The second Bundesliga starts the new season with the duel between 1. FC Cologne and HSV. Both are favorites for promotion, but there is also a lot of competition.
By Florian Gut, dpa
The 2nd Bundesliga is celebrating its 50th birthday. To mark the anniversary, more big traditional clubs than ever before are playing in the lower house. Two of them, 1. FC Köln and Hamburger SV, will open the 51st season of the 2nd league on Friday (8.30 p.m./Sat.1 and Sky). They will probably also duel for the promotion places.
Who are the favorites for promotion?
At the seventh attempt, HSV should finally be able to return to the Bundesliga. Although the Hanseatics missed out on promotion again last season, most of their key players were retained. Only Laszlo Benes left the club for the Bundesliga with Union Berlin. A well-known new signing is Davie Selke, who came from fellow favorites Cologne.
Meanwhile, Cologne have to make do without any real new signings because FIFA has imposed a transfer ban on them. Instead, the new coach Gerhard Struber can rely on numerous young talents. The fact that Cologne are still considered favorites is also due to the fact that only a few players have left the Bundesliga relegated team. Apart from Selke, only central defender Jeff Chabot has left the Effzeh from the regular team.
Fellow relegated team SV Darmstadt, however, is not considered a favorite; coach Thorsten Lieberknecht says he would be happy with sixth place. It is also unclear whether Fortuna Düsseldorf can compete for promotion again. Fortuna Düsseldorf failed to get promoted in the relegation round and lost their most important player, top scorer Christos Tzolis. Instead, FC Schalke 04, Hertha BSC or Hannover 96 could enter the race for promotion.
Who is good for a surprise?
With Miroslav Klose, 1. FC Nuremberg has brought in a prominent name for the coaching bench, even if he has little experience there. But the former world champion’s team caused a stir during the preparations: a 3-0 win against Juventus Turin sparked a lot of euphoria in Franconia. After several years in the grey midfield of the league, the “Club” could possibly land a little higher up again.
Who are the promoted teams from the 3rd league?
Three clubs have been promoted from the 3rd division: SSV Ulm, Preußen Münster and Jahn Regensburg. Both Ulm and Münster managed to advance straight from the Regionalliga and are coming into the league with corresponding euphoria – especially since neither club has been in the second division for a while. Ulm has not yet compensated for its lack of second division experience on the transfer market – and is therefore considered a clear outsider for now.
Where can you watch the 2nd Bundesliga?
As before, the pay-TV broadcaster Sky will broadcast all matches of the 2nd Bundesliga live and also in conference. The matches on Saturday evening can also be seen on free TV on Sport1. The opening match between Cologne and HSV will also be shown on free TV on Sat1.
Will the trend in viewer numbers continue?
On the 22nd matchday of last season, the fans of the second division teams achieved something new: for the first time, more spectators came to the games of the second division than to the Bundesliga. This is no surprise, as last season, numerous crowd pullers with large stadiums were second division teams, including Schalke, HSV and Kaiserslautern.
This season, 1. FC Cologne will be joining the league with a stadium capacity of 50,000, replacing Holstein Kiel, for example, whose stadium can hold around 15,000 people. If Cologne continues to regularly fill the stadium even after being relegated, the league could further improve on its record of more than 29,000 spectators on average from last year.
Source: Stern
I am Pierce Boyd, a driven and ambitious professional working in the news industry. I have been writing for 24 Hours Worlds for over five years, specializing in sports section coverage. During my tenure at the publication, I have built an impressive portfolio of articles that has earned me a reputation as an experienced journalist and content creator.
