2. Bundesliga

2. Bundesliga
Country	Germany
Confederation	UEFA
Founded	1974
Number of teams	18
Promotion to	Bundesliga
Relegation to	3. Liga
Levels on pyramid	2
Domestic cup(s)	DFB-Pokal
UEFA cup(s)	UEFA Europa League (via domestic cups)
Current champions	1. FC Heidenheim (1st title) (2022–23)
Most successful club	Arminia Bielefeld 1. FC Nürnberg SC Freiburg 1. FC Köln VfL Bochum (4 titles)
Website	Official website
2023–24

The 2. Bundesliga, is the Second Division of professional football in Germany. The 2. Bundesliga is ranked below the Bundesliga and above the 3. Liga in the German football league system. All of the 2. Bundesliga clubs qualify for the DFB-Pokal, the annual German Cup competition. A total of 123 clubs have competed in the 2. Bundesliga since its foundation.

The decision to establish the league as the second level of football in West Germany was taken in May 1973. The league started operating in August 1974, then with two divisions of 20 clubs. It was reduced to a single division in 1981. From the 1991–92 season onwards clubs from former East Germany started participating in the league, briefly expanding it to two divisions again. It returned to a single division format again at the end of that season and has been playing with 18 clubs as its strength since 1994. Two clubs from the 2. Bundesliga are directly promoted to the Bundesliga, while a third promoted club has been determined through play-offs from 1974 to 1991 and again since 2008. Between 1991 and 2008 the third-placed club in the league was directly promoted. The bottom clubs in the league are relegated to the third division which has been, from 1974 to 1994 the Oberliga, from 1994 to 2008 the Regionalliga and since 2008 the 3. Liga. The number of relegated clubs has fluctuated over the years. Since 2008 two clubs are directly relegated while the third-last team has the opportunity to defend its league place in play-offs against the third placed team of the 3. Liga.

1. FC Nürnberg, SC Freiburg, 1. FC Köln, Arminia Bielefeld and VfL Bochum hold the record number of championships in the league with four each. Bielefeld also holds the record for number of promotions from the 2. Bundesliga to the Bundesliga, with eight.

Members of the 2. Bundesliga (2023–24 season)

Club	Location	Stadium	Capacity
Eintracht Braunschweig	Braunschweig	Eintracht-Stadion	23,325
Hertha BSC	Berlin	Olympiastadion	74,649
Fortuna Düsseldorf	Düsseldorf	Merkur Spiel-Arena	54,600
SV Elversberg	Spiesen-Elversberg	Waldstadion an der Kaiserlinde	9,970
SpVgg Greuther Fürth	Fürth	Sportpark Ronhof Thomas Sommer	15,606
Hamburger SV	Hamburg	Volksparkstadion	57,000
Hannover 96	Hannover	Niedersachsenstadion	49,200
1. FC Kaiserslautern	Kaiserslautern	Fritz-Walter-Stadion	49,850
Karlsruher SC	Karlsruhe	Wildparkstadion	29,699
Holstein Kiel	Kiel	Holstein-Stadion	15,034
1. FC Magdeburg	Magdeburg	MDCC-Arena	25,910
1. FC Nürnberg	Nuremburg	Max-Morlock-Stadion	49,923
VfL Osnabrück	Osnabrück	Stadion an der Bremer Brücke	16,667
SC Paderborn 07	Paderborn	Benteler-Arena	15,000
FC Hansa Rostock	Rostock	Ostseestadion	29,000
Schalke 04	Gelsenkirchen	Veltins Arena	62,273
FC St. Pauli	Hamburg	Millerntor-Stadion	29,546
Wehen Wiesbaden	Wiesbaden	BRITA-Arena	12,250

External links

• Deutscher Fußball-Bund (DFB) (German)
• bundesliga.com