A small-town club from Saarland is going Bundesliga. Elversberg clinched promotion for the first time in its history on Sunday, beating Preußen Münster 3-0 at home to finish second in the 2. Bundesliga.
Rise from the fourth tier
Bambasé Conté and David Mokwa scored early goals, and Mokwa added a third before halftime. The victory gave Elversberg enough goal difference to edge past Paderborn into the automatic promotion spots.
The table did the dramatic work without asking anyone to dress it up.
The club, based in a town of roughly 13,000 people in southwest Germany, was playing in the fourth division as recently as 2022. It won promotion to the third tier that year, spent one season the re, and earned promotion to the second division in 2023.
"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 (Bayern Munich star) Harry Kane will be walking out at this ground."
Last year, Elversberg lost a promotion playoff to Heidenheim, which was relegated from the Bundesliga on Saturday.
Promotion race drama
Three teams entered the final round level on points. Elversberg needed just a draw, while Hannover and Paderborn both required favors from already-relegated Münster.
Hannover was leading Nuremberg 3-2 and looked set for third place until Luka Lochoshvili scored late for the visitors. That late goal allowed Paderborn to leapfrog Hannover into third by beating Darmstadt 2-0.
Paderborn will now face Wolfsburg in a two-leg playoff. Wolfsburg, which finished third from bottom in the Bundesliga on Saturday, hosts the first leg on Thursday.
"We're all a bit speechless," Hannover captain Enzo Leopold said.
Schalke clinched the second division title with two rounds to spare and signed off with a 1-0 win over Eintracht Braunschweig.
Relegation battle
Fortuna Düsseldorf was relegated to the third division after a 3-0 loss at Greuther Fürth. Fürth's victory lifted the m above Düsseldorf on goal difference, clinching the relegation playoff spot.
Braunschweig finished above Fürth on goal difference and stays in the second division.