| Season | 1996–97 |
|---|---|
| Champions | 1. FC Kaiserslautern |
| Promoted | 1. FC Kaiserslautern VfL Wolfsburg Hertha BSC |
| Relegated | SV Waldhof Mannheim VfB Lübeck Rot-Weiss Essen VfB Oldenburg |
| Matches played | 306 |
| Top goalscorer | Angelo Vier (18 goals) |
| Average attendance | 8,952 |
← 1995–96 1997–98 → | |
The 1996–97 2. Bundesliga season was the twenty-third season of the 2. Bundesliga, the second tier of the German football league system.
1. FC Kaiserslautern, VfL Wolfsburg and Hertha BSC were promoted to the Bundesliga while SV Waldhof Mannheim, VfB Lübeck, Rot-Weiss Essen and VfB Oldenburg were relegated to the Regionalliga.
For the 1996–97 season VfB Oldenburg, Rot-Weiss Essen, FC Gütersloh and Stuttgarter Kickers were newly promoted to the 2. Bundesliga from the Regionalliga while 1. FC Kaiserslautern, Eintracht Frankfurt and KFC Uerdingen 05 had been relegated to the league from the Bundesliga.
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Promotion or relegation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1. FC Kaiserslautern (C, P) | 34 | 19 | 11 | 4 | 74 | 28 | +46 | 68 | Promotion to Bundesliga |
| 2 | VfL Wolfsburg (P) | 34 | 14 | 16 | 4 | 52 | 29 | +23 | 58 | |
| 3 | Hertha BSC (P) | 34 | 17 | 7 | 10 | 57 | 38 | +19 | 58 | |
| 4 | Mainz 05 | 34 | 14 | 12 | 8 | 50 | 34 | +16 | 54 | |
| 5 | Stuttgarter Kickers | 34 | 14 | 11 | 9 | 38 | 27 | +11 | 53 | |
| 6 | SpVgg Unterhaching | 34 | 11 | 16 | 7 | 35 | 29 | +6 | 49 | |
| 7 | Eintracht Frankfurt | 34 | 13 | 9 | 12 | 43 | 46 | −3 | 48 | |
| 8 | VfB Leipzig | 34 | 12 | 10 | 12 | 53 | 54 | −1 | 46 | |
| 9 | KFC Uerdingen | 34 | 13 | 5 | 16 | 46 | 44 | +2 | 44 | |
| 10 | SV Meppen | 34 | 10 | 14 | 10 | 44 | 48 | −4 | 44 | |
| 11 | Fortuna Köln | 34 | 11 | 9 | 14 | 52 | 47 | +5 | 42 | |
| 12 | Carl Zeiss Jena | 34 | 9 | 15 | 10 | 44 | 49 | −5 | 42 | |
| 13 | FC Gütersloh | 34 | 12 | 9 | 13 | 43 | 51 | −8 | 45 | |
| 14 | FSV Zwickau | 34 | 12 | 6 | 16 | 34 | 48 | −14 | 42 | |
| 15 | Waldhof Mannheim (R) | 34 | 10 | 10 | 14 | 45 | 56 | −11 | 40 | Relegation to Regionalliga[a] |
| 16 | VfB Lübeck (R) | 34 | 8 | 12 | 14 | 32 | 53 | −21 | 36 | |
| 17 | Rot-Weiss Essen (R) | 34 | 8 | 5 | 21 | 47 | 74 | −27 | 29 | |
| 18 | VfB Oldenburg (R) | 34 | 6 | 9 | 19 | 33 | 67 | −34 | 27 |
| Home \ Away | BSC | RWE | SGE | FCG | JEN | FCK | FKO | LEI | LUE | M05 | WMA | SVM | OLD | SKI | KFC | UNT | WOB | ZWI |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hertha BSC | — | 7–3 | 1–2 | 5–2 | 0–1 | 2–0 | 4–2 | 1–1 | 0–0 | 1–0 | 2–2 | 3–0 | 1–0 | 0–1 | 0–2 | 3–0 | 1–0 | 1–0 |
| Rot-Weiss Essen | 2–1 | — | 4–1 | 2–2 | 0–2 | 1–4 | 0–4 | 4–1 | 2–0 | 0–2 | 2–1 | 2–1 | 5–0 | 0–4 | 1–2 | 1–2 | 0–1 | 1–2 |
| Eintracht Frankfurt | 3–1 | 3–0 | — | 2–0 | 1–1 | 0–0 | 3–1 | 2–3 | 3–0 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 0–1 | 2–3 | 0–1 | 0–1 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 2–1 |
| FC Gütersloh | 1–0 | 2–3 | 3–1 | — | 0–0 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 2–0 | 3–1 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 4–2 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 3–1 |
| Carl Zeiss Jena | 2–1 | 4–0 | 1–1 | 2–5 | — | 2–2 | 1–1 | 0–0 | 1–1 | 2–1 | 1–1 | 2–1 | 3–1 | 0–0 | 2–2 | 1–1 | 3–3 | 2–1 |
| 1. FC Kaiserslautern | 0–0 | 3–2 | 5–0 | 2–0 | 2–0 | — | 2–0 | 4–1 | 7–0 | 1–1 | 5–0 | 7–6 | 6–2 | 2–0 | 3–1 | 0–0 | 4–0 | 4–1 |
| Fortuna Köln | 2–0 | 1–1 | 0–0 | 3–0 | 2–0 | 0–0 | — | 2–3 | 0–3 | 1–3 | 4–0 | 0–0 | 7–1 | 1–2 | 1–2 | 3–1 | 2–0 | 2–1 |
| VfB Leipzig | 0–3 | 2–0 | 2–3 | 3–1 | 3–3 | 2–2 | 4–1 | — | 0–0 | 3–0 | 6–1 | 1–3 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 3–1 | 3–0 | 0–2 | 4–0 |
| VfB Lübeck | 1–4 | 3–2 | 1–1 | 2–3 | 1–0 | 0–2 | 1–1 | 0–1 | — | 0–2 | 2–3 | 4–1 | 2–0 | 1–0 | 2–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 1–1 |
| Mainz 05 | 0–1 | 2–1 | 2–2 | 3–0 | 3–2 | 0–0 | 2–0 | 2–1 | 1–1 | — | 2–0 | 3–0 | 3–0 | 1–0 | 3–1 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 1–1 |
| Waldhof Mannheim | 2–1 | 3–3 | 1–2 | 1–0 | 4–0 | 2–0 | 3–3 | 1–1 | 3–1 | 2–2 | — | 1–0 | 2–0 | 0–1 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 1–3 | 4–0 |
| SV Meppen | 1–1 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 2–0 | 0–0 | 2–1 | 0–3 | 0–0 | 2–0 | 5–4 | 1–1 | — | 2–1 | 1–1 | 2–0 | 1–1 | 0–0 | 3–0 |
| VfB Oldenburg | 2–2 | 2–1 | 1–2 | 2–0 | 1–0 | 0–1 | 1–1 | 4–1 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 1–1 | — | 1–1 | 1–2 | 1–3 | 1–4 | 1–2 |
| Stuttgarter Kickers | 1–2 | 1–1 | 0–0 | 1–1 | 1–2 | 0–2 | 3–1 | 3–1 | 2–3 | 2–1 | 2–1 | 0–0 | 5–0 | — | 1–0 | 1–0 | 0–0 | 1–0 |
| KFC Uerdingen | 2–3 | 1–0 | 3–0 | 0–2 | 2–2 | 0–1 | 1–2 | 5–0 | 5–0 | 0–1 | 4–1 | 0–0 | 1–0 | 3–1 | — | 0–4 | 0–3 | 3–0 |
| SpVgg Unterhaching | 1–2 | 2–0 | 2–1 | 3–1 | 2–1 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 1–1 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 2–1 | 1–2 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 0–0 | — | 1–0 | 2–1 |
| VfL Wolfsburg | 1–1 | 5–1 | 4–1 | 3–0 | 4–1 | 0–0 | 2–1 | 2–0 | 0–0 | 5–4 | 1–1 | 3–1 | 2–2 | 0–0 | 1–0 | 0–0 | — | 1–1 |
| FSV Zwickau | 1–2 | 2–1 | 1–0 | 3–1 | 1–0 | 2–1 | 2–0 | 1–2 | 2–0 | 0–0 | 2–0 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 0–1 | 2–1 | 0–2 | 0–0 | — |
The league's top scorers:[1]
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