| Competition: | 3. Liga |
| Season: | 2016–17 |
| Winners: | MSV Duisburg |
| Promoted: | MSV Duisburg Holstein Kiel Jahn Regensburg |
| Relegated: | Mainz 05 II FSV Frankfurt |
| Biggest Home Win: | FSV Frankfurt 6−0 Fortuna Köln Lotte 6–0 Paderborn |
| Biggest Away Win: | nine games 0−3 |
| Highest Scoring: | Bremen II 4−2 Osnabrück FSV Frankfurt 6−0 Fortuna Köln Magdeburg 2–4 Chemnitz Lotte 6–0 Paderborn |
| Matches: | 380 |
| Total Goals: | 911 |
| League Topscorer: | Christian Beck (17 goals) |
| Prevseason: | 2015–16 |
| Nextseason: | 2017–18 |
The 2016–17 3. Liga was the ninth season of the 3. Liga. Fixtures for the 2016–17 season were announced on 6 July 2016.[1]
A total of 20 teams contested the league, including 14 sides from the 2015–16 3. Liga. Dynamo Dresden and Erzgebirge Aue were directly promoted to the 2016–17 2. Bundesliga at the end of the 2015–16 season. Erzgebirge made an immediate return to the 2. Bundesliga after being relegated in 2014–15. Dynamo returned to the second level after two seasons in the third tier. The two promoted teams were replaced by FSV Frankfurt and Paderborn, who finished in the bottom two places of the 2015–16 2. Bundesliga table.
At the other end of the table, Stuttgart Kickers, Energie Cottbus and Stuttgart II were relegated to the 2016–17 Regionalliga. The three relegated teams were replaced by the three winners of the 2015–16 Regionalliga promotion playoffs. Jahn Regensburg from the Regionalliga Bayern, immediately returned to national level. Zwickau from the Regionalliga Nordost returned to third level after 16 years and will make their debut in 3. Liga. Sportfreunde Lotte from the Regionalliga West is playing its debut season in the 3. Liga.
A further place in the league was available via a two-legged play-off between Würzburger Kickers, third of the 3. Liga and MSV Duisburg, 16th of 2. Bundesliga. The tie ended 4–1 on aggregate for Bavarian side and Würzburger Kickers were promoted to the second level after making successively promotions and 38 years in lower leagues. Thus, Duisburg immediately returned to third level.
| Team | Manager | Captain | Kit manufacturer | Shirt sponsor | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| VfR Aalen | Saller | Prowin | |||
| Chemnitzer FC | Adidas | Ahorn Hotels | |||
| MSV Duisburg | Iliya Gruev |  | Uhlsport | Black Crevice | |
| Rot-Weiß Erfurt |  | Jako | Thüringer Energie AG | ||
| FSV Frankfurt |  | Saller | Ayondo | ||
| Hallescher FC |  | Puma | Helplus | ||
| Holstein Kiel | Adidas | Famila | |||
| Fortuna Köln | Jako | HIT Handelsgruppe | |||
| Sportfreunde Lotte | Puma | FRIMO Group | |||
| 1. FC Magdeburg | Uhlsport | FAM | |||
| Mainz 05 II | Lotto | Kömmerling | |||
| SC Paderborn | Saller | Mediacom | |||
| Preußen Münster | Nike | Tuja Zeitarbeit | |||
| VfL Osnabrück |  | Adidas | Sparkasse | ||
| Jahn Regensburg |  | Saller | Netto | ||
| Hansa Rostock | Nike | kurzurlaub.de | |||
| SG Sonnenhof Großaspach | Hummel | Urbacher Mineralquellen | |||
| SV Wehen Wiesbaden | Nike | Brita | |||
| Werder Bremen II | | Nike | Wiesenhof | ||
| FSV Zwickau | Puma | Zwickauer Energieversorgung |
| Team | Outgoing manager | Manner of departure | Date of vacancy | Position in table | Incoming manager | Date of appointment | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FSV Frankfurt | Falko Götz | End of contract | 30 May 2016 | Preseason | Roland Vrabec[3] | 15 June 2016 | |
| SG Sonnenhof Großaspach | Rüdiger Rehm[4] | Signed by Arminia Bielefeld | 30 June 2016 | Preseason | Oliver Zapel[5] | 1 July 2016 | |
| Holstein Kiel | Karsten Neitzel[6] | Sacked | 16 August 2016 | 13th | Markus Anfang[7] | 29 August 2016 | |
| Werder Bremen II | Alexander Nouri[8] | Promoted to first team | 18 September 2016 | 14th | Florian Kohfeldt[9] | 2 October 2016 | |
| Preußen Münster | Horst Steffen[10] | Sacked | 4 October 2016 | 19th | Benno Möhlmann[11] | 15 October 2016 | |
| SC Paderborn | René Müller[12] | Sacked | 20 November 2016 | 17th | Stefan Emmerling[13] | 6 December 2016 | |
| Wehen Wiesbaden | Torsten Fröhling[14] | Sacked | 6 February 2017 | 18th | Rüdiger Rehm[15] | 13 February 2017 | |
| FSV Frankfurt | Roland Vrabec[16] | Sacked | 6 March 2017 | 17th | Gino Lettieri[17] | 7 March 2017 | |
| SC Paderborn | Stefan Emmerling[18] | Sacked | 16 April 2017 | 18th | Steffen Baumgart | 16 April 2017 | |
| Hansa Rostock | Christian Brand[19] | Sacked | 13 May 2017 | 14th | Uwe Ehlers | 13 May 2017 |
| Position | State | Number of teams | Teams | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 5 | MSV Duisburg, Fortuna Köln, Sportfreunde Lotte, Preußen Münster and SC Paderborn | ||
| align=center rowspan=4 | 2 | 2 | VfR Aalen and SG Sonnenhof Großaspach | |
| 2 | FSV Frankfurt and Wehen Wiesbaden | |||
| 2 | Chemnitzer FC and FSV Zwickau | |||
| 2 | Hallescher FC and 1. FC Magdeburg | |||
| align=center rowspan=7 | 6 | 1 | Jahn Regensburg | |
| 1 | Werder Bremen II | |||
| 1 | VfL Osnabrück | |||
| 1 | Hansa Rostock | |||
| 1 | Mainz 05 II | |||
| 1 | Holstein Kiel | |||
| 1 | Rot-Weiß Erfurt |
