Live German 2. Bundesliga TV & Broadcast Schedule

The 2. Bundesliga is the second division of professional men's football in Germany, operating directly below the Bundesliga in the German league pyramid. Running from late summer through May, eighteen clubs contest a thirty-four-match season to earn promotion to Germany's top tier. Renowned for massive terrace attendances, intense club derbies, and fan-owned club culture under the 50+1 rule, the league consistently delivers some of the highest stadium attendance figures of any secondary sports league in the world.

Top teams

The division regularly features historic, former German champions and European contenders battling to return to the top flight. Massive traditional clubs such as FC Schalke 04, Hertha BSC, Hannover 96, 1. FC Nürnberg, and 1. FC Kaiserslautern draw huge weekly gates, joined by competitive mainstays like Fortuna Düsseldorf, Karlsruher SC, SV Darmstadt 98, and SpVgg Greuther Fürth. Because home venues frequently seat over fifty thousand supporters and roster parity is razor-thin, promotion races routinely stay wide open across the upper half of the table into the final matchdays.

Format

Eighteen clubs compete in a double round-robin regular season, facing every opponent home and away. The top two finishers secure automatic promotion directly into the Bundesliga. The third-placed club enters a two-legged promotion playoff against the team finishing 16th in the Bundesliga, with the aggregate winner taking a top-flight place for the following season. At the bottom of the table, the 17th- and 18th-placed teams are automatically relegated to the 3. Liga, while the 16th-placed club contests a two-legged relegation playoff against the third-place finisher from the 3. Liga.

Viewership

In Germany, domestic live broadcasting is led by Sky Sport, which covers every match across linear channels and streaming via WOW and Sky Go, alongside free-to-air Saturday evening fixtures and highlight packages broadcast across RTL Group networks. Free-to-air highlight shows also air on ARD's Sportschau and Sport1. Internationally, coverage streams on ESPN+ in the United States, DAZN in Canada and Spain, and beIN Sports across Australia. Sizable stadium turnstiles that regularly surpass those of many European top divisions pair with strong international television followings tracking traditional German clubs.