The 2011–12 2. Bundesliga was the 38th season of the 2. Bundesliga, Germany's second tier of its football league system. The season commenced on 15 July 2011, three weeks earlier than the 2011–12 Bundesliga season, and ended with the last games on 6 May 2012. The traditional winter break was to be held between the weekends around 18 December 2011 and 4 February 2012.[3] The league comprises eighteen teams.
Teams
At the end of the 2010–11 season, champions Hertha BSC and runners-up FC Augsburg were directly promoted to the 2011–12 Bundesliga. The Berlin side has directly returned to the highest German football league, while Augsburg ended a five-year tenure in the second level of German football. The two teams were replaced by Eintracht Frankfurt and FC St. Pauli, who were directly relegated from the 2010–11 Bundesliga season. Frankfurt returned to the 2. Bundesliga after six years, while St. Pauli made a direct comeback to the league.
On the other end of the table, Rot-Weiß Oberhausen and Arminia Bielefeld were directly relegated to the 2011–12 3. Liga, after finishing the 2010–11 season in the bottom two spots of the table. Oberhausen was dropped to the third level after three years, while Bielefeld will leave the 2. Bundesliga after two seasons. The two relegated teams were replaced by 2010–11 3. Liga champions Eintracht Braunschweig and runners-up Hansa Rostock. Braunschweig returned to the 2. Bundesliga after a total of four seasons at the third tier of the German football pyramid, while Rostock immediately bounced back from their relegation twelve months earlier.
A further two places were given to VfL Bochum as losers of the Bundesliga relegation playoff and Dynamo Dresden as winners of the 2. Bundesliga relegation playoff. Dresden returned to the 2. Bundesliga after a five-year absence after beating VfL Osnabrück 4–2 on aggregate; Osnabrück were thus immediately relegated back to the 3. Liga. In the Bundesliga playoff, Bochum retained its spot in the league after losing 2–1 on aggregate against Borussia Mönchengladbach.
The 16th-placed team faced the third-placed 2011–12 3. Liga side for a two-legged play-off. The winner on aggregate score after both matches will earn a spot in the 2012–13 2. Bundesliga.
^Smentek, Klaus; et al. (18 July 2011). "kicker Bundesliga Sonderheft 2011/12". kicker Sportmagazin (in German). Nuremberg: Olympia Verlag. ISSN0948-7964.