1996–97 2. Bundesliga


Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification 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	1. FSV 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	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
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

Source: Bundesliga.de
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored
VfB Lübeck, and VfB Oldenburg were relegated to Regionalliga Nord. Waldhof Mannheim was relegated to Regionalliga Süd. Rot-Weiss Essen was relegeated to Regionalliga Südwest.
(C) = Champion; (R) = Relegated; (P) = Promoted; (E) = Eliminated; (O) = Play-off winner; (A) = Advances to a further round.
Only applicable when the season is not finished:
(Q) = Qualified to the phase of tournament indicated; (TQ) = Qualified to tournament, but not yet to the particular phase indicated; (RQ) = Qualified to the relegation tournament indicated; (DQ) = Disqualified from tournament.

Top scorers

Goals	Player	Team
18	Angelo Vier	Rot-Weiss Essen
17	Steffen Heidrich	VfB Leipzig
15	Axel Kruse	Hertha BSC Berlin
14	Pavel Kuka	1. FC Kaiserslautern
13	Christian Claaßen	SV Meppen
12	Abderrahim Ouakili	1. FSV Mainz 05
12	Jürgen Rische	1. FC Kaiserslautern
11	Rainer Krieg	Fortuna Köln
10	Sven Demandt	1. FSV Mainz 05
	Horst Elberfeld	VfB Oldenburg
	Wolfram Klein	Rot-Weiss Essen
	Olaf Marschall	1. FC Kaiserslautern
	Dirk van der Ven	FC Gütersloh
	Mark Zimmermann	FC Carl Zeiss Jena

2. Bundesliga seasons

1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15

Introduction of the 2. Bundesliga Top scorers