2. Bundesliga

With clubs like Werder Bremen, Hamburg, Schalke and Nürnberg, the 2. Bundesliga is quietly becoming the place to be. Look no further than these highlights from Friday’s match between Erzgebirge and Hamburg if you need more proof.

In a 1-1 draw, we witnessed two of the most memorable goals of the 2021-22 European season. 

Erzgebirge’s opener in the 23rd minute came after Hamburg defender Jonas David planted a clearing header into attacker Antonio Jonjić. The ball struck Jonjić in the back of the head and flew into the goal.

Schalke endured a historically bad season in 2020-21, but the rot actually began far earlier. There were clear signs about midway through the previous campaign. The Royal Blues' last win of 2019-20 was a 2-0 victory over Borussia Monchengladbach on January 17, 2020. Manager David Wagner was then unable to prevent Schalke ending the season on a winless streak of 16 games. 

After watching Brentford finally claw its way into England’s top flight for the first time in 74 years, you could be excused for sticking around to see the trophy presentation. However, if you did so, you missed a barnstorming start to the other major playoff taking place on Saturday, as four goals were scored in the opening 13 minutes of the Bundesliga promotion/relegation playoff second leg. 

While fans of the European game will rightly be keeping an eye on the nail-biting title races in the top divisions of France and Spain, an exhilarating fight for promotion is coming to a head in Germany's second division.

With Bochum seemingly comfortable in first place on 60 points (first and second secure automatic promotion), the six teams below are dueling it out for second and third-placed finishes. It is incredibly high-stakes as unlike England's Championship, there is only one playoff place up for grabs as opposed to four.