Bundesliga 2 sets attendance record | OneFootball

Bundesliga 2: Germany’s second division one of Europe’s best attended leagues

With 19 rounds of fixtures played in the 2024/25 season, over 5 million people have already attended games in Bundesliga 2. At an average of 30,329 per match after 171 out of 306 games, that figure beats the previous year's average 29,109.

Matchday 19 in fact set an all-time record for Bundesliga 2, as 322,468 people attended the nine games.

There were 71,500 alone at the Olympiastadion as Hertha Berlin hosted Hamburg. Schalke also faced Nuremberg at a sold-out Veltins-Arena (62,278) while Cologne welcomed a crowd of 49,800 (out of a possible 50,000) against Elversberg.

It meant an average of 35,830 across the weekend, breaking the record of 33,983 from Matchday 24 of 2023/24.

Looking at the top 10 average attendances across the Bundesliga and Bundesliga 2 after 19 matchdays each in 2024/25, there are five teams from the top flight and another five from the second division.

Average attendances in Germany (after Matchday 19)

*Bold means a Bundesliga 2 club

Schalke therefore boast bigger crowds in Bundesliga 2 than 16 out of 18 clubs in the first division. In fact, across all leagues in Europe (regardless of level), only nine clubs have a bigger average attendance at home in 2024/25, and none outside the top flight. The Royal Blues - currently 13th in the Bundesliga 2 standings - come out ahead of the likes of Tottenham Hotspur, Atlético Madrid, Liverpool, Arsenal and Benfica. That list is led by Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich. HSV rank 18th, with Hertha in 24th.

Schalke's Veltins Arena was one of five Bundesliga 2 grounds to host the continents's finest in Euro 2024 last summer, alongside Hamburg's Volkparkstadion, Fortuna Düsseldorf's Merkur Spiel-Arena, Hertha's Olympiastadion and Cologne's RheinEnergieStadion.

In addition to those, Nuremberg’s Max-Morlock-Stadion, Hannover’s Heinz von Heiden Arena and Kaiserslautern Fritz-Walter-Stadion also hold 49,000 or more.

In fact, the average capacity across the 18 grounds this season is a huge 33,799. With that average of 30,329, that's almost 90 percent of available places taken. Just to underline what a major attraction Bundesliga 2 is, that average is more than Spain's La Liga (29,875) and France's Ligue 1 (27,173). England's second tier, the Championship, has seen average crowds of 21,842 this term.

So why does it hold such a magnetic appeal among fans? Well, Germany is famed for its fan-first football culture, with the most wide-reaching example of this being the 50+1 regulation that prohibits outside investors from becoming majority stakeholders. As such, clubs retain their connection to their local roots, with the members having the greatest say.

This is also reflected in the fact that spectators are not priced out of the matchday experience. The league average for a season ticket in a standing area last season was a mere is €205 – equating to just €11 per game – while the cheapest season ticket for a standing area came to as little as €150.

Moreover, matchday tickets usually allow fans to ride on local public transport to and from the stadium.

Roaring on your team is thirsty work, and a beer and a sausage are another vital component of any stadium visit in Germany - with affordable prices are the norm across all clubs in Bundesliga 2, allowing supporters to enjoy a game without worrying about their bank balance.

Not only that, but the division itself is simply fun. Fiercely competitive, wildly unpredictable and often deliciously chaotic, comebacks, big scorelines and last-gasp goals are simply par for the course - and none more so than this season.

Or go back to the finale of the 2022/23 campaign, in which the top three were separated by a single point and Hamburg were pipped to promotion by Heidenheim in the most agonising of circumstances is symbolic of the league.

Indeed, over the past 10 years only two teams have broken the 70-point barrier: Hertha in 2012/13 (76) and Freiburg (72) in 2015/16. Holstein Kiel gained promotion in second last season even after losing eight times – again, a figure that is simply part and parcel of being in the division.

So when you tune in to Bundesliga 2, rather than asking yourself why the crowd is so big, the more pertinent question is: why wouldn’t it be? And why not be a part of it?

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