2009–10 VfB Stuttgart season

VfB Stuttgart
2009–10 season
Manager	Markus Babbel (until 6 December); Christian Gross (from 6 December)
Stadium	Mercedes-Benz Arena
Bundesliga	6th
DFB-Pokal	Third round
UEFA Champions League	Round of 16
Top goalscorer	Cacau (13)
	← 2008–09 2010–11 →

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

Season summary[edit]

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[edit]

First-team squad[edit]

Squad at end of season^[1]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. 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^{[notes 1]}
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^{[notes 2]}
35	DF	GER	Christian Träsch
38	MF	AUT	Clemens Walch
39	FW	GER	Julian Schieber
42	DF	GER	Marco Pischorn

Left club during season[edit]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. 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^{[notes 3]} (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[edit]

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. 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[edit]

Bundesliga[edit]

League table[edit]

Pos	Team v t e	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^[a]
7	Hamburger SV	34	13	13	8	56	41	+15	52
8	VfL Wolfsburg	34	14	8	12	64	58	+6	50

Source: kicker.de (in German)
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.
Notes:

^ 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.

DFB-Pokal[edit]

1 August 2009 First round	SG Sonnenhof Großaspach	1–4	VfB Stuttgart	Heilbronn
15:30 UTC+2	Ismaili 37' Aupperle 43' 90'	Report (in German)	Hitzlsperger 55' Cacau 62' Šimák 66', 88'	Stadium: Frankenstadion Attendance: 15,000 Referee: Michael Kempter (Sauldorf)

23 September 2009 Second round	VfB Lübeck	1–3 (a.e.t.)	VfB Stuttgart	Lübeck
20:30 UTC+2	Henning 6'	Report (in German)	Schieber 77' Khedira 109' Cacau 118'	Stadium: Lohmühle Attendance: 16.900 Referee: Peter Gagelmann (Bremen)

27 October 2009 Round of 16	SpVgg Greuther Fürth	1–0	VfB Stuttgart	Fürth
19:00 UTC+1	Nehrig 32'	Report (in German)		Stadium: Playmobil-Stadion Attendance: 10,800 Referee: Babak Rafati (Hanover)

Champions League[edit]

Play-off round[edit]

18 August 2009 First leg	Timișoara	0–2	Stuttgart	Timișoara
20:45		Report	Gebhart 28' (pen.) Hleb 30'	Stadium: Stadionul Dan Păltinișanu Attendance: 23,446 Referee: Olegário Benquerença (Portugal)

26 August 2009 Second leg	Stuttgart	0–0 (2–0 agg.)	Timișoara	Stuttgart
20:45		Report		Stadium: Mercedes-Benz Arena Attendance: 27,500 Referee: Roberto Rosetti (Italy)

Group stage[edit]

Pos	Team v t e	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	—

Source: RSSSF

16 September 2009 1	Stuttgart	1–1	Rangers	Stuttgart
20:45	Pogrebnyak 18'	Report	Bougherra 77'	Stadium: Mercedes-Benz Arena Attendance: 39,000 Referee: Massimo Busacca (Switzerland)

29 September 2009 2	Unirea Urziceni	1–1	Stuttgart	Bucharest^[a]
20:45	Varga 48'	Report	Tasci 5'	Stadium: Stadionul Steaua Attendance: 13,557 Referee: Laurent Duhamel (France)

20 October 2009 3	Stuttgart	1–3	Sevilla	Stuttgart
20:45	Élson 74'	Report	Squillaci 23', 72' Navas 55'	Stadium: Mercedes-Benz Arena Attendance: 37,000 Referee: Pieter Vink (Netherlands)

4 November 2009 4	Sevilla	1–1	Stuttgart	Seville
20:45	Navas 14'	Report	Kuzmanović 79'	Stadium: Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán Attendance: 32,669 Referee: Martin Atkinson (England)

24 November 2009 5	Rangers	0–2	Stuttgart	Glasgow
20:45		Report	Rudy 16' Kuzmanović 59'	Stadium: Ibrox Stadium Attendance: 41,468 Referee: Roberto Rosetti (Italy)

9 December 2009 6	Stuttgart	3–1	Unirea Urziceni	Stuttgart
20:45	Marica 5' Träsch 8' Pogrebnyak 11'	Report	Semedo 46'	Stadium: Mercedes-Benz Arena Attendance: 37,000 Referee: Viktor Kassai (Hungary)

^ Unirea Urziceni played their home group matches at Stadionul Steaua in Bucharest as their Stadionul Tineretului did not meet UEFA criteria.

Knockout phase[edit]

Round of 16[edit]

23 February 2010 First leg	Stuttgart	1–1	Barcelona	Stuttgart
20:45	Cacau 25'	Report	Ibrahimović 52'	Stadium: Mercedes-Benz Arena Attendance: 39,430 Referee: Björn Kuipers (Netherlands)

17 March 2010 Second leg	Barcelona	4–0 (5–1 agg.)	Stuttgart	Barcelona
20:45	Messi 13', 60' Pedro 22' Bojan 89'	Report		Stadium: Camp Nou Attendance: 88,543 Referee: Alain Hamer (Luxembourg)

References[edit]

^ "FootballSquads - VFB Stuttgart - 2009/10".

Notes[edit]

^ Cacau was born in Santo André, Brazil, but also qualified to represent Germany internationally after gaining citizenship and made his international debut for Germany in May 2009.
^ Kuzmanović was born in Thun, Switzerland, and represented them at U-21 level, but also qualified to represent Serbia internationally through his father and made his international debut for Serbia in March 2007.
^ Baştürk was born in Herne, West Germany (now Germany), but also qualified to represent Turkey internationally and made his international debut for Turkey in 1998.

[table_note_res_EL30.60798692778125-5] 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.

[6] Unirea Urziceni played their home group matches at Stadionul Steaua in Bucharest as their Stadionul Tineretului did not meet UEFA criteria.

[1] "FootballSquads - VFB Stuttgart - 2009/10".

[2] Cacau was born in Santo André, Brazil, but also qualified to represent Germany internationally after gaining citizenship and made his international debut for Germany in May 2009.

[3] Kuzmanović was born in Thun, Switzerland, and represented them at U-21 level, but also qualified to represent Serbia internationally through his father and made his international debut for Serbia in March 2007.

[4] Baştürk was born in Herne, West Germany (now Germany), but also qualified to represent Turkey internationally and made his international debut for Turkey in 1998.

[1]

[notes 1]

[notes 2]

[notes 3]

[a]

[a]