Small-town club Elversberg clinches Bundesliga promotion for the first time

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Elversberg's David Mokwa, left, celebrates scoring their second goal of the game with Bambase Conte during the Bundesliga 2 soccer match between SV Elversberg and SC Preußen Münster in Spiesen-Elversberg, Germany, Sunday May 17, 2026. (Uwe Anspach/dpa via AP)

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10:41 AM on Sunday, May 17

By CIARÁN FAHEY

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 Bambasé Conté and David Mokwa, then another from Mokwa, gave Elversberg a 3-0 win at home over last-place Preußen Münster, 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 Münster 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.

Düsseldorf 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 Düsseldorf was relegated to the third division with a 3-0 loss at Greuther Fürth. Fürth’s three goals were enough to pass Düsseldorf on goal difference and clinch the relegation playoff place.

Braunschweig finished above Fürth on goal difference and can look forward to another season in the second division.

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