The Bundesliga 2 is the wildest league in Europe and here’s why

On Friday of this week fourth-placed FC Magdeburg beat table toppers FC Koln 3-0 at their home ground - the Avnet Arena - in a game that blew the Bundesliga 2 title race wide open. However, Koln’s thrashing was nowhere near the biggest shock of the evening. The bigger surprise was that Magdeburg had won a game at home. As in incredible circumstances, this was their first home win of the season. In February after 22 games played.

At this stage of the season, it would be difficult to find many sides in an elite division yet to win in their own city. Other teams that Magdeburg joins with one win at home this season include Southampton and Ipswich in the Premier League, who both won theirs back in November. Empoli and Monza in Serie A are also outfits with singular home victories, with their wins coming back in 2024 also, yet all four of these teams are in or around the relegation zone, unlike Magdeburg who are two points from first place.

ENDLICHHHHHHHH HEIMSIEGGGGG!!!

FINALLY MAGDEBURG HAVE WON A HOME GAME!!!

At the ELEVENTH time of asking AND against the current league leaders 🥳🥳🥳#einmalimmer #FCMKOE pic.twitter.com/OcvWvgHGYl

— DDR-Fußball • in English (@Fussball_DDR) February 14, 2025

Magdeburg's bizarre home and away form

To put it into perspective, Regensburg who are rock bottom with 14 points have four home wins in the Bundesliga 2 this season. In fact, all clubs in and around the foot of the table have at least two home triumphs. The root of FCM’s success is their away form, the club have 28 points from a possible 33 on the road, already conquering over half of their fellow Bundesliga 2 teams in their own backyard.

Magdeburg's lack of home wins does not mean that they are suffering at the Avnet Arena as only three losses have been endured there this campaign. Instead they need to work on turning draws into wins as so far seven out of their 11 home games have ended as a stalemate.

Every season watching this league is making me age 5 years pic.twitter.com/IUPNKDESgT

— 𝗙𝗜𝗔𝗚𝗢 (@fiago7) February 16, 2025

Goals galore in East Germany

The club have had 14 different goalscorers in the league this season, but Martijn Kaars has been the star man above all. The No.9 has 15 goals and six assists in 21 appearances, improving as the season has progressed to the point where in his last six league games he has scored 10 goals including a hat trick against Elversberg and four goals away at Schalke. The Dutch striker was plucked from the second tier of the Netherlands last summer, formerly an Ajax youth graduate Kaars might be on the radar of some top-flight teams if he fails to bring Magdeburg promotion. Philipp Hercher and Mohammed El Hankouri’s six goals each mean that it is easy to understand why the East German club have scored 32 times away from home, more than every other Bundesliga 2 side’s home tally.

It has been an entirely different season for FCM compared to the last when they finished 14th with their top scorer on six goals for the campaign. But not much more could be expected from a side who were promoted to the second tier in 2022. A promotion to the Bundesliga would not just be a victory for the city of Magdeburg, but a victory for the whole of East Germany. RB Leipzig and Union Berlin are currently the only two clubs from the former Eastern half of the country in the top tier. This is due to the Bundesliga - formerly of West Germany - only allowing two East German clubs to join the division when the nation was reunited, unfairly making many former top-flight clubs drop to the second or third tier. FCM was a victim of this, and have spent most of their history since fighting in the 3.Liga.

Martijn Kaars is playing an unbelievable season as the leader in Magdeburg‘s promotion push.

A top finisher with extremely intelligent & well-timed movement patterns to exploit vertical space & find pockets in the penalty area.

✅ 19 Games
⚽️ 14 Goals
🅰️ 6 Assists pic.twitter.com/GB84lfgViq

— Adam (@XxAdamKhanxX) February 1, 2025

Fierce competition

If Magdeburg are to increase the East German representation in the Bundesliga then they will have to overcome one of the wildest title races in Europe. Three points separate first and sixth with only the top three awarded with promotion or in third place’s case the chance to. There are many German giants involved in the fight including Hamburg, Dusseldorf, Koln and Kaiserslautern. That is without mentioning other teams stuck in the league like Schalke, Hertha Berlin and Hannover. With 14 games left of the season, anything could still happen as most of the top 10 are still within 10 points of the top.