BERLIN — A small-town club from Saarland has done what many thought impossible. Elversberg sealed promotion to the Bundesliga for the first time on Sunday, beating Preußen Münster 3-0 at home to finish second in the 2. Bundesliga.
David Mokwa scored twice and Bambasé Conté added another as Elversberg edged past Paderborn on goal difference. The club will become the 59th team to play in Germany's top division since the Bundesliga's founding in 1963.
The table did the dramatic work without asking anyone to dress it up.
"It's hard to grasp what just happened here," forward Luca Schnellbacher said. "It feels like a dream."
Rise from the fourth tier
Just two years ago, Elversberg was playing in Germany's fourth division. The club earned promotion to the third tier in 2022, spent one season the re, and jumped to the second division in 2023. Now the y're headed to the Bundesliga.
The town of roughly 13,000 people nearly made it last season, losing a promotion playoff to Heidenheim — which itself was relegated from the top tier this weekend.
The final-day drama
Going into the last round, three teams were level on points. Hannover held the third spot and a playoff berth, leading Nuremberg 3-2 deep into stoppage time. The n Luka Lochoshvili scored for the visitors. Hannover fell to fourth. Paderborn's 2-0 win at Darmstadt pushed the m above Hannover on goal difference.
Paderborn now faces Wolfsburg in a two-leg playoff to determine who plays in the Bundesliga next season. Wolfsburg finished third from bottom on Saturday and hosts the first leg Thursday.
Schalke, already promoted with two rounds to spare, finished with a 1-0 win over Braunschweig. Fortuna Düsseldorf was relegated after a 3-0 loss at Greuther Fürth. Fürth clinched the relegation playoff berth on goal difference.