2. Bundesliga
The new Bundesliga 2 season kicks off on 1 August, promising nail-biting drama, goals galore and non-stop entertainment up and down one of the best-supported leagues in Europe. bundesliga.com explains why you don't want to miss a beat...
1) The fiercest promotion race around
Runaway leaders don't really exist in Bundesliga 2, where decisions have a habit of going to the wire, as was the case in 2024/25. At one stage, as many as 10 of the division's 18 teams were in the promotion running, while only Hamburg went into the final day assured of a place in the Bundesliga.
Even then, they slipped to second as Cologne stole in front to claim the title at the last. That left five others battling it out to potentially follow the top two up via the play-off berth, seized in style by unfancied Elversberg.
The year before that, only six points separated the top three, and in 2022/23 goal difference was all that split first and second, with the side in third just a point further back.
Relegation dogfights are similarly nail-biting affairs as Eintracht Braunschweig, Preußen Münster and Greuther Fürth found out on Matchday 34 of 2024/25.
Watch: Hamburg back at last!
2) Wildly unpredictable
Bundesliga 2 doesn't only deal in fine margins. Scripts are torn up and 'favourite' tags cast aside as underdogs upset the applecart on an almost annual basis. Last season it was Elversberg who, 11th in the standings 12 months earlier, narrowly missed out on promotion after losing a dramatic play-off.
Holstein Kiel went one better the previous campaign to earn a maiden spot in the top tier, just as Heidenheim had - albeit as champions instead of runners-up - following a roller-coaster conclusion to 2022/23.
At the other end of the spectrum, ex-Bundesliga clubs like Kaiserslautern and Arminia Bielefeld have, at some stage, slipped through the trapdoor into Germany's 3. Liga, before clawing their way back.
3) Sleeping giants
Big, traditional names add to the spectacle. Kaiserslautern are the only team ever to win the Bundesliga title as a newly promoted side; Nuremberg - coached by Germany's all-time leading goalscorer Miroslav Klose - and Braunschweig are two more former Bundesliga champions currently stationed in the second tier; while Schalke - the pre-war era's dominant force - are seven-time Bundesliga runners-up and even contested the UEFA Champions League semi-finals in 2010/11.
The likes of Hannover and Hertha Berlin were also mixing it in the top flight not all that long ago. Will they awake from their collective slumber?
4) Record-breaking crowds
Whatever happens, there will be legions of fans roaring on their sides from 1 August 2025 right through to play-off season in late May 2026. After all, Germany's magnetic second tier is among Europe's best attended leagues, with over nine million supporters sitting in on games in 2024/25 alone.
Historic venues such as Hertha's 71,500-seater Olympiastadion add to the allure, while Schalke's 62,094-capacity Veltins-Arena was third only to Bayern Munich's Allianz Arena and Borussia Dortmund's Signal Iduna Park for average attendances across the entire country.
All told, Bundesliga 2 is home to six stadia capable of holding at least 49,000 spectators.
Watch: Inside the home of Schalke
5) Goals galore
Anyone in the vicinity of those arenas will attest to how loud it gets on matchday, not least given the number of goals supporters get to celebrate. Last term, some 925 flew in at a clip of 3.02 per game - only 34 fewer than the Bundesliga's 959.
There were some insane scorelines along the way, including a 6-0, 6-1, 5-2 and monster 8-3 between Nuremberg and Jahn Regensburg. Historically, only Hansa Rostock have scored more in a single Bundesliga 2 game (9-0 vs. Koblenz in 2008).
And it wouldn't be Bundesliga 2 without a few instant viral moments thrown in for good measure (more on those here). So, buckle up and enjoy the ride. It's going to be wild!
