Elversberg completes rise with first promotion to Bundesliga
Tiny Elversberg gained their first promotion to the Bundesliga when they beat Muenster 3-0 on Sunday, the final day of the Bundesliga Two season, to secure second place on goal difference.
Schalke had already locked up first place. They finished eight points ahead of Elversberg and Paderborn, 2-0 winners at Darmstadt. Hannover, who could also have finished on 62 points, were held 3-3 at home by Nuremberg.
Elversberg finished with a plus-25 goal difference. Paderborn were at plus-14. They will face Wolfsburg, who finished 16th in the top flight, in a playoff. The first leg is in Wolfsburg on Thursday and the return in Paderborn four days later.
Elversberg represent the double town of Spiesen-Elversberg which, with a population of 12,800, will become the smallest community in Bundesliga history. The record is held by Unterhaching, with 22,000 inhabitants when the club played in the Bundesliga in the early 2000s.
While Unterhaching are on the southern outskirts of Munich, Elversberg are in Saarland, Germany's smallest state by area which has a population of just over one million. The club is 15 kilometres from the state capital Saarbrucken.
Elversberg, who were still playing in the fourth tier in 2020-21, narrowly missed out on promotion to the Bundesliga last season, losing to Heidenheim in the play-offs.
Elversberg's stadium, which is undergoing renovation, currently has a capacity of 9,300, which is set to increase to 15,000 by January 2027.
