It was a historic campaign for Augsburg who secured their first ever qualification to a major European tournament as a fifth place finish was enough to help them secure a place in the Europa League next season. Augsburg have improved every year under coach Markus Weinzierl and they were keen to repeat their excellent season last time around that had seen them secure their highest ever position of eighth place. The season though got off to the worst possible start with Augsburg suffering a shock defeat to Magdeburg in the first round of the DFB Cup while just nine points from their opening eight games saw them drop into the bottom half of the league table. Back to back wins over Eintracht Frankfurt and Werder Bremen looked to have turned things around for Augsburg but it proved to be false hope as defeats away to Bayer Leverkusen, Wolfsburg and Mainz followed. Augsburg though slowly started to regain their best form that had seen them emerge as serious challengers for a Europa League spot last season and an excellent run of eight wins from 11 games followed, taking Augsburg to as high as fourth in the league table. Marwin Hitz was key to Augsburg's good form, with the Augsburg keeper putting in a string of excellent displays, even popping up at the other end to score a dramatic late equalizer against Bayer Leverkusen to secure a point. However history seemed to be repeating itself as Augsburg experienced a major dip in form, managing to win just twice in 12 games. Inconsistent forms by teams around them in the league table meant that Augsburg were always in with a shout of finishing in the top six. They went one better though as the season drew to a close as seven points from their final four games, including an excellent 3-1 win away to Borussia Monchengladbach, which meant that Augsburg leapfrogged Schalke to finish fifth in the league table, their best ever finish in the Bundesliga. Weinzierl will be delighted with another successful campaign but will be aware that his side needs reinforcements in terms of both quantity and quality in order to remain a genuine challenger for a place in the top six next season.
