2019–20 2. Bundesliga

2. Bundesliga

Season	2019–20
Champions	Arminia Bielefeld
Promoted	Arminia Bielefeld VfB Stuttgart
Relegated	Wehen Wiesbaden Dynamo Dresden
Matches played	306
Goals scored	881 (2.88 per match)
Top goalscorer	Fabian Klos (21 goals)
Biggest home win	Bielefeld 6–0 Regensburg
Biggest away win	Wiesbaden 0–6 Nürnberg Nürnberg 0–6 Stuttgart
Highest scoring	Wiesbaden 3–6 Kiel
Longest winning run	4 games Hamburg Darmstadt Bielefeld Stuttgart
Longest unbeaten run	16 games Bielefeld
Longest winless run	10 games Osnabrück
Longest losing run	5 games Karlsruhe Dresden
Highest attendance	53,315 Stuttgart v St. Pauli
Lowest attendance	5,025 Sandhausen v Osnabrück
← 2018–19 2020–21 →

The 2019–20 2. Bundesliga was the 46th season of the 2. Bundesliga. It began on 26 July 2019 and was initially due to conclude on 17 May 2020.

Arminia Bielefeld secured their promotion on 16 June 2020, while VfB Stuttgart were promoted on the last matchday.

Following an offline test phase in the previous season, the video assistant referee system will be used for the first time in the 2. Bundesliga. Also, the number of substitutes allowed on the bench was increased from seven to nine for the 2019–20 season.

On 13 March 2020, the DFL suspended the Bundesliga and 2. Bundesliga due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Germany. After consultation with the German government, the league resumed behind closed doors on 16 May 2020. The season then concluded on 28 June.

Season

Fight for promotion

Arminia Bielefeld was on the way to the top of the table as of the 6 match day. Shortly before the end of the round, they managed to achieve 1st position, and stayed there. Only a few days before the direct promotion and then the 2. Bundesliga championship were determined. Last year's relegation team VfB Stuttgart and Hamburger SV competed for second place, but both of them were never able to start longer winning streaks and fell further and further behind Arminia Bielefeld. A game day before the end of the season, no decision had been made as to which team would also advance. With the 2–1 victory against Hamburger SV, last year's fifth-placed 1. FC Heidenheim finally moved to the relegation place, while VfB Stuttgart was able to consolidate second place with a 6–0 in 1. 1. FC Nürnberg and Hamburger SV therefore only had a chance to finish third. In addition, only VfB Stuttgart had fired its head coach from the top four during the season. On the final day of the match 1. FC Heidenheim lost to champion Arminia Bielefeld, but Hamburger SV did not take advantage of this opportunity and got an unexpected 1-5 loss to SV Sandhausen. Therefore, 1. FC Heidenheim held onto third place and competed against SV Werder Bremen in the relegation. After a 0–0 in SV Werder Bremen and a 2–2 in the home game, 1. FC Heidenheim missed the promotion due to the away goals rule.

Fight for relegations

The newly promoted SV Wehen Wiesbaden was already in the relegation fight as of the 2 match day and could never get beyond the relegation place with the exception of the 20 match day. Nevertheless, the rescue was still possible until shortly before the end of the season, as was the case with the co-leader Karlsruher SC. In addition to the two, FC St. Pauli, VfL Osnabrück and 1. FC Nürnberg were also relegated to the 3. Liga; FC St. Pauli and VfL Osnabrück finally saved themselves. On the final day of the match, this meant a four-way match between 1. FC Nürnberg, Karlsruher SC and SV Wehen Wiesbaden as well as Dynamo Dresden, which had occupied the last place the longest and, after 33 games played, could only push themselves to the relegation rank. Dynamo Dresden played only draws against VfL Osnabrück and was therefore relegated as the last in the table. SV Wehen Wiesbaden played 5–3 against FC St. Pauli, but also had to be relegated as Karlsruher SC won and was able to save themselves in 15th place. 1. FC Nürnberg also won only one point and would have depended on a home victory of the Frankish rival SpVgg Greuther Fürth against Karlsruher SC, so as not to have to play for the class maintenance. Therefore, the "Club" was ranked 16th at the end of the season and had to contest the relegation against the previous year's relegation club FC Ingolstadt 04. After a 2–0 win in the first leg, the 1. FC Nürnberg players lost 1–3 in the return match, but remained in the 2. Bundesliga due to the away goals rule.

Useful Information

• At the start of the season, the Video assistant referee was introduced as additional support for referees during the game. The Video assistant referee was tested "offline" in the pre-season, and for this season a direct link was established between the main referee on the field and a video assistant. Not all contentious scenes are evaluated by the video assistant, only those involving possible goals, red cards (but not yellow-red cards), penalties or player confusion. After two years of service in the Bundesliga, the video evidence was introduced in the 2. Bundesliga.
• Arminia Bielefeld tied with the previous record holder 1. FC Nürnberg through the 8th Bundesliga promotion and became record champion of the 2. Bundesliga (together with SC Freiburg, 1. FC Köln and 1. FC Nürnberg).
• Arminia Bielefeld suffered only two defeats in the season; this is the lowest number of all teams in the history of the 2. Bundesliga (together with their own performance in the 1979–80 2. Bundesliga in the 2. Bundesliga North and that of Hertha BSC in the 2012–13 2. Bundesliga).

Effects of the COVID-19 pandemic

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Germany, on 8 March 2020 the Federal Minister of Health, Jens Spahn recommended cancelling events with more than 1,000 people. The following day, the DFL announced that the 2. Bundesliga season would be completed to ensure planning for the following season, and that any postponements would be to matchdays en bloc. In the following days, Timo Hübers, Jannes Horn (both of Hannover 96), Fabian Nürnberger (1. FC Nürnberg) and Stefan Thesker (Holstein Kiel) tested positive for COVID-19, requiring all first team players of the three clubs to self-quarantine. Fixtures on matchday 26 (13–15 March) were planned to be played without spectators, when necessary, due to local restrictions on public gatherings, but the round was subsequently postponed on 13 March due to safety issues. On 16 March, the DFL general assembly suspended the league until at least 2 April, and scheduled another meeting for the final week of March to discuss how the competition should proceed. The DFL Executive Committee later recommended that the General Assembly, at their meeting on 31 March, extend the suspension until at least 30 April, which was confirmed after that meeting.

The DFL are looking into possible scenarios to finish the season regularly. However, several virologists raised doubts, stating that any professional football matches in Germany, including those behind closed doors, were unrealistic for at least the next 12 months.

On 3 April 2020, the DFL reported that the financial situation of most teams was more serious than thought. 13 of the 36 professional football clubs from the Bundesliga and 2. Bundesliga, including nine clubs from the 2. Bundesliga, would have to declare bankruptcy by May or June unless league operations resumed by then. Twelve of those clubs had already used the outstanding license fees (which are dependent on the season to be continued) to pay their March debts to creditors. At their 31 March meeting, the DFL had decided that clubs that enter insolvency proceedings this season would not suffer the usual deduction of points, and clubs that enter proceedings next season only lose three instead of the usual nine points. After allowing teams to return to training in a limited fashion, the league returned on 16 May to play following approval from local authorities. On 9 May 2020, two players of Dynamo Dresden tested positive for COVID-19, requiring a 14-day quarantine for the entire first team and training staff, therefore preventing their match scheduled on 17 May against Hannover 96 from taking place. On 14 May, after a meeting of all clubs, five substitutions will be permitted, which has been temporarily allowed by IFAB following a proposal by FIFA to lessen the impact of fixture congestion. The broadcaster Sky Sport announced that for the first two weeks after the restart, the Bundesliga and 2. Bundesliga simulcast ("conference") will be shown on free-to-air television in Germany, in order to prevent gatherings of people without pay TV subscriptions.

Teams

Aue

Bielefeld

Bochum

Darmstadt

Dresden

Fürth

Hamburg

Hannover

Heidenheim

Karlsruhe

Kiel

Nürnberg

Osnabrück

Regensburg

Sandhausen

St. Pauli

Stuttgart

Wiesbaden

Locations of the 2019–20 2. Bundesliga teams

Team changes

Promoted from 2018–19 3. Liga	Relegated from 2018–19 Bundesliga	Promoted to 2019–20 Bundesliga	Relegated to 2019–20 3. Liga
VfL Osnabrück Karlsruher SC Wehen Wiesbaden	VfB Stuttgart Hannover 96 1. FC Nürnberg	1. FC Köln SC Paderborn Union Berlin	FC Ingolstadt 1. FC Magdeburg MSV Duisburg

Stadiums and locations

Team	Location	Stadium	Capacity	Spectators	per Game	Utilization	Sold out	Seasontickets
Erzgebirge Aue	Aue-Bad Schlema	Erzgebirgsstadion	15,711	139,700	8,218	49,80%	2/17**	2,300
Arminia Bielefeld	Bielefeld	Schüco-Arena	27,300	254,285	14,958	56,40%	1/17**	8,500
VfL Bochum	Bochum	Vonovia Ruhrstadion	29,299	225,147	13,244	48,00%	0/17*	6,900
Darmstadt 98	Darmstadt	Merck-Stadion am Böllenfalltor	17,000	185,724	10,925	61,00%	3/17*	11,000
Dynamo Dresden	Dresden	Rudolf-Harbig-Stadion	32,066	354,016	20,824	64,90%	1/17*	18,000
Greuther Fürth	Fürth	Sportpark Ronhof Thomas Sommer	18,500	120,645	7,097	42,70%	1/17**	4,850
Hamburger SV	Hamburg	Volksparkstadion	57,000	567.804	33.400	58,60%	2/17**	23,800
Hannover 96	Hanover	HDI-Arena	49,000	359,600	21,153	43,20%	1/17*	19,000
1. FC Heidenheim	Heidenheim	Voith-Arena	15,000	153,850	9,050	60,30%	1/17*	6,500
Karlsruher SC	Karlsruhe	Wildparkstadion	29,699	156,801	9,224	60,02%	1/17**	6,500
Holstein Kiel	Kiel	Holstein-Stadion	15,034	136,888	8,052	53,60%	2/17**	7,000
1. FC Nürnberg	Nuremberg	Max-Morlock-Stadion	49,923	50,000	22,649	45,03%	0/17*	21,000
VfL Osnabrück	Osnabrück	Stadion an der Bremer Brücke	16,667	191,246	11,250	69,90%	4/17*	7,550
Jahn Regensburg	Regensburg	Arena Regensburg	15,224	137,055	8,062	53,00%	2/17**	4,700
SV Sandhausen	Sandhausen	BWT-Stadion am Hardtwald	15,414	96.935	5,702	37,00%	0/17*	2,750
FC St. Pauli	Hamburg	Millerntor-Stadion	29,546	382,743	22,514	76,20%	10/17*	15,000
VfB Stuttgart	Stuttgart	Mercedes-Benz Arena	60,449	671.546	39.503	65,30%	1/17*	30,000
Wehen Wiesbaden	Wiesbaden	BRITA-Arena	9,100	63,360	3,727	41,00%	1/17**	1,700
Total			484,014	4,528,076	14,798	54,99%	33/306	197,050

Personnel and kits

Team	Manager	Captain	Kit manufacturer	Shirt sponsor
				Front	Sleeve
Erzgebirge Aue	Dirk Schuster	Martin Männel	Nike	WätaS Wärmetauscher Sachsen	Leonhardt Group
Arminia Bielefeld	Uwe Neuhaus	Fabian Klos	Joma	Schüco	JAB Anstoetz Textilien
VfL Bochum	Thomas Reis	Anthony Losilla	Nike	Tricorp Workwear	Viactiv Betriebskrankenkasse
Darmstadt 98	Dimitrios Grammozis	Fabian Holland	Craft	Software AG	Jeez
Dynamo Dresden	Markus Kauczinski	Marco Hartmann	Craft	ALL-INKL.COM	AOK Plus
Greuther Fürth	Stefan Leitl	Marco Caligiuri	Hummel	Hofmann Personal	BVUK
Hamburger SV	Dieter Hecking	Aaron Hunt	Adidas	Emirates	Popp Feinkost
Hannover 96	Kenan Kocak	Marvin Bakalorz	Macron	Heinz von Heiden	HDI
1. FC Heidenheim	Frank Schmidt	Marc Schnatterer	Nike	Kneipp	Voith
Karlsruher SC	Christian Eichner	David Pisot	Macron	Klaiber Markisen	CG Gruppe
Holstein Kiel	Ole Werner	Hauke Wahl	Puma	Famila	Lotto Schleswig-Holstein
1. FC Nürnberg	Michael Wiesinger	Hanno Behrens	Umbro	Nürnberger Versicherung	Godelmann Betonstein
VfL Osnabrück	Daniel Thioune	Marc Heider	Puma	sunmaker	Sievert
Jahn Regensburg	Mersad Selimbegović	Marco Grüttner	Saller	Netto	Dallmeier electronic
SV Sandhausen	Uwe Koschinat	Dennis Diekmeier	Puma	sunmaker	BWT
FC St. Pauli	Jos Luhukay	Christopher Avevor	Under Armour	Congstar	Astra Brauerei
VfB Stuttgart	Pellegrino Matarazzo	Marc-Oliver Kempf	Jako	Mercedes-Benz Bank	Mercedes-Benz EQ
Wehen Wiesbaden	Rüdiger Rehm	Sebastian Mrowca	Nike	Brita	SVA

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing	Manner	Exit date		Position in table	Incoming	Incoming date		Ref.
			Announced on	Departed on			Announced on	Arrived on
Jahn Regensburg	Achim Beierlorzer	Signed by 1. FC Köln	13 May 2019	30 June 2019	Pre-season	Mersad Selimbegović	31 May 2019	1 July 2019
1. FC Nürnberg	Boris Schommers (interim)	End of caretaker spell	14 May 2019			Damir Canadi	19 May 2019
Hamburger SV	Hannes Wolf	Sacked	17 May 2019			Dieter Hecking	29 May 2019
Holstein Kiel	Tim Walter	Signed by VfB Stuttgart	20 May 2019			André Schubert	16 June 2019
VfB Stuttgart	Nico Willig (interim)	End of caretaker spell	20 May 2019			Tim Walter	20 May 2019
Hannover 96	Thomas Doll	Sacked	28 May 2019			Mirko Slomka	28 May 2019
Erzgebirge Aue	Daniel Meyer		19 August 2019		5th	Marc Hensel (interim)	20 August 2019
VfL Bochum	Robin Dutt		26 August 2019		17th	Heiko Butscher (interim)	26 August 2019
Erzgebirge Aue	Marc Hensel (interim)	End of caretaker spell	26 August 2019		5th	Dirk Schuster	26 August 2019
VfL Bochum	Heiko Butscher (interim)		6 September 2019		17th	Thomas Reis	6 September 2019
Holstein Kiel	André Schubert	Sacked	15 September 2019		15th	Ole Werner	16 September 2019
Hannover 96	Mirko Slomka		3 November 2019		13th	Asif Šarić (interim)	4 November 2019
1. FC Nürnberg	Damir Canadi		4 November 2019		11th	Marek Mintál (interim)	4 November 2019
	Marek Mintál (interim)	End of caretaker spell	12 November 2019		14th	Jens Keller	12 November 2019
Hannover 96	Asif Šarić (interim)		14 November 2019		15th	Kenan Kocak	14 November 2019
Dynamo Dresden	Cristian Fiél	Mutual consent	2 December 2019		18th	Heiko Scholz (interim)	3 December 2019
	Heiko Scholz (interim)	End of caretaker spell	10 December 2019		18th	Markus Kauczinski	10 December 2019
VfB Stuttgart	Tim Walter	Sacked	23 December 2019		3rd	Pellegrino Matarazzo	30 December 2019
Karlsruher SC	Alois Schwartz		3 February 2020		17th	Christian Eichner	3 February 2020
1. FC Nürnberg	Jens Keller		29 June 2020		16th	Michael Wiesinger (interim)	29 June 2020

Results

Home \ Away	AUE	BIE	BOC	DAR	DRE	FÜR	HAM	HAN	HEI	KAR	KIE	NÜR	OSN	REG	SAN	STP	STU	WIE
Erzgebirge Aue	—	0–0	1–2	1–3	4–1	3–1	3–0	2–1	1–1	1–0	1–2	4–3	1–0	1–0	3–1	3–1	0–0	3–2
Arminia Bielefeld	3–1	—	2–0	1–0	4–0	2–2	1–1	1–0	3–0	2–2	2–1	1–1	1–1	6–0	1–1	1–1	0–1	1–0
VfL Bochum	2–0	3–3	—	2–2	2–2	2–2	1–3	2–1	3–0	3–3	2–1	3–1	1–1	2–3	4–4	2–0	0–1	3–3
Darmstadt 98	1–0	1–3	0–0	—	0–0	1–1	2–2	3–2	2–0	1–1	2–0	3–3	2–2	2–2	1–0	4–0	1–1	3–1
Dynamo Dresden	2–1	0–1	1–2	2–3	—	1–1	0–1	0–2	2–1	1–0	1–2	0–1	2–2	2–1	1–1	3–3	0–2	1–0
Greuther Fürth	0–2	2–4	3–1	3–1	2–0	—	2–2	1–3	0–0	1–2	0–3	0–0	0–2	1–0	1–2	3–0	2–0	2–1
Hamburger SV	4–0	0–0	1–0	1–1	2–1	2–0	—	3–0	0–1	2–0	3–3	4–1	1–1	2–1	1–5	0–2	6–2	3–2
Hannover 96	3–2	0–2	2–0	1–2	3–0	1–1	1–1	—	2–1	1–1	3–1	0–4	0–0	1–1	1–1	4–0	2–2	2–2
1. FC Heidenheim	3–0	0–0	2–3	1–0	0–0	1–0	2–1	4–0	—	3–1	3–0	2–2	3–1	4–1	0–2	1–0	2–2	1–0
Karlsruher SC	1–1	3–3	0–0	2–0	4–2	1–5	2–4	3–3	1–1	—	0–2	0–1	1–1	4–1	1–0	1–1	2–1	0–1
Holstein Kiel	1–1	1–2	2–1	1–1	2–0	1–1	1–1	1–2	0–1	2–1	—	1–1	2–4	1–2	1–1	2–1	3–2	1–2
1. FC Nürnberg	1–1	1–5	0–0	1–2	2–0	0–1	0–4	0–3	2–2	1–1	2–2	—	1–0	1–1	2–0	1–1	0–6	0–2
VfL Osnabrück	0–0	0–1	0–2	4–0	3–0	0–0	2–1	2–4	1–3	3–0	4–1	0–1	—	2–2	1–3	1–1	1–0	2–6
Jahn Regensburg	1–2	1–3	3–1	3–0	1–2	0–2	2–2	1–0	3–1	2–1	2–2	2–2	3–3	—	1–0	1–0	2–3	1–0
SV Sandhausen	2–2	0–0	1–1	1–0	0–1	3–2	1–1	3–1	0–1	0–2	2–2	3–2	0–1	0–0	—	2–2	2–1	0–0
FC St. Pauli	2–1	3–0	1–1	0–1	0–0	1–3	2–0	0–1	0–0	2–2	2–1	1–0	3–1	1–1	2–0	—	1–1	3–1
VfB Stuttgart	3–0	1–1	2–1	1–3	3–1	2–0	3–2	2–1	3–0	3–0	0–1	3–1	0–0	2–0	5–1	2–1	—	1–2
Wehen Wiesbaden	1–0	2–5	0–1	0–0	2–3	1–1	1–1	0–3	0–0	1–2	3–6	0–6	2–0	0–5	0–1	5–3	2–1	—

Relegation play-offs

All times are CEST (UTC+2).

Overview

Team 1	Agg.	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
1. FC Nürnberg (2B)	3–3 (a)	FC Ingolstadt (3L)	2–0	1–3

Matches

1. FC Nürnberg v FC Ingolstadt

7 July 2020 (2020-07-07) 18:15

1. FC Nürnberg	2–0	FC Ingolstadt
Nürnberger  22', 45'	https://www.dfb.de/2-bundesliga/relegation/abstiegsrelegation/?spieledb_path=%2Fmatches%2F2308377

Max-Morlock-Stadion, Nuremberg Attendance: 0 Referee: Sascha Stegemann

---

FC Ingolstadt v 1. FC Nürnberg

11 July 2020 (2020-07-11) 18:15

FC Ingolstadt	3–1	1. FC Nürnberg
Kutschke  53' Schröck  62' Krauße  66'	https://www.dfb.de/2-bundesliga/relegation/abstiegsrelegation/?spieledb_path=%2Fmatches%2F2308378	Schleusener  90+6'

Audi Sportpark, Ingolstadt Attendance: 0 Referee: Christian Dingert

3–3 on aggregate. 1. FC Nürnberg won on away goals, and therefore both clubs remained in their respective leagues.

Statistics

Top goalscorers

Rank	Player	Club	Goals
1	Fabian Klos	Arminia Bielefeld	21
2	Manuel Schäffler	Wehen Wiesbaden	19
3	Philipp Hofmann	Karlsruher SC	17
4	Serdar Dursun	Darmstadt 98	16
5	Marvin Ducksch	Hannover 96	15
6	Kevin Behrens	SV Sandhausen	14
	Nicolás González	VfB Stuttgart
	Tim Kleindienst	1. FC Heidenheim
9	Marcos Álvarez	VfL Osnabrück	13
	Silvère Ganvoula	VfL Bochum

Top assists

Rank	Player	Club	Assists
1	Tim Leibold	Hamburger SV	16
2	Marcel Hartel	Arminia Bielefeld	14
3	Marvin Wanitzek	Karlsruher SC	12
4	Fabian Klos	Arminia Bielefeld	11
	Johannes Geis	1. FC Nürnberg
6	Danny Blum	VfL Bochum	10
7	Stefan Aigner	Wehen Wiesbaden	9
	Florian Krüger	Erzgebirge Aue
9	Jonathan Clauss	Arminia Bielefeld	8
	Marvin Ducksch	Hannover 96
	Philipp Hofmann	Karlsruher SC
	Marc Heider	VfL Osnabrück
	Silas	VfB Stuttgart

Highs of the season

• The most goal-scoring game with nine goals was the 3:6 of the SV Wehen Wiesbaden against Holstein Kiel on the 14 match day.
• The highest wins were with six goals difference each
  • the 6-0 of Arminia Bielefeld against SSV Jahn Regensburg on the 21 match day.
  • the 6-0 of the 1. FC Nürnberg at SV Wehen Wiesbaden on the 32 match day.
  • the 6-0 of VfB Stuttgart at 1. FC Nürnberg on the 33 match day.
• The most goal-scoring draw was the 4-4 of VfL Bochum against SV Sandhausen on the 24 match day.