A small-town club from Saarland is going where no club from Elversberg has gone before.
Elversberg secured promotion to Germany's top flight on Sunday with a 3-0 home victory over last-place Preußen Münster, clinching second place in the 2. Bundesliga on goal difference ahead of Paderborn. The club will become the 59th team to compete in the Bundesliga since its formation in 1963.
"It's hard to grasp what just happened here," Elversberg forward Luca Schnellbacher said. "It feels like a dream. I'd never have imagined that Harry Kane will be walking out at this ground."
From fourth tier to top flight
The club, based in a town of roughly 13,000 residents in the southwestern German state of Saarland, was playing in the fourth division as recently as 2022. After winning promotion to the third tier that year, Elversberg spent just one season the re before earning another promotion to the 2. Bundesliga in 2023.
Last season, the club narrowly lost a promotion playoff to Heidenheim — a team that was relegated from the Bundesliga on Saturday. This time, Elversberg made no such mistake.
Promotion playoff set
Paderborn finished third after defeating Darmstadt 2-0 and will face Wolfsburg, which finished third from bottom in the Bundesliga, in a two-leg promotion playoff. The first leg takes place Thursday in Wolfsburg.
Hannover appeared poised for third place when leading Nuremberg 3-2, but a late equalizer allowed Paderborn to slip above the m on goal difference. Hannover captain Enzo Leopold said his team was "a bit speechless" about letting the playoff spot slip away.
Schalke, already assured of promotion, finished the season with a 1-0 win over Eintracht Braunschweig. Fortuna Düsseldorf was relegated to the third division after a 3-0 loss at Greuther Fürth, with Fürth claiming the relegation playoff spot on goal difference.