By Ben McFadyean.
The German second tier kicks off its 50th anniversary in style with 1. FC Köln and SV Darmstadt 98, as well as the three newly promoted teams, Preußen Münster, SSV Ulm 1846 and Jahn Regensburg. Five historic clubs with loyal fan bases, and the potential to mix things up in the season ahead.
The opening game tonight, 20.30 (CET), is 1. FC Köln v Hamburger SV at the Müngersdorfer Stadion (Rhein-Energie Stadion), a duel of two sleeping giants with 8 Meisterschaften between them.
Who are the favourites? Who will be among the relegation candidates? How much are the season tickets? Which are the best kits? And how do the attendance figures compare? Here is the preview:
The Favourites:
Among the favourites in the second tier this season are once again three heavyweights of German football. Hamburger SV since their drop in 2018 have struggled to regain their place in the top tier. This season the new manager at the helm is former Cologne gaffer Steffen Baumgart.
The squad has been strengthened with striker Davie Selke from Cologne, the two midfielders Daniel Elfadli of 1 FC Magdeburg, and Adam Karabec who has joined on loan from Sparta Prague.
The man with the flat cap, a self-proclaimed HSV fan, has an explosive touch-line manner, he led the Billygoats to an impressive UEFA Conference place in 22/23, the signs are good for a revival of the 1983 European Cup winners.
FC Cologne dropped down into the second tier after a poor season where they finished second to bottom. The club have been hobbled by a two-season transfer ban imposed upon the club in March by FIFA.
New head coach Gerhard Struber, who came to Cologne from Austrian Rekordmeister Red Bull Salzburg. The side has retained some leading lights including Centre-back Timo Hübers, and Danish right-back Rasmus Carstensen, Cologne’s key weakness was scoring, they only scored 28 goals last season. Despite the highest value squad by a considerable margin, a lot will depend on the effectiveness of on-loan striker Luca Waldschmidt and a promising talent Max Schmidt, who scored 11 goals for the U23s.
Hertha Berlin is still working through the challenging situation with investment group 777 Partners and may need a new investor in the season ahead. The club, which is working on a new stadium, has appointed Christian Fiél as manager. The club have three impressive signings for midfield with Diego Demme from Napoli, Mickaël Cuisance from Venezia, and Kevin Sessa from Heidenheim. Most importantly they have retained Bosnian top striker Haris Tabakovic, who scored 22 goals in the past season.
The Also-rans
Fortuna Düsseldorf after missing out on the play-offs throwing away a 3-0 lead against Bochum, Daniel Thioune’s side has added made some good signings this summer including Isak Johannesson from FC Copenhagen, Noah Mbamba who joins on loan from Bayer 04 Leverkusen and Dzenan Pejcinovic from VfL Wolfsburg, in particular, curious was the sale of former Norwich City winger Cristos Tzolis. As it stands at this time there may not be enough quality across the squad to mount a serious challenge.
1. FC Nürnberg most neutrals would like to see Miro Klose succeed in his first season but having lost leading talents like Can Uzun and Nathaniel Brown as well as the highly experienced Christopher Schindler, Florian Hübner and Sebastian Andersson the season ahead is experimental.
Schalke 04 few sides have replaced as many players as Karel Geraerts’s Schalke the squad has almost been completely replaced. Despite his injuries, the loss of Simon Terrode is a big one not just in the strike force but as an out-and-out leader in the side. At this stage to mount a serious challenge Schalke need to sign a centre-forward and they need to find a leader in midfield.
Relegation Candidates
Among the main candidates primarily newly promoted Jahn Regensburg have kept together most of the side that got them promoted, but Joe Enochs’s side has not done enough in the transfer season to improve the side.
Even with some of the most loyal fans behind them, and a real hunger for success after so many years of, mainly fourth-tier mediocrity, Preußen Münster’s weakness is the defence, the squad have a value 1/10th of favourites Cologne, staying up would need almost a miracle for Sascha Hildmann’s side.
SSV Ulm, Thomas Wörle’s side, have a well-established team that may again trip up some bigger sides but Die Spatzen have defensive challenges and will be challenged to stay up in the 2. Bundesliga.
Coach Horst Steffen is going into his sixth season and Elversberg have achieved beyond everyone’s expectations in the past two seasons, but they will struggle in their second season, they have lost too much quality in captain Kevin Conrad, midfield leader Jannik Rochelt and one of their most talented players Bayern loanee Paul Wanner.
Eintracht Braunschweig escaped relegation by the narrowest of margins, and have lost Ron-Thorben Hoffmann and Anton Donkor, this season the 1967 Deutsche Meister will struggle to avoid the drop.
Attendance figures, season tickets, fixtures and kits:
This average season ticket price in the coming season is €201, the Championship average is £429. Attendance in the past season was at 22,300, 4,000 ahead of the EFL Championship.
For a look at the kits in the season ahead click here:
The opening weekend:
Friday, 02.08.2024 20:30
1. FC Köln v Hamburger SV
Saturday, 03.08.2024 14:00
Karlsruher SC v 1. FC Nürnberg
Hannover 96 v Jahn Regensburg
Hertha BSC v Paderborn 07
1. FC Magdeburg v SV Elversberg
Saturday 03.08.2024 20:30
FC Schalke 04 v Eintracht Braunschweig
Sunday, 04.08.2024 13:30
SV Darmstadt 98 v Fortuna Düsseldorf
SpVgg Greuther Fürth v Preußen Münster
SSV Ulm 1846 v 1. FC Kaiserslautern
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