Big names, historic clubs and promotion hopefuls – get ready for the 2026/27 Bundesliga 2 season with a look at the division’s standout stats and records.
Bochum and Hertha kick off the new season on 7 August!
Relegated teams
1 – Last season, Wolfsburg were relegated from the Bundesliga for the first time in the club’s history, after 29 years in the top flight.
1 – Heidenheim suffered their first relegation under head coach Frank Schmidt, who has been in charge for 19 years.
2 – St. Pauli have played the second-highest number of Bundesliga 2 matches (1,130). Only Greuther Fürth have played more (1,262).
8 – Wolfsburg are set for their eighth season in Bundesliga 2. The last time the Lower Saxony side were in the second tier was in the 1996/97 season.
10 – Heidenheim are about to embark on their 10th season in Bundesliga 2.
33 – It’ll be St. Pauli’s 33rd season of Bundesliga 2 football.
49 – Forty-nine of the 154 teams relegated from the Bundesliga managed to secure immediate promotion back to the top tier (32 per cent). The last team to achieve this was Cologne in 2025.
155, 156, 157 – Wolfsburg, Heidenheim and St. Pauli are the 155th, 156th and 157th teams to be relegated in the history of the Bundesliga.
Watch: Bochum & Hertha to raise Bundesliga 2 curtain
Promoted clubs
2 – After two years in the 3. Liga, Osnabrück are back for a 27th season in Bundesliga 2.
6 – Following Osnabrück’s last six promotions, they’ve always been relegated again either in the first (four times) or second year (twice).
7 – Osnabrück are a founding member of Bundesliga 2 and have played 962 matches in the division, the seventh-highest total of any club.
8 – Osnabrück hold the record for the most promotions to Bundesliga 2, with eight.
12 – Energie Cottbus are back in Bundesliga 2 after a 12-year absence. The 2026/27 campaign will be the club’s 12th season in the second tier.
48 – Osnabrück recorded the best Rückrunde in 3. Liga history, collecting 48 points from 15 wins, three draws and just one defeat during the second half of the 2025/26 campaign.
Second-tier regulars
1 – Fürth hold the record for the most Bundesliga 2 seasons, with 36, and have been relegated just once – in 1983.
2 – The Clover Leaves have also been promoted to the Bundesliga twice (in 2012 and 2021).
8 – Nuremberg, Hannover and Karlsruhe are the current longest-serving clubs in Bundesliga 2, with the 2026/27 season marking each side’s eighth consecutive campaign in the division.
26 – Fortuna Köln hold the record for the longest uninterrupted stay in Bundesliga 2, spending 26 consecutive seasons in the second tier from its inception in 1974 until 2000.
33 – Fürth have secured survival in Bundesliga 2 a record 33 times.
497 – Fürth have recorded 497 wins and are on course to become the first club to reach 500 victories in Bundesliga 2. St. Pauli are next on the list with 457 wins.
1262 – Fürth have also played more Bundesliga 2 matches than any other club, with 1,262 (including those of predecessor club SpVgg Fürth).
1865 – No club has scored more Bundesliga 2 goals than Fürth, whose tally of 1,865 includes goals scored by SpVgg Fürth. Hannover are second in the charts (1,801).