# 2012–13 VfB Stuttgart season

The 2012–13 VfB Stuttgart season was the 120th season in the club's football history. In 2012–13, the club contested the Bundesliga, the top tier of German football. It was Stuttgart's 36th consecutive season in the league, since having been promoted from the 2. Bundesliga in 1977.

## Review and events

The club finished in sixth place in the 2011–12 season. Therefore, the club participates in the 2012–13 edition of the UEFA Europa League, and also participates in the 2012–13 edition of the DFB-Pokal.

## Match results
### Legend

Win  Draw  Loss  Postponed

### Bundesliga
#### Table
##### League table

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
| 10 | 1. FC Nürnberg | 34 | 11 | 11 | 12 | 39 | 47 | −8 | 44 | |
| 11 | VfL Wolfsburg | 34 | 10 | 13 | 11 | 47 | 52 | −5 | 43 | |
| 12 | VfB Stuttgart | 34 | 12 | 7 | 15 | 37 | 55 | −18 | 43 | Qualification for the Europa League third qualifying round |
| 13 | Mainz 05 | 34 | 10 | 12 | 12 | 42 | 44 | −2 | 42 | |
| 14 | Werder Bremen | 34 | 8 | 10 | 16 | 50 | 66 | −16 | 34 | |
* ↑ VfB Stuttgart qualified for the Europa League by playing Champions League-qualified Bayern Munich in the 2012–13 DFB-Pokal final. Since they lost, they entered the third qualifying round, and the fifth- and sixth-placed team of the 2012–13 Bundesliga entered the group stage and play-off round respectively.

##### Summary table

| Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Home | Home | Home | Home | Home | Home | Away | Away | Away | Away | Away | Away |
Last updated: 10 July 2013. Source:

### UEFA Europa League
#### Play-off round
#### Group stage
##### Group E table
###### Final Group E table

| Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
| Steaua București | 6 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 9 | 9 | 0 | 11 |
| Stuttgart | 6 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 9 | 6 | +3 | 8 |
| Copenhagen | 6 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 6 | −1 | 8 |
| Molde | 6 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 6 | 8 | −2 | 6 |

###### Group E summary table

| Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Home | Home | Home | Home | Home | Home | Away | Away | Away | Away | Away | Away |
Last updated: 28 November 2012. Source: kicker.de

#### Knockout phase
##### Round of 16
###### Notes

* Note: The Lazio v Stuttgart match was played behind closed doors due to the punishment handed to Lazio by UEFA following incidents at their round of 32 match second leg against Borussia Mönchengladbach on 21 February 2013.

### Overall record

As of 22 April 2013
| Competition | First match | Last match | Record | Record | Record | Record | Record | Record | Record | Record |
| Competition | First match | Last match | G | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Win % |
| Bundesliga | 25 August 2012 | 18 May 2013 | 34 | 12 | 7 | 15 | 37 | 55 | −18 | 035.29 |
| DFB-Pokal | 18 August 2012 | 1 June 2013 | 6 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 16 | 5 | +11 | 083.33 |
| Europa League | 22 August 2012 | 14 March 2013 | 12 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 16 | 13 | +3 | 033.33 |
| Total | Total | Total | 47 | 20 | 10 | 17 | 63 | 62 | +1 | 042.55 |

## Squad
### Appearances and goals

| No. | Pos | Nat | Player | Total | Total | Bundesliga | Bundesliga | DFB-Pokal | DFB-Pokal | Europa League | Europa League |
| No. | Pos | Nat | Player | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals |
| Goalkeepers ||||||||||||
| 1 | GK | GER | Sven Ulreich | 48 | 0 | 34 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 10 | 0 |
| 22 | GK | GER | Marc Ziegler | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 33 | GK | GER | André Weis | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Defenders ||||||||||||
| 2 | DF | JPN | Gōtoku Sakai | 37 | 1 | 27 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 8 | 1 |
| 3 | DF | BRA | Felipe Lopes | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 5 | DF | GER | Serdar Tasci (Captain) | 36 | 1 | 25 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 8 | 1 |
| 6 | DF | GER | Georg Niedermeier | 37 | 2 | 27 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 6 | 1 |
| 12 | DF | GER | Benedikt Röcker | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 15 | DF | CIV | Arthur Boka | 35 | 3 | 25 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 7 | 1 |
| 21 | DF | ITA | Cristian Molinaro | 33 | 0 | 25 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 6 | 0 |
| 23 | DF | GER | Tim Hoogland (L) | 6 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 24 | DF | GER | Antonio Rüdiger | 21 | 0 | 16 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| 14 | DF | MEX | Francisco Javier Rodríguez | 21 | 0 | 14 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 0 |
| Midfielders ||||||||||||
| 4 | MF | DEN | William Kvist | 34 | 0 | 23 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 8 | 0 |
| 10 | MF | GER | Daniel Didavi | 4 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 13 | MF | GUI | Mamadou Bah | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 16 | MF | GUI | Ibrahima Traoré | 45 | 4 | 32 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 9 | 0 |
| 19 | MF | AUT | Kevin Stöger | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 20 | MF | GER | Christian Gentner | 48 | 9 | 34 | 5 | 4 | 2 | 10 | 2 |
| 26 | MF | AUT | Raphael Holzhauser | 27 | 0 | 21 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 0 |
| 30 | MF | HUN | Tamás Hajnal | 22 | 1 | 13 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 7 | 0 |
| 44 | MF | ROU | Alexandru Maxim | 13 | 1 | 11 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| 8 | MF | SRB | Zdravko Kuzmanović | 17 | 0 | 12 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| Strikers ||||||||||||
| 7 | FW | AUT | Martin Harnik | 43 | 13 | 30 | 6 | 3 | 5 | 10 | 2 |
| 9 | FW | BIH | Vedad Ibišević | 44 | 24 | 30 | 15 | 4 | 4 | 10 | 5 |
| 14 | FW | ITA | Federico Macheda | 16 | 0 | 14 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 17 | FW | TUR | Tunay Torun | 16 | 1 | 9 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 0 |
| 18 | FW | GER | Cacau | 10 | 1 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 0 |
| 29 | FW | GER | Soufian Benyamina | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 31 | FW | JPN | Shinji Okazaki | 38 | 4 | 25 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 9 | 2 |
Last updated: 4 March 2013. Source: kicker.de

### Transfers
#### In

| # | Position | Player | Transferred from | Fee | Date | Contract expires | Team | Reference |
| 17 | MF | Tunay Torun | Hertha BSC | Free transfer | 6 June 2012 | 30 June 2015 | First-team | |
| 44 | MF | Alexandru Maxim | Pandurii Târgu Jiu | €1.5M | 31 January 2013 | 30 June 2017 | First-team | |

#### Out

| # | Position | Player | Transferred to | Fee | Date |
| 17 | DF | Matthieu Delpierre | 1899 Hoffenheim | Free transfer | 18 April 2012 |
| 10 | MF | Timo Gebhart | 1. FC Nürnberg | €1M | 3 May 2012 |
| 27 | DF | Stefano Celozzi | Eintracht Frankfurt | Free transfer | 7 May 2012 |
| 21 | DF | Khalid Boulahrouz | Sporting CP | Free transfer | 18 July 2012 |
| 23 | FW | Julian Schieber | Borussia Dortmund | €5.5M | 21 July 2012 |
| | DF | Francisco Javier Rodríguez | América | €2M | 1 January 2013 |
| | MF | Zdravko Kuzmanović | Internazionale | €1.2M | 31 January 2013 |

#### Loan in

| # | Position | Player | Loaned from | Date | Loan expires | Team |
| 3 | DF | Felipe Lopes | VfL Wolfsburg | 22 January 2013 | 30 June 2013 | First-team |
| 14 | FW | Federico Macheda | Manchester United | 24 January 2013 | 30 June 2013 | First-team |
| 23 | DF | Tim Hoogland | Schalke 04 | 28 June 2012 | 30 June 2013 | First-team |

## Kits

| Home | Away | Third | Third Alternate |

## VfB Stuttgart II

The 2012–13 VfB Stuttgart II season pertains to the reserve team for VfB Stuttgart. The season began on 21 July 2012 and ended on 18 May 2013. They are participating in the 3. Liga.