The Best Second Division In Europe? 2. Bundesliga About To Kick Off

Schalke and Hertha Berlin are about to kick off on Friday to start the 2025/26 2. Bundesliga campaign. (Photo by Jan Fromme – firo sportphoto/Getty Images)

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German football is set to return this weekend. On Friday, powerhouses Schalke and Hertha Berlin kick off the 51st 2. Bundesliga season. Both are big names in Germany, with Schalke, depending on who you ask, the second or third biggest club based on fanbase. Hertha, too, is a massive side, even if city rivals Union Berlin has supplanted them in recent years.

Unlike Schalke, though, Hertha is one of the favorites to go up this season. The Berlin club missed out on promotion last season but spent most of the summer putting together a competitive squad. Together with Holstein Kiel, Hannover 96, and Fortuna Düsseldorf, Hertha will be fighting for one of the top spots.

What about Schalke? After going back down in 2023, the Gelsenkirchen club is currently in rebuild mode. Ahead of last season, top talents like Assan Ouédraogo had to be sold. This year the financial situation technically should have led to even more sales but new club boss Frank Baumann is trying to keep most of the squad together.

With that in mind, there is always a surprise team that joins the promotion mix. Schalke, with new head coach Miron Muslic alongside Elversberg, who lost the relegation playoffs to Heidenheim in dramatic fashion last season, could be among the dark horses. Other teams to watch are the likes of Magdeburg, 1. FC Kaiserslautern, and 1. FC Nürnberg under head coach and 2014 World Cup winner Miroslav Klose.

Either way, it promises to be once again an exciting season. Last year the top half of the table from first to ninth was separated by just ten points. The final promotion spots weren’t decided until the final day of the season, with five teams still fighting for direct promotion or the relegation playoff spot.

It is why the 2. Bundesliga is one of the best top 10 leagues to follow in European football. While many of the top divisions are already decided several matchdays before the conclusion of the season, Germany’s second division usually goes down to the wire.

Not surprisingly, the 2. Bundesliga is one of the highest-drawing games in the game. Last year, over nine million people attended games in the 2. Bundesliga. At an average of 30,840 per match after 306 games.

That places the 2. Bundesliga is among the top-attended leagues in European football. Just to put into perspective, Italy’s Serie A (average attendance 30,772), Spain’s LaLiga (average attendance 30,015), and France’s Ligue 1 (average attendance 27,946) had lower attendance figures than Germany’s second division.

With that in mind, it isn’t surprising then that the 2. Bundesliga is also the richest second division in European football in terms of revenue. According to a report by the Deutsche Fußball Liga—the governing body of the Bundesliga and 2. Bundesliga—in the 2023/24 season, the total revenue of the 18-team second division crossed the €1 billion ($1.15 billion) mark for the first time, easily generating more money than any other second-division league. In comparison, the Championship, the 24-team English second tier, made €875 million ($1 billion) in 2022-23, the last season for which figures are available.

In other words, Germany’s second division is an unparalleled money-making machine. Will it stay the same way this season? After all, two big clubs, Hamburger SV and 1. FC Köln have been promoted.

The likes of Hertha, Schalke, Kaiserslautern, Fortuna Düsseldorf, and Hannover 96 will guarantee that big crowds continue. Indeed, teams like Magdeburg and Karlsruhe have recently opened new 30,000+ seat stadiums. The same is also true for newly promoted Dynamo Dresden.

Overall, the 2025/26 season promises to be just as compelling on and off the pitch as last year, and while there are favorites, expect the unexpected—the 2. Bundesliga is often madness, which is why it is perhaps the best second division in world football and one of the best ten leagues in Europe overall.