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05/17 11:40 CDT Small-town club Elversberg clinches Bundesliga promotion for
the first time
Small-town club Elversberg clinches Bundesliga promotion for the first time
By CIARAN FAHEY
AP Sports Writer
BERLIN (AP) --- Small-town club Elversberg clinched promotion to the Bundesliga
for the first time on Sunday by finishing runner-up in Germany's second
division behind already promoted Schalke.
Early goals from Bambas Cont and David Mokwa, then another from Mokwa, gave
Elversberg a 3-0 win at home over last-place Preuen Mnster, enough for the
team to finish ahead of Paderborn on goal difference.
Elversberg will be the 59th club to play in the top division since the
Bundesliga's 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
(Bayern Munich star) Harry Kane will be walking out at this ground."
Elversberg, a town with 13,000 inhabitants in the southwest German state of
Saarland, narrowly lost out on promotion last year in a playoff against
Heidenheim, which was relegated from the Bundesliga on Saturday.
Elversberg was playing at fourth-tier level until 2022, when it won promotion
to the third division, where the team only spent one season before earning
promotion to the second in 2023.
Hannover empty-handed Three teams were level going into the second division's final round, with both Hannover and Paderborn hoping for an unlikely favor from already relegated Mnster against Elversberg, which had the better goal difference. Hannover was on course to finish third for the promotion playoff when it was leading Nuremberg 3-2, but Luka Lochoshvili scored late for the visitors to let Paderborn move above Hannover into third place with a 2-0 win at Darmstadt. As a result, Paderborn will face Wolfsburg in a two-leg playoff to decide which plays in the Bundesliga next season. Wolfsburg, which finished third from bottom in the Bundesliga on Saturday, will host the first leg of their playoff on Thursday. "We're all a bit speechless," Hannover captain Enzo Leopold said of letting the playoff spot out of grasp.
Dsseldorf relegated Schalke, which clinched promotion and the second division title with two rounds to spare, signed off with a 1-0 win over Eintracht Braunschweig. Fortuna Dsseldorf was relegated to the third division with a 3-0 loss at Greuther Frth. Frth's three goals were enough to pass Dsseldorf on goal difference and clinch the relegation playoff place. Braunschweig finished above Frth on goal difference and can look forward to another season in the second division. ___ AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
Hannover empty-handed Three teams were level going into the second division's final round, with both Hannover and Paderborn hoping for an unlikely favor from already relegated Mnster against Elversberg, which had the better goal difference. Hannover was on course to finish third for the promotion playoff when it was leading Nuremberg 3-2, but Luka Lochoshvili scored late for the visitors to let Paderborn move above Hannover into third place with a 2-0 win at Darmstadt. As a result, Paderborn will face Wolfsburg in a two-leg playoff to decide which plays in the Bundesliga next season. Wolfsburg, which finished third from bottom in the Bundesliga on Saturday, will host the first leg of their playoff on Thursday. "We're all a bit speechless," Hannover captain Enzo Leopold said of letting the playoff spot out of grasp.
Dsseldorf relegated Schalke, which clinched promotion and the second division title with two rounds to spare, signed off with a 1-0 win over Eintracht Braunschweig. Fortuna Dsseldorf was relegated to the third division with a 3-0 loss at Greuther Frth. Frth's three goals were enough to pass Dsseldorf on goal difference and clinch the relegation playoff place. Braunschweig finished above Frth on goal difference and can look forward to another season in the second division. ___ AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
