FC St. Pauli Returns to Bundesliga After 13 Years: Complete Match Recap and Reactions

The FC St. Paul return after 13 years Bundesliga back After a 3-1 home win against him VfL Osnabrück On the second matchday of the 2nd Bundesliga, Düsseldorf, third in the table, can no longer catch Pauli, and is confirmed as the second promoted team along with Holstein Kiel.

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FC St. Paul

Oladapo Afolayan gave coach Fabian Hürzeler’s side the lead in the seventh minute. Shortly after the break he scored a second goal against Osnabrück, who were dangerous at times and did not play like a relegated team (58′). Marcel Hartel also scored after a cross from Afolayan (68th). Lars Kehl converted a penalty kick for the hosts in stoppage time (90 + 1).

“We deserve this”

“I am very happy for the team, for the whole city, we deserve this. I am very, very happy to be the coach of this team,” Pauli coach Fabian Hürzeler said on Sky. “Success comes from hard work.” Hamburger SV, who failed again, also congratulated FC St. Pauli. “Despite all the conflicts: congratulations on your promotion,” the club wrote on X.

The 31-year-old Hürzeler took over his team in December 2022 as the youngest coach in German professional football in the 15th place in the table and led them steadily up over the months. The weak level of sport in the last few weeks and the talks about his contract extension at the beginning of the year could not put his promotion at risk.

The evening before, Holstein Kiel had already won a promotion with 1:1 (1:0) against Fortuna Düsseldorf. After the result of FC St. Pauli, it is also certain that Düsseldorf in third place will play for promotion in two relegation games on May 23rd and 27th.