
| 9 | MSV Duisburg | 34 | 12 | 9 | 13 | 44 | 49 | −5 | 45 | Qualification to Intertoto Cup group stage |
| 10 | 1. FC Köln | 34 | 13 | 5 | 16 | 62 | 62 | 0 | 44 | Qualification to Intertoto Cup group stage |
| 11 | Borussia Mönchengladbach | 34 | 12 | 7 | 15 | 46 | 48 | −2 | 43 | |
| 12 | Schalke 04 | 34 | 11 | 10 | 13 | 35 | 40 | −5 | 43 | Qualification to UEFA Cup first round |
| 13 | Hamburger SV | 34 | 10 | 11 | 13 | 46 | 60 | −14 | 41 | Qualification to Intertoto Cup group stage |
| 14 | Arminia Bielefeld | 34 | 11 | 7 | 16 | 46 | 54 | −8 | 40 | |
| 15 | Hansa Rostock | 34 | 11 | 7 | 16 | 35 | 46 | −11 | 40 | |
| 16 | Fortuna Düsseldorf (R) | 34 | 9 | 6 | 19 | 26 | 57 | −31 | 33 | Relegation to 2. Bundesliga |
| 17 | SC Freiburg (R) | 34 | 8 | 5 | 21 | 43 | 67 | −24 | 29 | Relegation to 2. Bundesliga |
| 18 | FC St. Pauli (R) | 34 | 7 | 6 | 21 | 32 | 69 | −37 | 27 | Relegation to 2. Bundesliga |
* 1 2 3 Borussia Dortmund and Schalke 04 won their respective European competitions in this season, so they qualified as title holders. As a consequence, the original UEFA Cup places of Dortmund and Stuttgart, who qualified for the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup as domestic cup winners, were awarded to Karlsruhe and 1860 Munich; the Intertoto Cup berths of Karlsruhe and 1860 were handed to Köln and Hamburg, as Mönchengladbach did not apply for this competition.

## Results

| Home \ Away | DSC | BOC | SVW | BVB | DUI | F95 | SCF | HSV | KSC | KOE | B04 | BMG | M60 | FCB | ROS | S04 | STP | VFB |
| Arminia Bielefeld | — | 3–1 | 3–1 | 2–0 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 2–0 | 1–1 | 1–2 | 1–4 | 0–1 | 0–2 | 2–3 | 2–0 | 1–3 | 0–1 | 1–2 | 2–0 |
| VfL Bochum | 1–1 | — | 3–2 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 3–1 | 3–2 | 3–1 | 3–1 | 2–2 | 2–2 | 2–0 | 2–2 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 0–1 | 6–0 | 2–1 |
| Werder Bremen | 2–1 | 5–1 | — | 0–4 | 0–2 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 0–0 | 1–0 | 3–2 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 3–0 | 1–1 | 3–0 | 2–1 | 2–2 |
| Borussia Dortmund | 5–0 | 2–0 | 2–1 | — | 2–0 | 4–0 | 3–1 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 2–1 | 3–1 | 1–3 | 4–1 | 1–1 | 3–0 | 1–0 | 2–1 | 1–1 |
| MSV Duisburg | 0–0 | 1–1 | 3–2 | 3–2 | — | 0–0 | 1–4 | 1–1 | 2–2 | 3–0 | 1–3 | 4–2 | 2–3 | 0–4 | 0–1 | 0–1 | 1–0 | 3–1 |
| Fortuna Düsseldorf | 1–2 | 2–2 | 4–1 | 2–0 | 1–1 | — | 2–1 | 1–1 | 0–3 | 0–3 | 0–0 | 1–0 | 0–0 | 0–2 | 0–2 | 1–3 | 2–0 | 0–4 |
| SC Freiburg | 2–1 | 0–1 | 3–2 | 1–2 | 2–0 | 1–2 | — | 0–4 | 1–1 | 1–3 | 1–2 | 1–0 | 2–2 | 0–0 | 1–0 | 2–3 | 4–0 | 1–1 |
| Hamburger SV | 2–2 | 2–2 | 3–2 | 2–1 | 1–1 | 2–1 | 5–1 | — | 2–0 | 0–4 | 0–2 | 2–1 | 2–3 | 0–3 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 3–0 | 0–4 |
| Karlsruher SC | 5–2 | 2–3 | 1–3 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 2–0 | 3–0 | 3–1 | — | 4–1 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 3–0 | 0–2 | 1–1 | 0–0 | 4–0 | 0–2 |
| 1. FC Köln | 2–5 | 2–0 | 4–1 | 1–3 | 2–5 | 2–0 | 1–0 | 2–2 | 4–1 | — | 4–0 | 4–0 | 1–0 | 2–4 | 0–2 | 3–1 | 0–1 | 1–5 |
| Bayer Leverkusen | 1–0 | 2–0 | 2–1 | 4–2 | 1–0 | 0–1 | 5–3 | 5–0 | 3–1 | 4–2 | — | 3–0 | 3–0 | 5–2 | 4–1 | 2–0 | 3–0 | 0–0 |
| Borussia Mönchengladbach | 0–0 | 6–2 | 4–1 | 5–1 | 0–1 | 2–0 | 4–3 | 3–0 | 1–3 | 2–1 | 2–2 | — | 1–0 | 2–2 | 2–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–1 |
| 1860 Munich | 1–3 | 0–1 | 0–3 | 1–3 | 1–1 | 3–0 | 4–0 | 2–1 | 1–1 | 2–1 | 3–0 | 3–0 | — | 3–3 | 2–0 | 2–1 | 4–2 | 2–5 |
| Bayern Munich | 1–0 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 0–0 | 5–2 | 5–0 | 0–0 | 2–1 | 1–0 | 3–2 | 4–2 | 1–0 | 1–1 | — | 2–1 | 3–0 | 3–0 | 4–2 |
| Hansa Rostock | 3–1 | 0–0 | 0–1 | 0–1 | 0–1 | 3–1 | 3–1 | 0–1 | 2–2 | 0–0 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 2–4 | 0–3 | — | 0–1 | 3–1 | 2–2 |
| Schalke 04 | 0–0 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 1–3 | 4–0 | 0–1 | 0–2 | 2–0 | 0–1 | 1–1 | 1–2 | 0–0 | 4–1 | 1–1 | 2–0 | — | 0–0 | 1–0 |
| FC St. Pauli | 2–3 | 2–1 | 0–3 | 0–1 | 0–2 | 3–0 | 2–0 | 2–2 | 2–4 | 0–0 | 3–1 | 1–3 | 0–0 | 1–2 | 0–1 | 4–4 | — | 2–1 |
| VfB Stuttgart | 4–2 | 3–1 | 2–1 | 4–1 | 0–2 | 0–2 | 4–2 | 4–1 | 1–0 | 4–0 | 1–2 | 5–0 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 5–1 | 4–0 | 3–0 | — |

## Top goalscorers
### 22 goals

* Ulf Kirsten (Bayer 04 Leverkusen)

### 21 goals

* Toni Polster (1. FC Köln)

### 19 goals

* Fredi Bobic (VfB Stuttgart)

### 17 goals

* Sean Dundee (Karlsruher SC)
* Giovane Élber (VfB Stuttgart)
* Paulo Sérgio (Bayer 04 Leverkusen)
* Bernhard Winkler (TSV 1860 Munich)

### 15 goals

* Andreas Herzog (SV Werder Bremen)
* Jürgen Klinsmann (FC Bayern Munich)

### 14 goals

* Jonathan Akpoborie (FC Hansa Rostock)
* Stefan Kuntz (Arminia Bielefeld)