BERLIN (AP) — Small-town club Elversberg was runner-up in Germany’s second division on Sunday, clinching promotion to the Bundesliga for the first time. Schalke have already been promoted.
Early goals from Vanbase Conte and David Mokwa gave Elversberg a 3-0 home victory over bottom-placed Prussia Munster and they finished ahead of Paderborn on goal difference.
Elbersberg will become the 59th club to play in the top division since the creation of the Bundesliga in 1963.
“It’s hard to understand what happened here,” Elversberg forward Luca Schnellbacher said. “It’s like a dream. I never imagined that (Bayern Munich star) Harry Kane would be sent off at this ground.”
Elbersberg, a town of 13,000 people in the southwestern German state of Saarland, narrowly missed out on promotion in last year’s election campaign. Play off against HeidenheimIt was. Relegation from Bundesliga Saturday.
Elbersburg played at the Fourth Division level until 2022, when they won promotion to the Third Division, but the team only spent one season before being promoted to the Second Division in 2023.
Hannover empty-handed
The three teams went into the final game of the second division tied on points, with both Hannover and Paderborn hoping for an unexpected favor with Elversberg, who had a better goal difference from relegated Munster.
Hannover led Nuremberg 3-2 and looked set to finish third in the promotion play-offs, but Luka Lochoshvili scored a late goal for the visitors, giving them a 2-0 win over Darmstadt and Paderborn moving past Hannover into third place.
As a result, Paderborn will face Wolfsburg in a two-leg play-off to decide next season’s Bundesliga play-offs.
Wolfsburg, who finished third from bottom in the Bundesliga on Saturday, will host the first leg of the play-offs on Thursday.
“We’re all a little speechless,” Hannover captain Enzo Leopold said of missing out on the play-offs.
Dusseldorf relegation
Schalke won promotion and the second division title with two matches remaining, and the match ended with a 1-0 victory over Eintracht Braunschweig.
Fortuna Düsseldorf lost 3-0 to Greuther Fürth and were relegated to the third division. Furth’s three goals were enough to overtake Düsseldorf on goal difference and secure a spot in the relegation play-offs.
Braunschweig is ahead of Furth in goal difference and can expect a season in the second division.
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