The 2018–19 2. Bundesliga was the 45th season of the 2. Bundesliga. It began on 3 August 2018 and concluded on 19 May 2019. It also marked first time ever for Hamburger SV in second division, previously the only team to have played in the top tier of German football in every season since the end of World War I.
1. FC Köln and SC Paderborn were automatically promoted to the Bundesliga; Union Berlin were promoted after winning the Bundesliga relegation play-offs. 1. FC Magdeburg and MSV Duisburg were automatically relegated to the 3. Liga, while FC Ingolstadt 04 were also relegated to the 3. Liga after losing a playoff against SV Wehen Wiesbaden of that league.
Season Promotion Battle Before the start of the season, Bundesliga relegations 1. FC Köln and Hamburger SV were considered the biggest favourites for promotion. In the first round, both fulfilled this role: Hamburger SV was able to get just ahead of Herbstmeister, 1. FC Union Berlin followed after a round without defeat, including 10 draws, in third place. While FC St. Pauli, 1. FC Heidenheim and Holstein Kiel were gradually eliminated from the field of the chasers, the newly promoted SC Paderborn 07 advanced to the promotion places thanks to a strong back-series (1st place with 32 points in the back-round table). After 32 days of play, Köln was crowned 2. Bundesliga champion for the fourth time and celebrated the re-entry into the Bundesliga; in the end, Köln recorded the most victories and scored the most goals. Hamburger SV, on the other hand, played a disastrous return round (15th place with 19 points in the back-round table), which finally resulted in the missed re-emergence one match day before the end; the fight for second place became a long-distance duel between Paderborn and Union Berlin on the last day of the match. In the end, Paderborn managed to make it to the Bundesliga on the last day of the season despite a 1-3 defeat in Dresden, Union Berlin finished third in the standings and competed in the promotion delegation against VfB Stuttgart. After a 2-2 draw in Stuttgart and a 0-0 draw at home, Union Berlin moved up to the Bundesliga for the first time thanks to the away goals rule.
Relegation battle After the first promotion to the 2. Bundesliga, 1. FC Magdeburg had a first appearance with the direct relegation, which was fixed on the 33rd match day. In addition to Magdeburg, MSV Duisburg was also relegated after only two seasons in the second-class. On the last day of the match, SV Sandhausen secured direct class position with a 2-2 draw at SSV Jahn Regensburg, FC Ingolstadt 04 closed the season on the 16th place in the table after a 2-4 defeat in Heidenheim and competed in the relegation delegation against SV Wehen Wiesbaden. After a 2-1 in Wiesbaden, Ingolstadt lost in the home game with 2:3 and was relegated to the 3rd league due to the away goals rule.
Teams
Team changes Promoted from 2017–18 3. Liga Relegated from 2017–18 Bundesliga Promoted to 2018–19 Bundesliga Relegated to 2018–19 3. Liga 1. FC MagdeburgSC Paderborn Hamburger SV1. FC Köln Fortuna Düsseldorf1. FC Nürnberg Eintracht Braunschweig1. FC Kaiserslautern
Stadiums and locations Team Location Stadium Capacity Erzgebirge Aue Aue Erzgebirgsstadion 15,711 Union Berlin Berlin Alte Försterei 22,012 Arminia Bielefeld Bielefeld Schüco-Arena 27,300 VfL Bochum Bochum Ruhrstadion 29,299 Darmstadt 98 Darmstadt Merck-Stadion am Böllenfalltor 17,000 Dynamo Dresden Dresden Rudolf-Harbig-Stadion 32,066 MSV Duisburg Duisburg MSV-Arena 31,500 SpVgg Greuther Fürth Fürth Sportpark Ronhof Thomas Sommer 18,500 Hamburger SV Hamburg Volksparkstadion 57,000 1. FC Heidenheim Heidenheim Voith-Arena 15,000 FC Ingolstadt Ingolstadt Audi Sportpark 15,000 Holstein Kiel Kiel Holstein-Stadion 11,386 1. FC Köln Cologne RheinEnergieStadion 49,698 1. FC Magdeburg Magdeburg MDCC-Arena 27,500 SC Paderborn Paderborn Benteler-Arena 15,000 Jahn Regensburg Regensburg Continental Arena 15,224 SV Sandhausen Sandhausen BWT-Stadion am Hardtwald 15,414 FC St. Pauli Hamburg Millerntor-Stadion 29,546
Personnel and kits TeamManagerCaptainKit manufacturerSponsors MainSleeve Erzgebirge Aue Daniel Meyer Martin Männel Nike WätaS Wärmetauscher SachsenLeonhardt Group Union Berlin Urs Fischer Christopher Trimmel Macron LayenbergerKoch Automobile Arminia Bielefeld Uwe Neuhaus Julian Börner Joma SchücoJAB Anstoetz Textilien VfL Bochum Robin Dutt Stefano Celozzi Nike Tricorp WorkwearViactiv Betriebskrankenkasse Darmstadt 98 Dimitrios Grammozis Fabian Holland Craft Software AGROWE Mineralölwerk Dynamo Dresden Cristian Fiel Marco Hartmann Craft ALL-INKL.comAOK Plus MSV Duisburg Torsten Lieberknecht Gerrit Nauber Capelli XTiPRhein Power SpVgg Greuther Fürth Stefan Leitl Marco Caligiuri Hummel Hofmann PersonalBVUK Hamburger SV Hannes Wolf Aaron Hunt Adidas EmiratesPopp Feinkost 1. FC Heidenheim Frank Schmidt Marc Schnatterer Nike Hartmann GruppeVoith FC Ingolstadt Tomas Oral Marvin Matip Adidas MediaMarktAudi Schanzer Fußballschule Holstein Kiel Tim Walter Dominik Schmidt Puma FamilaLotto Schleswig-Holstein 1. FC Köln André Pawlak / Manfred Schmid Jonas Hector Uhlsport REWEDEVK 1. FC Magdeburg Michael Oenning Nils Butzen Uhlsport SunmakerSWM Magdeburg SC Paderborn Steffen Baumgart Christian Strohdiek Saller Sunmakereffect energy Jahn Regensburg Achim Beierlorzer Marco Grüttner Saller NettoDallmeier Electronic SV Sandhausen Uwe Koschinat Denis Linsmayer Puma VerivoxBWT FC St. Pauli Jos Luhukay Bernd Nehrig Under Armour CongstarAstra Brauerei
Managerial changes Team Outgoing manager Manner of departure Date of vacancy Position in table Incoming manager Date of appointment1. FC Köln Stefan Ruthenbeck End of contract30 June 2018Preseason Markus Anfang1 July 2018Holstein Kiel Markus Anfang Signed for 1. FC Köln Tim WalterUnion Berlin André Hofschneider Sacked Urs FischerErzgebirge Aue Hannes Drews Resigned Daniel MeyerDynamo Dresden Uwe Neuhaus Sacked 22 August 2018 9th Cristian Fiél (interim) 23 August 2018 Cristian Fiél (interim) End of caretaker spell 11 September 2018 14th Maik Walpurgis 11 September 2018FC Ingolstadt Stefan LeitlSacked 22 September 2018 13th Alexander Nouri 24 September 2018MSV Duisburg Iliya Gruev 1 October 2018 18th Torsten Lieberknecht 1 October 2018SV Sandhausen Kenan Kocak 8 October 2018 16th Uwe Koschinat 15 October 2018Hamburger SV Christian Titz 23 October 2018 5th Hannes Wolf 23 October 20181. FC Magdeburg Jens Härtel 12 November 2018 17th Michael Oenning 14 November 2018FC Ingolstadt Alexander Nouri 26 November 201818th Roberto Pätzold (interim) 26 November 2018 Roberto Pätzold (interim) End of caretaker spell 2 December 2018 Jens Keller 2 December 2018Arminia Bielefeld Jeff SaibeneSacked 10 December 2018 14th Uwe Neuhaus 10 December 2018SpVgg Greuther Fürth Damir Burić 4 February 2019 12th Stefan Leitl 5 February 2019Darmstadt 98 Dirk Schuster 18 February 2019 14th Dimitrios Grammozis 24 February 2019Dynamo Dresden Maik Walpurgis 24 February 2019 14th Cristian Fiél 24 February 2019FC Ingolstadt Jens Keller 2 April 2019 18th Tomas Oral 3 April 2019FC St. Pauli Markus Kauczinski 10 April 2019 6th Jos Luhukay 10 April 20191. FC Köln Markus Anfang 27 April 2019 1st André Pawlak / Manfred Schmid (interim) 27 April 2019
League table
Results
Promotion play-offs
Relegation play-offs All times are CEST (UTC+2).
First leg
Second leg
4–4 on aggregate. Wehen Wiesbaden won on away goals and are promoted to the 2. Bundesliga, while FC Ingolstadt are relegated to the 3. Liga.
Top scorers RankPlayerClubGoals 1 Simon Terodde1. FC Köln 29 2 Jhon Córdoba1. FC Köln 20 3 Lukas HinterseerVfL Bochum 184 Fabian KlosArminia Bielefeld17 Andrew WootenSV Sandhausen 6 Philipp KlementSC Paderborn 167 Sargis AdamyanJahn Regensburg15 Pascal TestroetErzgebirge Aue9 Robert Glatzel1. FC Heidenheim13 Pierre-Michel LasoggaHamburger SV Andreas VoglsammerArminia Bielefeld
Number of teams by state PositionStateNumber of teamsTeams15Arminia Bielefeld, VfL Bochum, MSV Duisburg, 1. FC Köln and SC Paderborn23Greuther Fürth, FC Ingolstadt and Jahn Regensburg321. FC Heidenheim and SV Sandhausen2Hamburger SV and FC St. Pauli2Erzgebirge Aue and Dynamo Dresden61Union Berlin1Darmstadt 9811. FC Magdeburg1Holstein Kiel
Highs of the season The highest victory with seven goals difference was the 8:1 of the 1. FC Köln against Dynamo Dresden on the 13th matchday, which with nine goals was also the most goal-rich game. The most goal-scoring draws were with eight goals: the 4:4 of SC Paderborn 07 against 1. FC Magdeburg on the 6th matchday the 4:4 of SC Paderborn 07 against Holstein Kiel on the 13th matchday the 4:4 of MSV Duisburg against 1. FC Köln on the 26th matchday The most goal-scoring matchday was the 26th matchday from 15 to 18 March and 10 April 2019 with 38 goals. 1. FC Union Berlin remained the only team in German professional football in the 2018–19 season undefeated in 17 consecutive games.
Useful Information With the first relegations of Hamburger SV from the Bundesliga in the pre-season, two Hamburg city derbies between Hamburger SV and FC St. Pauli took place for the first time this season in the 2. Bundesliga and again since the 2010–11 Bundesliga two Hamburg city derbies. In the first local derby, the Hamburger SV had the home right, the game ended 0-0. The return match at FC St. Pauli on 10 March 2019 was won 4-0 by Hamburger SV. In June 2018, the 2. Bundesliga relegations Eintracht Braunschweig and 1. FC Kaiserslautern received a commitment of a supporting donation of €600,000. Each club of the 2017–18 2. Bundesliga season had paid €66,666 into a pot independently of the DFL in order to make it easier for the two former 2. Bundesliga teams to make a fresh start in the 3. Liga. This was already decided in April, as the majority of the clubs were still involved in the relegation fight until shortly before the end of the season. On the 11th matchday, two former European Cup winners met for the first time in the 2. Bundesliga with 1. FC Magdeburg and Hamburger SV (0:1), for both of them it was also the first season in the 2. Bundesliga. For the 2018–19 season, "Derbystar" "Brillant APS" replaced Adidas "Torfabrik" as the official match ball of the 1st and 2. Bundesliga.
Attendances
References