The season started on 5 August 2011 with the opening match involving defending champions Borussia Dortmund and ended with the last games on 5 May 2012.

The league comprised eighteen teams: Eintracht Frankfurt and FC St. Pauli were directly relegated after finishing the 2010–11 season in the bottom two places.

Frankfurt ended a six-year tenure in the Bundesliga, while St. Pauli only made a cameo one-year appearance in the top flight and directly returned to the second level.

The Bavarian side made their debut at the highest level of football in Germany, while Hertha directly returned to the Bundesliga after just one year at the second tier.

A further place in the league was decided through a two-legged play-off between Borussia Mönchengladbach, the 16th-placed team of the 2010–11 Bundesliga, and VfL Bochum, the third-placed 2.

[38] On 21 May the DFB Sports Court rejected this appeal, having considered that these crowd disturbances did not psychologically impinge the Hertha players and that the referee's handling of the situation was sound.