2017–18 VfL Wolfsburg season

The 2017–18 VfL Wolfsburg season was the 73rd season in the football club's history and 21st consecutive and overall season in the top flight of German football, the Bundesliga, having been promoted from the 2. Bundesliga in 1997. In addition to the domestic league, VfL Wolfsburg also participated in the season's edition of the domestic cup, the DFB-Pokal. This was the 16th season for Wolfsburg in the Volkswagen Arena, located in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony, Germany. The season covers a period from 1 July 2017 to 30 June 2018.

VfL Wolfsburg

2017–18 season
Owner	Volkswagen
Executive director	Francisco Javier García Sanz
Manager	Andries Jonker (until 18 September) Martin Schmidt (18 September – 19 February) Bruno Labbadia (from 20 February)
Stadium	Volkswagen Arena
Bundesliga	16th (play-off winners)
DFB-Pokal	Quarter-finals
Top goalscorer	League: Daniel Didavi (9 goals) All: Daniel Didavi (10 goals)
Highest home attendance	30,000
Lowest home attendance	15,508
Average home league attendance	25,712
Biggest win	Wolfsburg 3–0 Gladbach Wolfsburg 4–1 Köln
Biggest defeat	Wolfsburg 0–3 Dortmund Hoffenheim 3–0 Wolfsburg Gladbach 3–0 Wolfsburg Leipzig 4–1 Wolfsburg
Home colours Away colours Third colours
All statistics correct as of 21 May 2018.

Players

Squad information

As of 7 April 2018[1][2][3]

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  BEL Koen Casteels 2 DF  BRA William 3 DF  NED Paul Verhaegh (vice-captain) 4 MF  ESP Ignacio Camacho (captain) 5 DF  NED Jeffrey Bruma 6 MF  NED Riechedly Bazoer 8 MF   SUI Renato Steffen 9 FW  BEL Landry Dimata 10 MF  TUR Yunus Mallı 11 MF  GER Daniel Didavi 13 MF  GER Yannick Gerhardt 14 FW  BEL Divock Origi (on loan from Liverpool) 16 MF  POL Jakub Błaszczykowski 17 DF  GER Ohis Felix Uduokhai 18 FW  NGA Victor Osimhen

No. Pos. Nation Player 20 GK  GER Max Grün 21 FW  CRO Josip Brekalo 22 FW   SUI Admir Mehmedi 23 MF  FRA Josuha Guilavogui 24 DF  GER Sebastian Jung 25 DF  USA John Brooks 26 MF  GER Justin Möbius 27 MF  GER Maximilian Arnold 29 DF  COD Marcel Tisserand (on loan from FC Ingolstadt) 31 DF  GER Robin Knoche 35 DF  GER Gian-Luca Itter 36 GK  GER Phillip Menzel 37 MF  GER Elvis Rexhbeçaj 39 DF  GER Paul Jaeckel

Competitions

  Win   Draw   Loss

Overview

Competition	First match	Last match	Starting round	Final position	Record
					Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Win %
Bundesliga	19 August 2017	12 May 2018	Matchday 1	16th	34	6	15	13	36	48	−12	017.65
Bundesliga relegation play-offs	17 May 2018	21 May 2018	First leg	Winners	2	2	0	0	4	1	+3	100.00
DFB-Pokal	13 August 2017	7 February 2018	First round	Quarter-finals	4	3	0	1	4	1	+3	075.00
Total					40	11	15	14	44	50	−6	027.50

Last updated: 21 May 2018

Source: Competitions

Bundesliga

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
14	Mainz 05	34	9	9	16	38	52	−14	36
15	SC Freiburg	34	8	12	14	32	56	−24	36
16	VfL Wolfsburg (O)	34	6	15	13	36	48	−12	33	Qualification to relegation play-offs
17	Hamburger SV (R)	34	8	7	19	29	53	−24	31	Relegation to 2. Bundesliga
18	1. FC Köln (R)	34	5	7	22	35	70	−35	22

Source: DFB
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal difference; 3) Goals scored; 4) Head-to-head points; 5) Head-to-head goal difference; 6) Head-to-head away goals scored; 7) Away goals scored; 8) Play-off.[4]
(O) Play-off winner; (R) Relegated.

Results summary

Overall								Home						Away
Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
34	6	15	13	36	48	−12	33	3	8	6	23	25	−2	3	7	7	13	23	−10

Last updated: 21 May 2018.
Source: Bundesliga

Results by round

Round	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31	32	33	34
Ground	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	H	A	H	A	H	A	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	A	H	A	H	A	H
Result	L	W	D	L	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	W	L	W	D	D	L	D	L	W	D	L	L	D	L	L	L	D	W	D	L	L	L	W
Position	18	11	12	14	13	13	12	14	14	14	14	13	14	11	11	12	12	12	13	13	13	13	14	15	15	15	15	15	15	14	14	16	16	16

Updated to match(es) played on 21 May 2018. Source: Bundesliga
A = Away; H = Home; W = Win; D = Draw; L = Loss

Matches

19 August 2017 1	VfL Wolfsburg	0–3	Borussia Dortmund	Wolfsburg
15:30 CEST (UTC+2)		Report	Pulisic  22' Bartra  27' Aubameyang  60'	Stadium: Volkswagen Arena Attendance: 30,000 Referee: Robert Hartmann

26 August 2017 2	Eintracht Frankfurt	0–1	VfL Wolfsburg	Frankfurt
15:30 CEST (UTC+2)		Report	Didavi  22'	Stadium: Commerzbank-Arena Attendance: 46,000 Referee: Benjamin Cortus

9 September 2017 3	VfL Wolfsburg	1–1	Hannover 96	Wolfsburg
15:30 CEST (UTC+2)	Didavi  52'	Report	Harnik  75'	Stadium: Volkswagen Arena Attendance: 27,321 Referee: Felix Zwayer

16 September 2017 4	VfB Stuttgart	1–0	VfL Wolfsburg	Stuttgart
15:30 CEST (UTC+2)	Akolo  42'	Report		Stadium: Mercedes-Benz Arena Attendance: 50,500 Referee: Guido Winkmann

19 September 2017 5	VfL Wolfsburg	1–1	Werder Bremen	Wolfsburg
20:30 CEST (UTC+2)	Origi  28'	Report	Bartels  56'	Stadium: Volkswagen Arena Attendance: 26,174 Referee: Felix Brych

22 September 2017 6	Bayern Munich	2–2	VfL Wolfsburg	Munich
20:30 CEST (UTC+2)	Lewandowski  33' (pen.) Robben  42'	Report	Arnold  56' Didavi  83'	Stadium: Allianz Arena Attendance: 75,000 Referee: Christian Dingert

30 September 2017 7	VfL Wolfsburg	1–1	Mainz 05	Wolfsburg
15:30 CEST (UTC+2)	Guilavogui  55'	Report	Mutō  74'	Stadium: Volkswagen Arena Attendance: 24,352 Referee: Robert Hartmann

15 October 2017 8	Bayer Leverkusen	2–2	VfL Wolfsburg	Leverkusen
15:30 CEST (UTC+2)	L. Bender  29' Alario  61'	Report	Origi  44' Błaszczykowski  69'	Stadium: BayArena Attendance: 29,104 Referee: Patrick Ittrich

22 October 2017 9	VfL Wolfsburg	1–1	1899 Hoffenheim	Wolfsburg
18:00 CEST (UTC+2)	Uduokhai  90+1'	Report	Demirbay  73' (pen.)	Stadium: Volkswagen Arena Attendance: 23,514 Referee: Felix Zwayer

28 October 2017 10	Schalke 04	1–1	VfL Wolfsburg	Gelsenkirchen
15:30 CEST (UTC+2)	Bentaleb  43' (pen.)	Report	Origi  90+3'	Stadium: Veltins-Arena Attendance: 60,429 Referee: Markus Schmidt

5 November 2017 11	VfL Wolfsburg	3–3	Hertha BSC	Wolfsburg
18:00 CET (UTC+1)	Mallı  41' Gómez  44' Origi  60'	Report	Ibišević  1' Rekik  53' Selke  83'	Stadium: Volkswagen Arena Attendance: 25,214 Referee: Robert Kampka

18 November 2017 12	VfL Wolfsburg	3–1	SC Freiburg	Wolfsburg
15:30 CET (UTC+1)	Gerhardt  3' Mallı  29', 70'	Report	Kapustka  68'	Stadium: Volkswagen Arena Attendance: 23,744 Referee: Manuel Gräfe

25 November 2017 13	FC Augsburg	2–1	VfL Wolfsburg	Augsburg
15:30 CET (UTC+1)	Gregoritsch  51' Finnbogason  78'	Report	Didavi  40'	Stadium: WWK Arena Attendance: 26,541 Referee: Tobias Stieler

3 December 2017 14	VfL Wolfsburg	3–0	Borussia Mönchengladbach	Wolfsburg
18:00 CET (UTC+1)	Mallı  4' Didavi  25' Guilavogui  71'	Report		Stadium: Volkswagen Arena Attendance: 24,250 Referee: Benjamin Cortus

9 December 2017 15	Hamburger SV	0–0	VfL Wolfsburg	Hamburg
15:30 CET (UTC+1)		Report		Stadium: Volksparkstadion Attendance: 45,226 Referee: Christian Dingert

12 December 2017 16	VfL Wolfsburg	1–1	RB Leipzig	Wolfsburg
18:30 CET (UTC+1)	Verhaegh  15' (pen.)	Report	Halstenberg  52'	Stadium: Volkswagen Arena Attendance: 22,827 Referee: Guido Winkmann

16 December 2017 17	1. FC Köln	1–0	VfL Wolfsburg	Cologne
15:30 CET (UTC+1)	Clemens  67'	Report		Stadium: RheinEnergieStadion Attendance: 41,100 Referee: Benjamin Brand

14 January 2018 18	Borussia Dortmund	0–0	VfL Wolfsburg	Dortmund
18:00 CET (UTC+1)		Report		Stadium: Signal Iduna Park Attendance: 80,600 Referee: Tobias Stieler

20 January 2018 19	VfL Wolfsburg	1–3	Eintracht Frankfurt	Wolfsburg
15:30 CET (UTC+1)	Arnold  66'	Report	Haller  18' Chandler  22' Jović  85'	Stadium: Volkswagen Arena Attendance: 24,450 Referee: Markus Schmidt

28 January 2018 20	Hannover 96	0–1	VfL Wolfsburg	Hanover
18:00 CET (UTC+1)		Report	Mallı  72'	Stadium: HDI-Arena Attendance: 34,300 Referee: Felix Brych

3 February 2018 21	VfL Wolfsburg	1–1	VfB Stuttgart	Wolfsburg
15:30 CET (UTC+1)	Origi  24'	Report	Gómez  60'	Stadium: Volkswagen Arena Attendance: 24,378 Referee: Robert Hartmann

11 February 2018 22	Werder Bremen	3–1	VfL Wolfsburg	Bremen
18:00 CET (UTC+1)	Augustinsson  4' Kainz  40', 72'	Report	Verhaegh  49'	Stadium: Weser-Stadion Attendance: 38,062 Referee: Deniz Aytekin

17 February 2018 23	VfL Wolfsburg	1–2	Bayern Munich	Wolfsburg
15:30 CET (UTC+1)	Didavi  8'	Report	Wagner  64' Lewandowski  90+1' (pen.)	Stadium: Volkswagen Arena Attendance: 30,000 Referee: Sascha Stegemann

23 February 2018 24	Mainz 05	1–1	VfL Wolfsburg	Mainz
20:30 CET (UTC+1)	Mutō  44'	Report	Brekalo  6'	Stadium: Opel Arena Attendance: 25,173 Referee: Bastian Dankert

3 March 2018 25	VfL Wolfsburg	1–2	Bayer Leverkusen	Wolfsburg
15:30 CET (UTC+1)	Mehmedi  79'	Report	Alario  31' (pen.) Brandt  78'	Stadium: Volkswagen Arena Attendance: 24,354 Referee: Felix Zwayer

10 March 2018 26	1899 Hoffenheim	3–0	VfL Wolfsburg	Sinsheim
15:30 CET (UTC+1)	Schulz  18' Gnabry  77' Guilavogui  80' (o.g.)	Report		Stadium: Wirsol Rhein-Neckar-Arena Attendance: 25,550 Referee: Manuel Gräfe

17 March 2018 27	VfL Wolfsburg	0–1	Schalke 04	Wolfsburg
18:30 CET (UTC+1)		Report	Knoche  86' (o.g.)	Stadium: Volkswagen Arena Attendance: 27,502 Referee: Benjamin Cortus

31 March 2018 28	Hertha BSC	0–0	VfL Wolfsburg	Berlin
20:30 CEST (UTC+2)		Report		Stadium: Olympiastadion Berlin Attendance: 34,765 Referee: Deniz Aytekin

7 April 2018 29	SC Freiburg	0–2	VfL Wolfsburg	Freiburg
15:30 CEST (UTC+2)		Report	Didavi  2', 83'	Stadium: Schwarzwald-Stadion Attendance: 24,000 Referee: Sascha Stegemann

13 April 2018 30	VfL Wolfsburg	0–0	FC Augsburg	Wolfsburg
20:30 CEST (UTC+2)		Report		Stadium: Volkswagen Arena Attendance: 23,512 Referee: Patrick Ittrich

20 April 2018 31	Borussia Mönchengladbach	3–0	VfL Wolfsburg	Mönchengladbach
20:30 CEST (UTC+2)	Stindl  8' Raffael  35' Kramer  44'	Report		Stadium: Borussia-Park Attendance: 47,797 Referee: Tobias Stieler

28 April 2018 32	VfL Wolfsburg	1–3	Hamburger SV	Wolfsburg
15:30 CEST (UTC+2)	Brekalo  78'	Report	Wood  43' (pen.) Holtby  45+1' Waldschmidt  90+3'	Stadium: Volkswagen Arena Attendance: 29,400 Referee: Daniel Siebert

5 May 2018 33	RB Leipzig	4–1	VfL Wolfsburg	Leipzig
15:30 CEST (UTC+2)	Lookman  24', 52' Werner  33' Augustin  63'	Report	Didavi  47'	Stadium: Red Bull Arena Attendance: 41,487 Referee: Marco Fritz

12 May 2018 34	VfL Wolfsburg	4–1	1. FC Köln	Wolfsburg
15:30 CEST (UTC+2)	Guilavogui  1' Origi  54' Knoche  71' Brekalo  90+1'	Report	Hector  32'	Stadium: Volkswagen Arena Attendance: 26,112 Referee: Markus Schmidt

Relegation play-offs

17 May 2018 First leg	VfL Wolfsburg	3–1	Holstein Kiel	Wolfsburg
20:30 CEST (UTC+2)	Origi  13' Brekalo  40' Mallı  56'	Report	Schindler  34'	Stadium: Volkswagen Arena Attendance: 28,800 Referee: Deniz Aytekin

21 May 2018 Second leg	Holstein Kiel	0–1 (1–4 agg.)	VfL Wolfsburg	Kiel
20:30 CEST (UTC+2)		Report	Knoche  75'	Stadium: Holstein-Stadion Attendance: 12,000 Referee: Daniel Siebert

DFB-Pokal

13 August 2017 First round	Eintracht Norderstedt	0–1	VfL Wolfsburg	Norderstedt
15:30 CEST (UTC+2)		Report	Camacho  59'	Stadium: Edmund-Plambeck-Stadion Attendance: 4,500 Referee: Lasse Koslowski

25 October 2017 Second round	VfL Wolfsburg	1–0	Hannover 96	Wolfsburg
18:30 CEST (UTC+2)	Uduokhai  49'	Report		Stadium: Volkswagen Arena Attendance: 15,508 Referee: Felix Brych

19 December 2017 Round of 16	1. FC Nürnberg	0–2 (a.e.t.)	VfL Wolfsburg	Nuremberg
20:45 CET (UTC+1)		Report	Uduokhai  96' Didavi  118'	Stadium: Max-Morlock-Stadion Attendance: 26,104 Referee: Daniel Siebert

7 February 2018 Quarter-finals	Schalke 04	1–0	VfL Wolfsburg	Gelsenkirchen
20:45 CET (UTC+1)	Burgstaller  10'	Report		Stadium: Veltins-Arena Attendance: 50,642 Referee: Christian Dingert

Statistics

Appearances and goals

No.	Pos	Nat	Player	Total		Bundesliga		DFB-Pokal		Play-offs
				Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Goalkeepers
1	GK		Koen Casteels	39	0	34	0	3	0	2	0
20	GK		Max Grün	1	0	0	0	1	0	0	0
36	GK		Phillip Menzel	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Defenders
2	DF		William	26	0	19+3	0	1+1	0	2	0
3	DF		Paul Verhaegh	33	2	30+1	2	2	0	0	0
5	DF		Jeffrey Bruma	13	0	11	0	2	0	0	0
17	DF		Ohis Felix Uduokhai	24	3	17+2	1	2+1	2	2	0
24	DF		Sebastian Jung	4	0	1+1	0	1+1	0	0	0
25	DF		John Brooks	12	0	9	0	1	0	2	0
29	DF		Marcel Tisserand	19	0	14+2	0	3	0	0	0
31	DF		Robin Knoche	29	2	24	1	3	0	2	1
35	DF		Gian-Luca Itter	5	0	5	0	0	0	0	0
39	DF		Paul Jaeckel	3	0	3	0	0	0	0	0
Midfielders
4	MF		Ignacio Camacho	15	1	11	0	2	1	0+2	0
6	MF		Riechedly Bazoer	14	0	6+7	0	1	0	0	0
8	MF		Renato Steffen	18	0	6+10	0	0	0	2	0
10	MF		Yunus Mallı	37	6	24+7	5	3+1	0	2	1
11	MF		Daniel Didavi	33	10	26+4	9	1+2	1	0	0
13	MF		Yannick Gerhardt	17	1	12+5	1	0	0	0	0
16	MF		Jakub Błaszczykowski	13	1	6+3	1	2	0	0+2	0
23	MF		Josuha Guilavogui	35	3	27+2	3	2+2	0	2	0
26	MF		Justin Möbius	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
27	MF		Maximilian Arnold	34	2	28+1	2	3	0	2	0
37	MF		Elvis Rexhbeçaj	4	0	1+3	0	0	0	0	0
Forwards
9	FW		Landry Dimata	24	0	9+12	0	1	0	0+2	0
14	FW		Divock Origi	36	7	22+9	6	2+1	0	2	1
18	FW		Victor Osimhen	13	0	3+9	0	0+1	0	0	0
21	FW		Josip Brekalo	15	4	10+3	3	0	0	2	1
22	FW		Admir Mehmedi	6	1	3+2	1	1	0	0	0
Players transferred out during the season
7	MF		Paul-Georges Ntep	7	0	1+4	0	1+1	0	0	0
32	FW		Kaylen Hinds	2	0	1	0	1	0	0	0
33	FW		Mario Gómez	15	1	11+1	1	2+1	0	0	0

Last updated: 21 May 2018
Source: Competitions

References

1. "Kader". VfL Wolfsburg. Retrieved 8 August 2017.
2. "VfL Wolfsburg Squad". bundesliga.com. Archived from the original on 23 November 2018. Retrieved 20 June 2017.
3. "Perspektiv-Verpflichtung". Wolfsburg.de.
4. "Ligaverband: Ligastatut" [League Association: League Regulations] (PDF). DFB.de. German Football Association. p. 214. Retrieved 16 August 2016.