# 2016–17 2. Bundesliga

The 2016–17 2. Bundesliga was the 43rd season of the 2. Bundesliga. It commenced on 5 August 2016 and ended on 21 May 2017. Fixtures for the 2016–17 season were announced on 29 June 2016.

## Teams

A total of 18 teams participate in the 2016–17 2. Bundesliga. These include 14 teams from the 2015–16 2. Bundesliga, together with two automatically relegated teams from the 2015–16 Bundesliga, and two automatically promoted teams from the 2015–16 3. Liga. The 16th-placed Bundesliga and third-placed team of the 2. Bundesliga and the 16th-placed 2. Bundesliga team and the third-place finisher in the 3. Liga participated in promotion-relegation playoffs.
On 16 April 2016, Dynamo Dresden won promotion from the 2015–16 3. Liga. Aue followed on 7 May 2016. On 8 May 2016, SC Paderborn was relegated to 2016–17 3. Liga. On 15 May 2016, FSV Frankfurt followed. 1. FC Nürnberg lost its playoff 2–1 on aggregate and remained in the league. Finally MSV Duisburg, 16th-placed team of the 2. Bundesliga lost to Würzburger Kickers, third of the 3. Liga, 4–1 on aggregate in a relegation playoff. Würzburg returned to the second level after 38 years via their second consecutive promotion; Duisburg returned immediately to the third level.

### Stadiums and locations

| Team | Location | Stadium | Capacity |
| 1860 Munich | Munich | Allianz Arena | 75,000 |
| Arminia Bielefeld | Bielefeld | Schüco-Arena | 27,300 |
| VfL Bochum | Bochum | Vonovia-Ruhrstadion | 29,299 |
| Eintracht Braunschweig | Braunschweig | Eintracht-Stadion | 23,325 |
| Dynamo Dresden | Dresden | DDV-Stadion | 32,066 |
| Fortuna Düsseldorf | Düsseldorf | Esprit Arena | 54,600 |
| Erzgebirge Aue | Aue | Sparkassen-Erzgebirgsstadion | 15,711 |
| SpVgg Greuther Fürth | Fürth | Sportpark Ronhof | 18,500 |
| Hannover 96 | Hanover | HDI-Arena | 49,200 |
| 1. FC Heidenheim | Heidenheim | Voith-Arena | 15,000 |
| 1. FC Kaiserslautern | Kaiserslautern | Fritz-Walter-Stadion | 49,780 |
| Karlsruher SC | Karlsruhe | Wildparkstadion | 29,699 |
| 1. FC Nürnberg | Nuremberg | Grundig-Stadion | 50,000 |
| SV Sandhausen | Sandhausen | Hardtwald | 12,100 |
| FC St. Pauli | Hamburg | Millerntor-Stadion | 29,546 |
| VfB Stuttgart | Stuttgart | Mercedes-Benz Arena | 60,469 |
| Union Berlin | Berlin | Alte Försterei | 22,012 |
| Würzburger Kickers | Würzburg | Flyeralarm Arena | 14,500 |

### Personnel and kits

| Team | Manager | Captain | Kit manufacturer | Shirt sponsor |
| 1860 Munich | Vítor Pereira | Stefan Aigner | Macron | Die Bayerische |
| 1. FC Nürnberg | Michael Köllner | Mišo Brečko | Umbro | Nürnberger Versicherung |
| Arminia Bielefeld | Jeff Saibene | Fabian Klos | Saller | Schüco |
| VfL Bochum | Gertjan Verbeek | Patrick Fabian | Nike | Booster Energy Drink (H) / Netto (A) |
| Eintracht Braunschweig | Torsten Lieberknecht | Marcel Correia | Nike | SEAT |
| Dynamo Dresden | Uwe Neuhaus | Marco Hartmann | Erima | Feldschlößchen |
| Fortuna Düsseldorf | Friedhelm Funkel | Oliver Fink | Puma | o.tel.o |
| Erzgebirge Aue | Domenico Tedesco | Martin Männel | Nike | WätaS Wärmetauscher Sachsen |
| SpVgg Greuther Fürth | Janos Radoki | Marco Caligiuri | Hummel | Ergo Direkt Versicherungen |
| Hannover 96 | André Breitenreiter | Manuel Schmiedebach | Jako | Heinz von Heiden |
| 1. FC Heidenheim | Frank Schmidt | Marc Schnatterer | Nike | Hartmann Gruppe |
| 1. FC Kaiserslautern | Norbert Meier | Daniel Halfar | Uhlsport | Top12.de |
| Karlsruher SC | Marc-Patrick Meister | Enrico Valentini | Jako | Klaiber Markisen |
| SV Sandhausen | Kenan Kocak | Stefan Kulovits | Puma | Verivox |
| FC St. Pauli | Ewald Lienen | Lasse Sobiech | Under Armour | Congstar |
| VfB Stuttgart | Hannes Wolf | Christian Gentner | Puma | Mercedes-Benz Bank |
| 1. FC Union Berlin | Jens Keller | Felix Kroos | Macron | Layenberger |
| Würzburger Kickers | Bernd Hollerbach | Sebastian Neumann | Capelli | s.Oliver |

### Managerial changes

| Team | Outgoing manager | Manner of departure | Date of vacancy | Position in table | Incoming manager | Date of appointment |
| Karlsruher SC | Markus Kauczinski | Resigned | 30 June 2016 | Preseason | Tomas Oral | 1 July 2016 |
| Union Berlin | André Hofschneider | End of interim | 30 June 2016 | Preseason | Jens Keller | 1 July 2016 |
| 1860 Munich | Denis Bushuev | End of interim | 30 June 2016 | Preseason | Kosta Runjaić | 1 July 2016 |
| VfB Stuttgart | Jürgen Kramny | Demoted to U23 team | 30 June 2016 | Preseason | Jos Luhukay | 1 July 2016 |
| 1. FC Kaiserslautern | Konrad Fünfstück | Sacked | 30 June 2016 | Preseason | Tayfun Korkut | 1 July 2016 |
| Arminia Bielefeld | Norbert Meier | Signed by SV Darmstadt 98 | 30 June 2016 | Preseason | Rüdiger Rehm | 1 July 2016 |
| 1. FC Nürnberg | René Weiler | Signed by R.S.C. Anderlecht | 30 June 2016 | Preseason | Alois Schwartz | 1 July 2016 |
| SV Sandhausen | Alois Schwartz | Signed by 1. FC Nürnberg | 30 June 2016 | Preseason | Kenan Kocak | 3 July 2016 |
| VfB Stuttgart | Jos Luhukay | Resigned | 20 September 2016 | 2nd | Hannes Wolf | 20 September 2016 |
| Arminia Bielefeld | Rüdiger Rehm | Sacked | 22 October 2016 | 18th | Jürgen Kramny | 15 November 2016 |
| SpVgg Greuther Fürth | Stefan Ruthenbeck | Sacked | 21 November 2016 | 13th | Janos Radoki | 21 November 2016 |
| 1860 Munich | Kosta Runjaić | Sacked | 22 November 2016 | 14th | Vítor Pereira | 1 January 2017 |
| Karlsruher SC | Tomas Oral | Sacked | 4 December 2016 | 15th | Mirko Slomka | 3 January 2017 |
| 1. FC Kaiserslautern | Tayfun Korkut | Resigned | 27 December 2016 | 13th | Norbert Meier | 4 January 2017 |
| Erzgebirge Aue | Pavel Dochev | Resigned | 28 February 2017 | 18th | Domenico Tedesco | 8 March 2017 |
| 1. FC Nürnberg | Alois Schwartz | Sacked | 7 March 2017 | 11th | Michael Köllner | 7 March 2017 |
| Arminia Bielefeld | Jürgen Kramny | Sacked | 14 March 2017 | 18th | Jeff Saibene | 19 March 2017 |
| Hannover 96 | Daniel Stendel | Sacked | 20 March 2017 | 4th | André Breitenreiter | 20 March 2017 |
| Karlsruher SC | Mirko Slomka | Sacked | 4 April 2017 | 18th | Marc-Patrick Meister | 4 April 2017 |

## League table

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Promotion, qualification or relegation |
| 1 | VfB Stuttgart (C, P) | 34 | 21 | 6 | 7 | 63 | 37 | +26 | 69 | Promotion to Bundesliga |
| 2 | Hannover 96 (P) | 34 | 19 | 10 | 5 | 51 | 32 | +19 | 67 | Promotion to Bundesliga |
| 3 | Eintracht Braunschweig | 34 | 19 | 9 | 6 | 50 | 36 | +14 | 66 | Qualification to promotion play-offs |
| 4 | Union Berlin | 34 | 18 | 6 | 10 | 51 | 39 | +12 | 60 | |
| 5 | Dynamo Dresden | 34 | 13 | 11 | 10 | 53 | 46 | +7 | 50 | |
| 6 | 1. FC Heidenheim | 34 | 12 | 10 | 12 | 43 | 39 | +4 | 46 | |
| 7 | FC St. Pauli | 34 | 12 | 9 | 13 | 39 | 35 | +4 | 45 | |
| 8 | SpVgg Greuther Fürth | 34 | 12 | 9 | 13 | 33 | 40 | −7 | 45 | |
| 9 | VfL Bochum | 34 | 10 | 14 | 10 | 42 | 47 | −5 | 44 | |
| 10 | SV Sandhausen | 34 | 10 | 12 | 12 | 41 | 36 | +5 | 42 | |
| 11 | Fortuna Düsseldorf | 34 | 10 | 12 | 12 | 37 | 39 | −2 | 42 | |
| 12 | 1. FC Nürnberg | 34 | 12 | 6 | 16 | 46 | 52 | −6 | 42 | |
| 13 | 1. FC Kaiserslautern | 34 | 10 | 11 | 13 | 29 | 33 | −4 | 41 | |
| 14 | Erzgebirge Aue | 34 | 10 | 9 | 15 | 37 | 52 | −15 | 39 | |
| 15 | Arminia Bielefeld | 34 | 8 | 13 | 13 | 50 | 54 | −4 | 37 | |
| 16 | 1860 Munich (R) | 34 | 10 | 6 | 18 | 37 | 47 | −10 | 36 | Qualification to relegation play-offs |
| 17 | Würzburger Kickers (R) | 34 | 7 | 13 | 14 | 32 | 41 | −9 | 34 | Relegation to 3. Liga |
| 18 | Karlsruher SC (R) | 34 | 5 | 10 | 19 | 27 | 56 | −29 | 25 | Relegation to 3. Liga |
* ↑ 1860 Munich, who lost in the relegation play-offs, were unable to obtain a license for the 2017–18 3. Liga. Therefore, 1860 Munich was relegated to the Regionalliga Bayern.

## Results

| Home \ Away | AUE | UNB | DSC | BOC | EBS | SGD | F95 | SGF | H96 | FCH | FCK | KSC | M60 | FCN | SVS | STP | VFB | FCW |
| Erzgebirge Aue | — | 1–3 | 1–1 | 2–4 | 0–2 | 1–4 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 2–2 | 2–1 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 3–0 | 1–2 | 2–0 | 1–0 | 0–4 | 3–1 |
| Union Berlin | 0–1 | — | 3–1 | 2–1 | 2–0 | 2–2 | 0–1 | 1–1 | 2–1 | 0–1 | 3–1 | 4–0 | 2–0 | 1–0 | 2–1 | 2–0 | 1–1 | 2–0 |
| Arminia Bielefeld | 2–2 | 4–4 | — | 1–0 | 6–0 | 1–2 | 2–1 | 1–1 | 3–3 | 2–1 | 2–0 | 0–0 | 2–1 | 1–3 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 2–3 | 0–1 |
| VfL Bochum | 1–1 | 2–1 | 1–1 | — | 1–1 | 4–2 | 1–2 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 2–1 | 0–0 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 5–4 | 2–2 | 1–3 | 1–1 | 2–1 |
| Eintracht Braunschweig | 1–1 | 3–1 | 3–2 | 2–0 | — | 1–0 | 2–1 | 1–0 | 2–2 | 3–2 | 1–0 | 2–1 | 2–1 | 6–1 | 2–1 | 1–2 | 1–1 | 2–1 |
| Dynamo Dresden | 0–3 | 0–0 | 1–1 | 2–2 | 3–2 | — | 1–1 | 2–1 | 1–2 | 2–1 | 3–3 | 0–0 | 1–2 | 1–1 | 2–0 | 1–0 | 5–0 | 2–2 |
| Fortuna Düsseldorf | 1–0 | 2–2 | 4–0 | 3–0 | 1–2 | 0–3 | — | 1–1 | 2–2 | 0–0 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 0–1 | 0–2 | 0–3 | 1–3 | 1–0 | 1–1 |
| Greuther Fürth | 3–2 | 1–2 | 2–1 | 2–1 | 0–0 | 1–0 | 1–0 | — | 4–1 | 0–2 | 0–1 | 0–1 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 0–2 | 1–0 | 0–3 |
| Hannover 96 | 2–0 | 2–0 | 2–2 | 2–1 | 1–0 | 0–2 | 1–0 | 3–1 | — | 3–2 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 0–0 | 2–0 | 1–0 | 3–1 |
| 1. FC Heidenheim | 1–0 | 3–0 | 2–2 | 0–0 | 1–1 | 0–0 | 2–0 | 0–2 | 0–2 | — | 3–0 | 2–1 | 2–1 | 2–3 | 2–2 | 2–0 | 1–2 | 1–2 |
| 1. FC Kaiserslautern | 0–0 | 1–0 | 0–0 | 3–0 | 0–1 | 3–0 | 0–0 | 2–0 | 0–4 | 1–1 | — | 0–0 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 3–0 | 1–2 | 0–1 | 1–0 |
| Karlsruher SC | 2–0 | 1–2 | 3–2 | 1–1 | 0–0 | 3–4 | 0–3 | 1–2 | 2–0 | 0–1 | 1–3 | — | 0–0 | 0–3 | 1–3 | 1–1 | 1–3 | 1–1 |
| 1860 Munich | 6–2 | 1–2 | 1–0 | 1–2 | 0–1 | 1–0 | 1–3 | 2–1 | 0–2 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 2–1 | — | 2–0 | 1–1 | 1–2 | 1–1 | 2–1 |
| 1. FC Nürnberg | 2–1 | 2–0 | 1–0 | 0–1 | 1–1 | 1–2 | 2–3 | 1–2 | 2–0 | 1–1 | 2–1 | 2–1 | 1–2 | — | 1–3 | 0–2 | 2–3 | 2–2 |
| SV Sandhausen | 2–0 | 0–1 | 1–3 | 0–0 | 0–1 | 2–0 | 2–2 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 0–0 | 2–0 | 4–0 | 3–2 | 0–1 | — | 3–0 | 1–2 | 0–0 |
| FC St. Pauli | 1–2 | 1–2 | 2–1 | 1–1 | 0–2 | 2–0 | 0–1 | 1–1 | 0–0 | 3–0 | 0–0 | 5–0 | 2–2 | 1–1 | 0–0 | — | 0–1 | 1–0 |
| VfB Stuttgart | 3–0 | 3–1 | 3–1 | 1–1 | 2–0 | 3–3 | 2–0 | 4–0 | 1–2 | 1–2 | 2–0 | 2–0 | 2–1 | 3–1 | 2–1 | 2–1 | — | 4–1 |
| Würzburger Kickers | 1–1 | 0–1 | 1–1 | 2–0 | 1–1 | 0–2 | 0–0 | 1–1 | 0–0 | 0–2 | 1–1 | 0–2 | 2–0 | 1–1 | 0–1 | 1–0 | 3–0 | — |

## Promotion play-offs
### Second leg

VfL Wolfsburg won 2–0 on aggregate and both clubs therefore remained in their respective tiers for the 2017–18 season.

## Relegation play-offs
### Second leg

Jahn Regensburg won 3–1 on aggregate and were promoted to the 2. Bundesliga.

## Statistics
### Top goalscorers

| Rank | Player | Club | Goals |
| 1 | Simon Terodde | VfB Stuttgart | 25 |
| 2 | Martin Harnik | Hannover 96 | 17 |
| 3 | Stefan Kutschke | Dynamo Dresden | 16 |
| 4 | Aziz Bouhaddouz | FC St. Pauli | 15 |
| 5 | Guido Burgstaller | 1. FC Nürnberg | 14 |
| 6 | Fabian Klos | Arminia Bielefeld | 13 |
| 6 | Domi Kumbela | Eintracht Braunschweig | 13 |
| 8 | Christoffer Nyman | Eintracht Braunschweig | 11 |
| 8 | Marc Schnatterer | 1. FC Heidenheim | 11 |
| 10 | Serdar Dursun | Greuther Fürth | 10 |
| 10 | Akaki Gogia | Dynamo Dresden | 10 |
| 10 | Pascal Köpke | Erzgebirge Aue | 10 |

### Clean sheets

| Rank | Player | Club | Clean sheets |
| 1 | Philipp Tschauner | Hannover 96 | 16 |
| 2 | Julian Pollersbeck | 1. FC Kaiserslautern | 14 |
| 3 | Kevin Müller | 1. FC Heidenheim | 13 |
| 4 | Marco Knaller | SV Sandhausen | 12 |
| 5 | Jasmin Fejzić | Eintracht Braunschweig | 11 |
| 5 | Michael Rensing | Fortuna Düsseldorf | 11 |
| 9 | Mitchell Langerak | VfB Stuttgart | 9 |
| 9 | Martin Männel | Erzgebirge Aue | 9 |
| 9 | Marvin Schwäbe | Dynamo Dresden | 9 |
| 10 | Philipp Heerwagen | FC St. Pauli | 8 |
| 10 | Balázs Megyeri | Greuther Fürth | 8 |
| 10 | Robert Wulnikowski | Würzburger Kickers | 8 |

### Number of teams by state

| Position | State | Number of teams | Teams |
| 1 | Bavaria | 4 | Greuther Fürth, 1860 Munich, Nürnberg, and Würzburger Kickers |
| 1 | Baden-Württemberg | 4 | Heidenheim, Karlsruher SC, SV Sandhausen and Stuttgart |
| 3 | North Rhine-Westphalia | 3 | Arminia Bielefeld, Bochum and Fortuna Düsseldorf |
| 4 | Lower Saxony | 2 | Eintracht Braunschweig and Hannover 96 |
| 4 | Saxony | 2 | Dynamo Dresden and Erzgebirge Aue |
| 6 | Berlin | 1 | Union Berlin |
| 6 | Hamburg | 1 | FC St. Pauli |
| 6 | Rhineland-Palatinate | 1 | Kaiserslautern |