After 13 years

Promotion! St. Pauli returns to the Bundesliga

St. Pauli celebrates promotion!(Bild: GEPA)

FC St. Pauli are the second team to be promoted to the German Bundesliga after Holstein Kiel. The Hamburg side, who played with David Nemeth from the 72nd minute, won 3:1 against bottom-of-the-table VfL Osnabrück (with Thomas Goiginger from the 67th minute) on Sunday and can therefore no longer be displaced from one of the top two places on the final second division matchday.

Almost 30,000 spectators celebrated the sixth Bundesliga promotion in the club's history and their return to Germany's top division after 13 years.

Matchwinner Afolayan
St. Pauli's promotion hero was the Englishman Oladapo Afolayan. The 26-year-old put coach Fabian Hürzeler's team ahead in the seventh minute. Shortly after the break, he added a second goal (58') against Osnabrück, who were dangerous at times and did not play like a relegated team. Marcel Hartel also scored after a cross from Afolayan (68'). Lars Kehl converted a penalty for the visitors in stoppage time (90.+1).

Youngest coach
The 31-year-old Hürzeler took over his team in December 2022 as the youngest coach in German professional soccer in 15th place in the table and led them steadily upwards for months.

Northern rivals Holstein Kiel had already made the leap into the Bundesliga with Benedikt Pichler the previous evening with a 1:1 (1:0) draw against Fortuna Düsseldorf. After FC St. Pauli's result, it is also certain that third-placed Düsseldorf will still play for promotion in two relegation matches on May 23 and 27.