With a population of just 7,000 inhabitants the tiny town of Elversberg has a Bundesliga club, after Vincent Wagner’s team secured promotion on the final day of an historic campaign.
After missing out in the play-offs in 2024/25, they got over the line to finish second thanks to a 3-0 win over Preußen Münster on the final day. Elversberg scored a record 64 goals along the way and have made plenty of friends outside their small southwestern Germany community and now they will be going toe to toe with the likes of Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund and Red Bull Leipzig.
What the big boys will think of the 10,000-capacity Ursapham Arena remains to be seen but Elversberg take their rightful place in the top flight alongside Bundesliga 2 champions Schalke, replacing the relegated St Pauli and Heidenheim, while Wolfsburg have a play-off hopes, facing Paderborn in the shootout.
The climb of Elversberg is a truly incredible story.
Formed in 1907 as a small community club, it spent much of its history in the amateur regional leagues before reaching the heights of the third division in 2013, for one season only. But Elversberg persevered and, after two play-off defeats in 2016 and 2017, the club made it to 3. Liga again in 2022, just four years ago. Manager Horst Steffen then secured back-to-back promotions, taking the club to Bundesliga 2 in 2023.
Premier League fans know all about Newcastle United star Nick Woltamade, who transferred to St James Park from VfB Stuttgart last summer, and he scored ten goals on loan at Elversberg in that promotion season, before moving from Werder Bremen to Stuttgart. In just their second campaign in the second tier Elversberg made the play-offs, missing out to a 95th minute Heidenheim winner in the play-offs.
Striker Fisnik Asllani returned to his parent club Hoffenheim and coach Steffen moved to Werder Bremen, leaving Wagner to take up the reins, and the 40-year-old has taken Elversberg to the promised land at the first attempt. He cut his coaching teeth with youth teams at Bochum and Duisburg, before landing the TSG Hoffenheim II job in 2022 where he secured promotion to 3. Liga before making the move to Elversberg, where Wagner helped the small town to make history, leading them to promotion at the first attempt.
After the play-off heartbreak against Heidenheim, under new man Wagner Elversberg roared out of the blocks last August and won seven of their first nine games, a run which made them the early campaign leaders, but a short loss in momentum saw them slip to fourth but then they found the consistency to finish in the top two, relying on their home form in a tight and hostile stadium, where they lost just twice all season.
Even after top scorer Younes Ebnoutalib was poached by Eintracht Frankfurt in January in a 10m Euros move, Elversberg kicked on, and while their 12-goal star was no longer there, Lukas Petkov kicked on and he bagged 11 crucial goals and made six assists in the second half of the campaign. The Bulgarian international has been at Elversberg since 2024, scoring 17 goals in 64 appearances, and he is sure to make his fair share of Bundesliga 2026 highlights next season. He can play as an advanced midfielder or a second striker and, at 25 years of age, Petkov is approaching his peak at just the right time for club and country. With left winger Tom Zimmerscheid terrorizing defences Elversberg were the league’s top scorers while, at the other end of the pitch, 26-year-old keeper Nicolas Kristof has been in fine form, conceding just 39 goals with only Schalke conceding fewer. A TSG Hoffenheim academy star, Kristof deserves his chance at the big time too.
After coming so close in 2024/25 Elversberg showed bags of character to bounce back and win automatic promotion in 2026, and become the 59th member of the Bundesliga top division. It is a fairytale story to climb from the regional leagues to the top table in half a decade is little short of a miracle, and without the money of Red Bull Leipzig!
Sure, the SBOTOP Bundesliga 2026 betting odds will pitch the minnows of Elversberg as the favourites to make a swift return to the second tier. But that won’t worry Wagner and his talented bunch of players one bit. They are not household names just yet, but when Petkov and Kristof face the likes of Jamal Musiala and Harry Kane they will stand tall and strong.
But for now they can let it all sink in, watch the World Cup and get ready for the season of their lives.
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