This season as the previous season started off with an unsatisfactory start. In November, after matchday 14, VfB was only 11th in the table . As it turned out, Armin Veh was sacked and was replaced with Markus Babbel. After being eliminated from the German Cup after a 1-5 loss to Bayern Munich during January the prospects improved dramatically and the team finished at third place in their table and second spot was just lost after a defeat to Bayern in the final matchday. The team had the possibility of being in it to the Champions League again.
On the world stage, VfB mastered the group stages of the 2008-09 UEFA Cup, but lost to Cup Defenders Zenit Saint Petersburg during the final round of final 32 in February.
Stuttgart was in the 2009-2010 season with Mario Gomez leaving for Bayern Munich at the same time Pavel Pogrebnyak arrived from Zenit Saint Petersburg and Alexander Hleb returning on loan from Barcelona.
At the European scale, Stuttgart started the season with great success, being selected to participate in the preliminary stage of the 2009-10 UEFA Champions League. Stuttgart participated in the competition to win the tournament for the 3rd time over the last six seasons (after the 2003 and 2007) through a 2-0 win over Romanian team Politehnica Timisoara in the Champions League play-off stage on the 18th and 26th of August 2009. VfB were then placed in Grupe G against Spanish team Sevilla, Scottish champions Rangers which they were also faced previously in two Champions League Group stage appearances as well as Romanian Champions Unirea Urziceni. Two victories (one for each of Rangers in addition to Unirea) with three draws (one for each of their opponents) and one loss (to Sevilla) they managed second place on the table, getting into the round of the final 16, in which they were to take on the title holders Barcelona in the winter of. After a fantastic home match against Barca that Stuttgart but did not prevail in (1-1) They were eliminated after the 4-0 loss in the Camp Nou. Camp Nou.
The 2009-10 DFB-Pokal The team didn't go any further than the previous 16 teams, and lost to second-tier team SpVgg Greuther Furth. This defeat was at the end of an indifferent first half in the 2009-10 Bundesliga. After falling to 16th place in December, the team's young manager Markus Babbel was fired after matchday 15 and was replaced by an experienced Swiss Christian Gross. Under his guidance, VfB improved their situation in the domestic arena as well as internationally prior to they went on holiday for the duration of winter. In the course of that break, Thomas Hitzlsperger, Jan Simak and Ludovic Magnin quit the club. Cristian Molinaro was recalled from Juventus. In the latter portion of the season the team - just like the 2008-09 season, had an incredible, nearly uninterrupted winning streak. The team was regarded as the top of the 2nd (return) stage of the Bundesliga The Swabians under Gross were able to climb into the upper portion of the table. They after a spectacular victory, were able to ensure European playing rights for the next season through getting into the Europa League.
The 2010-11 season was a poor one. The team was again in the first portion of the season always in the zone of relegation (17th and 18th spots) after Christian Gross being fired and interim coach Jens Keller replacing him for the remainder of the first half. Bruno Labbadia was hired as new coach in January . He did his best to save VfB from being relegated. In the end, the team was 12th, despite a good second-half performance. In July of 2011, Erwin Staudt did not participate in the election of the president . Gerd Mauser was elected president. Mauser took over president.
In the subsequent season of 2011-12 VfB managed to continuously rise in the league table. This was particularly due to an unbeaten streak during the spring. Then, VfB qualified for the 2012-13 UEFA Europa League. One of the key players in that time were Martin Harnik, who scored 17 goals, as did the winger Gotoku Sakai as well as forward Vedad Ibisevic. Both were brought to Stuttgart in January 2012.
Effective from June 3rd, 2013 Gerd E. Mauser announced his resignation as the president of VfB Stuttgart. On the 2nd of July, 2013 the committee of the club's supervisory council appointed Bernd Wahler to be the presidential candidate. presidential election. On the 22nd of July, 2013 Wahler won the presidency with 97.4 percent of the votes that were cast.
After barely avoiding the relegation to the Bundesliga during the 2014-15 season, Stuttgart were relegated to the 2. Bundesliga for the year 2015-16 following finishing 17th in the league after failing to climb out of the lowest three spots until the final days in the year. On matchday 13, following the home game at home against FC Augsburg and their second consecutive loss of 4-0, Stuttgart decided to terminate Alexander Zorniger's deal and appoint Jurgen Kramny to be the manager of their team for an unspecified amount of time. Following the time that Stuttgart were dropped into the second. Bundesliga, Wahler resigned as president on the 15th of May, 2016. Kramny was later fired as coach.
On the 17th of May, Jos Luhukay was announced as the new head coach. Luhukay resigned on September 15 2016, and was succeeded by Hannes Wolf. Then, at the end of the campaign, Stuttgart was back in the Bundesliga as the two. Bundesliga champions. On the 22nd of December, 2017, almost 10-years since leaving, Bundesliga title winning striker Mario Gomez returned to the team from VfL Wolfsburg, a fellow Bundesliga club VfL Wolfsburg, The team had a successful return in the Bundesliga and finished 7th. But, they fell to 16th in the next season and ended in relegation via play-offs with Union Berlin.