Germany 2. Bundesliga predictions and betting tips

Eighteen clubs are battling it out in the German second division, all eyeing promotion to the Bundesliga. With 34 rounds of games during the season, there will be a great deal of 2. Bundesliga tips to come. Last season, Schalke 04, SV Elversberg and SC Paderborn were promoted to the elite, while Fortuna Düsseldorf and Preußen Münster went down to the 3. Liga. Fortuna Düsseldorf and Preußen Münster replaced them.

VfL Wolfsburg are the clear favourites to finish first, but at least six other teams will be eyeing a top-three finish. These teams are Hannover 96, Hertha BSC, 1. FC Heidenheim, FC St. Pauli, 1. FC Nürnberg and VfL Bochum. This season won't lack intrigue, and if you need a Bundesliga 2 prediction, make sure to bookmark this page.

Wolfsburg, who were relegated to the second tier last season, are the biggest favourites to claim the top spot and return to the elite straight away. Tobias Strobl is the new coach, as his predecessor, Dieter Hecking, became the club's sporting director. The Wolves have sold midfielders Konstantinos Koulierakis and Lovro Majer in midseason, but there are seven newcomers in the team. All in all, Wolfsburg are the team to beat for a reason.

Hannover 96 finished fourth last time out, missing the third place by just two points. Coached by Christian Titz, they managed to keep the core of the squad, as selling the striker Daisuke Yokota was their only real loss. This is another top contender for promotion, yet finishing ahead of Wolfsburg might be a bit too much.

Hertha finished only seventh last campaign, while their expectations were much higher. Stefan Leitl stayed in charge, and he'll need to do much better. Meanwhile, the capital club haven't signed a single new player, while selling goalkeeper Tjark Ernst as well as midfielders Kennet Eichhorn and Michael Cuisance. Such a poor transfer policy is never a good sign.

Heidenheim were relegated from the Bundesliga and are eager to come back immediately. Their biggest weapon is the coach, Frank Schmidt, who has worked with the club since 2007. Midfielder Niklas Dorsch is the only loss in midseason, moving to Toronto, as the newcomer Marcel Costly has the mission to replace him.

St. Pauli, another team relegated from the elite last season, head into a new campaign with a new coach, Marcel Rapp. He gained plenty of experience at Holstein Kiel, but this will be a completely different challenge. St. Pauli didn't do much in the transfer market, as their only notable deal was selling defender Manolis Saliakas to Olympiacos.

Nürnberg were eighth last season, and now they are ready for a third campaign under the legendary Miroslav Klose. The team is achieving some progress, yet some might have thought this would be a faster process. Striker Rayan Ghrieb has strengthened the squad in what has otherwise been a very quiet midseason.

Finally, we have Bochum under Uwe Rösler, a manager who is almost as experienced as all his counterparts together. Last season ended in a disappointing ninth place, but now he had a full training camp to prepare the team. Bochum signed 10 new players as free agents, which speaks a lot about their intentions.

Prediction: Wolfsburg will win the 2. Bundesliga, while Hannover and Bochum will make the top three.

Eighteen teams in the second German division play a round-robin tournament, with each side facing other clubs home and away. The top two teams are promoted to the Bundesliga automatically. At the same time, the third-placed club will play in the promotion/relegation play-offs against the side that finishes 16th in the top division. This is a two-legged encounter with the winner earning the right to play in the Bundesliga.

In the meantime, the two bottom teams are relegated to the 3. Liga, and the 16th-placed team faces the club that finished third in the third division for a place in the 2. Bundesliga. This promotion/relegation play-offs is also a two-legged clash, home and away. Plenty of exciting matches are coming, so make sure to read our Germany's 2nd Bundesliga predictions and improve your betting results.

We are trying to identify the most valuable betting spots when preparing our Bundesliga 2 tips. Obviously, some betting markets are much more popular than others, yet our experts try to examine everything there is on offer to propose the most beneficial options. These are some of the betting markets that are of greatest interest to our readers:

• 1x2
• Both teams to score
• Over 2.5 goals
• Correct score
• Double chance

This section is dedicated to Germany's Bundesliga 2 predictions only. Still, our editorial team is preparing football betting tips 365 days a year for the vast majority of elite leagues and tournaments. Below are some of the competitions we cover by providing expert betting predictions in a timely manner:

• Bundesliga predictions
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