The 2. Bundesliga calendar for the 2026/27 season has been revealed, with VfL Wolfsburg and 1. FC Kaiserslautern starring in the opener.
VfL Wolfsburg and FC St. Pauli will face each other in the 2nd Bundesliga. The Bundesliga has provided details on some of the matches and details of the upcoming season in the two top German football divisions. It was already known on Wednesday that VfL Bochum and Hertha BSC would open the new second division season on August 7 (8.30 pm, live on kicker) at the Vonovia-Ruhrstadion stadium. The full version of the 2nd Bundesliga calendar was published today, which also includes VfL Wolfsburg for the first time since 1996/97. The Wölfe, relegated to the sixteenth place following the play-offs, will make their debut at home against 1. FC Kaiserslautern. The long-awaited return to the Bundesliga could materialize, if it does not happen through the play-offs, in the last match of the season, the 34th round, against Dynamo Dresden. 1. FC Heidenheim and FC St. Pauli also finished last Bundesliga season behind Wölfe. FCH will start the new season with a home match against VfL Osnabrück, who were the best in the third division, ahead of Energie Cottbus, who will debut against Hannover 96. The Kiezkickers will host SpVgg Greuther Fürth. Despite the promotion of Schalke 04 and the relegation of Fortuna Düsseldorf, the 2. Bundesliga will not lack traditional matches in 2026/27. These will include the Lower Saxony derby between Eintracht Braunschweig and Hannover 96 (9th and 26th rounds), the "Elb-Clasico" between Dynamo Dresden and 1. FC Magdeburg (8th and 25th rounds) and the derbies between Roten Teufeln and Karlsruher SC and between Fürth and 1. FC Nürnberg, which will take place respectively at 2nd and 19th rounds. It is already known that the season final will be played as usual at the same time at 3.30 pm on Sunday 23 May 2027, while the exact dates for the other matches are still to be defined. With the exception of the opening match, the Bundesliga will set the calendar for the first two matchdays between 6 and 10 July. The exact times of subsequent matches will be decided during the season. Compared to the Bundesliga, which starts three weeks later, fans of the second division will not have to wait long to see their teams on the pitch again. However, there will be a break between the 2nd and 3rd rounds, as the first round matches of the DFB-Pokal will take place during the long weekend from 21 to 24 August.
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