Bundesliga 2 is up to its old tricks again in 2024/25, with up to 11 teams in the promotion hunt and goals galore lighting up one of Europe's most intriguing leagues.

To understand what has made the 2024/25 Bundesliga 2 season so interesting until now, let’s first have a look at the table. The top four are separated by just two points, with first-placed Paderborn (+6) and fourth-placed Elversberg (+9) also having almost identical goal differences. Both of these sides have won seven of the opening 15 games, an impressive record, especially for Elversberg; the Saarland side are in just their second ever season in the Bundesliga 2, having won promotion at the end of the 2022/23 season.

The top end of the table being tight is normal, right? Well, how about the top 10? There are just six (!) points between leaders Paderborn and Darmstadt in 10th (11th-in-the-table Hertha Berlin are also on 21 points). To put that in perspective, the same league positions are separated by 14 points in the Bundesliga.

Paderborn and Darmstadt are in very different positions, but the gap isn't as big as you'd think. - IMAGO/Ulrich Hufnagel

On the topic of fine margins, 30 percent (41 out of 135) of this season's Bundesliga 2 results have been draws, highlighting just how fiercely competitive this division is. These hard-fought battles for points have still seen plenty of goals though, with 430 goals scored already this season.

This past game week, six of those goals were scored in the Schalke's 4-2 victory against Paderborn, which saw the 14th-placed Royal Blues score four goals away from home to win, having won just one of their previous seven matches.

Watch: Paderborn 2-4 Schalke - highlights

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If that result doesn’t grab your attention, then let’s take a look at Matchday 10, which witness 11 goals scored in the game between Nuremberg and Jahn Regensburg! With the game tied at 3-3, it looked like struggling Regensburg would possibly secure some much-needed points in a thrilling encounter, only for the hosts to score five goals in the last half-hour of the game. Naturally, the content went into the history books, taking its place as the joint second-highest scoring game ever in Germany’s second tier.

Kaiserslautern won 4-3 away to Fortuna Düsseldorf on the same day. At that point, Düsseldorf had lost just once after nine games and were sat at the top of the table, eight points ahead of the 11th-placed Red Devils. That game was the second in a now seven-game unbeaten run for Kaiserslautern, and has seem them leapfrog their fellow promotion hopefuls. They now sit in second, one point off the top, while Düsseldorf have dropped to fifth.

As well as Kaiserslautern have done until now in the season, their position is far from comfortable. Ten of the 18 Bundesliga 2 sides have found themselves in the top three at some point this season, creating an enthralling race for promotion. Cologne - relegated from the Bundesliga at the end of 2024/25 - are one of the sides aiming to return to the big time. However, out of the teams in the top half of the league, they’re the only ones not to have occupied one of the top three places so far this term.

Watch: Nuremberg 8-3 Regensburg - highlights

Goals being scored is one thing, but how they’re scored is a completely different story. The Matchday 8 meeting between Magdeburg and Greuther Fürth saw two of the most comical penalties you’re likely to see awarded. Magdeburg took the lead after Fürth’s Gideon Jung picked up a pass from his goalkeeper, not realising play had been restarted; he thought his blushes had been spared when Mo El Hankouri‘s effort was saved, only for him to tap it home when the rebound was crossed back in.

At the other end, Daniel Heber made a similar mistake not long before half-time. Eager to protest what he thought would be called as a foul when Roberto Massimo was tackled just outside the area, Heber picked up the ball and headed toward referee Bastian Dankert – before a whistle had been blown. A penalty was award to Fürth, which was slotted home by Julian Green, before Fürth went on to equalise through Noel Futkeu in the second half.

Watch: Bizarre penalty scenes in Bundesliga 2

It’s just under halfway through the 2024/25 season and there has been already been a season worth of entertainment in the Bundesliga 2, with surely more to come. With so much still to play for and so little separating the top half of the table, it looks like being yet another incredible season in Germany's brilliantly unpredictable second division.