# 2009–10 VfB Stuttgart season

During the 2009–10 German football season, VfB Stuttgart competed in the Bundesliga.

## Season summary

Manager Markus Babbel was sacked in early December with Stuttgart in 16th place. Christian Gross, his successor, revitalised Stuttgart and they finished in 6th, qualifying for the Europa League.

## Players
### First-team squad

    Squad at end of season
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 1 | GK | GER | Jens Lehmann |
| 3 | DF | MEX | Ricardo Osorio |
| 4 | DF | NED | Khalid Boulahrouz |
| 5 | DF | GER | Serdar Tasci |
| 6 | DF | GER | Georg Niedermeier |
| 7 | MF | GER | Martin Lanig |
| 9 | FW | ROU | Ciprian Marica |
| 13 | MF | GER | Timo Gebhart |
| 14 | MF | GER | Patrick Funk |
| 15 | DF | CIV | Arthur Boka |
| 16 | MF | GER | Sebastian Rudy |
| 17 | DF | FRA | Matthieu Delpierre |
| 18 | FW | GER | Cacau |
| 19 | DF | GER | Roberto Hilbert |
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 21 | DF | ITA | Cristian Molinaro (on loan from Juventus) |
| 22 | MF | GER | Matthias Schwarz |
| 23 | MF | BLR | Alexander Hleb (on loan from Barcelona) |
| 24 | GK | GER | Sven Ulreich |
| 26 | MF | GER | Daniel Didavi |
| 27 | DF | GER | Stefano Celozzi |
| 28 | MF | GER | Sami Khedira |
| 29 | FW | RUS | Pavel Pogrebnyak |
| 32 | MF | SRB | Zdravko Kuzmanović |
| 35 | DF | GER | Christian Träsch |
| 38 | MF | AUT | Clemens Walch |
| 39 | FW | GER | Julian Schieber |
| 42 | DF | GER | Marco Pischorn |

### Left club during season

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 8 | MF | CZE | Jan Šimák (to Mainz) |
| 10 | MF | TUR | Yıldıray Baştürk (to Blackburn Rovers) |
| 11 | MF | GER | Thomas Hitzlsperger (to Lazio) |
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 21 | DF | SUI | Ludovic Magnin (to Zürich) |
| 25 | MF | BRA | Élson (on loan to Hannover 96) |

### VfB Stuttgart II

    The following players played for VfB Stuttgart II, and did not play for the first team this season.
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 12 | GK | GER | Alexander Stolz |
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 31 | FW | GER | Alessandro Riedle |

## Competitions
### Bundesliga
#### League table

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
| 4 | Bayer Leverkusen | 34 | 15 | 14 | 5 | 65 | 38 | +27 | 59 | Qualification to Europa League play-off round |
| 5 | Borussia Dortmund | 34 | 16 | 9 | 9 | 54 | 42 | +12 | 57 | Qualification to Europa League play-off round |
| 6 | VfB Stuttgart | 34 | 15 | 10 | 9 | 51 | 41 | +10 | 55 | Qualification to Europa League third qualifying round |
| 7 | Hamburger SV | 34 | 13 | 13 | 8 | 56 | 41 | +15 | 52 | |
| 8 | VfL Wolfsburg | 34 | 14 | 8 | 12 | 64 | 58 | +6 | 50 | |
* ↑ Since both finalists of the 2009–10 DFB-Pokal were qualified for the 2010–11 UEFA Champions League, the 6th-placed team will qualify for the 3rd qualifying round of the 2010–11 UEFA Europa League.

#### Results summary

| Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Home | Home | Home | Home | Home | Home | Away | Away | Away | Away | Away | Away |
Source: Soccerway

#### Matches
### Champions League
#### Play-off round
#### Group stage

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification | SEV | STU | URZ | RAN |
| 1 | Sevilla | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 11 | 4 | +7 | 13 | Advance to knockout phase | — | 1–1 | 2–0 | 1–0 |
| 2 | VfB Stuttgart | 6 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 9 | 7 | +2 | 9 | Advance to knockout phase | 1–3 | — | 3–1 | 1–1 |
| 3 | Unirea Urziceni | 6 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 8 | 8 | 0 | 8 | Transfer to Europa League | 1–0 | 1–1 | — | 1–1 |
| 4 | Rangers | 6 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 13 | −9 | 2 | | 1–4 | 0–2 | 1–4 | — |
* ↑ Unirea Urziceni played their home group matches at Stadionul Steaua in Bucharest as their Stadionul Tineretului did not meet UEFA criteria.