Hannover made five new signings over the summer period—Salif Sané from Nancy,[1] Edgar Prib from Greuther Fürth,[2] Leonardo Bittencourt from Borussia Dortmund,[3] and youngsters Konstantin Fuhry from Stuttgart under-19's[4] and Florian Ballas from Nürnberg II.

[5] Hannover also lost Sérgio Pinto to Levante[6] and both Mohammed Abdellaoue[7] and Konstantin Rausch[8] to Stuttgart.

Additionally, Mario Eggimann left to join Union Berlin,[9] Sofian Chahed left on a free transfer and Johan Djourou returned to Arsenal before signing on loan at rivals Hamburger SV.

[10] During the winter break, rumours arose regarding the situation of manager Mirko Slomka due to the team's recent poor form, and on 27 December, he was fired.

Hannover entered the 2013–14 DFB Pokal with an away game against Victoria Hamburg on Sunday 4 August 2013.