St. Pauli took the final decisive step to seal promotion to the Bundesliga with another impressive 3-1 victory over relegation side VfL Osnabrück on Sunday afternoon.
Oladapo Afolayan set his side on the road to victory in the 7th minute in front of a beaming full house, before second-half goals from Afolayan and Marcel Hartel kicked off a jubilant promotion party at the Millerntor. A late Lars Kehl penalty for the visitors almost went unnoticed amidst the euphoric celebrations, as the jubilation after the final whistle knew no bounds.
The Boys in Brown will play Bundesliga football for the first time since 2011- next season- to bring an end to a 13-year stint in Bundesliga 2, following their relegation from the Bundesliga at the end of the 2010/11 season.
After back-to-back fifth-placed finishes, St. Pauli have enjoyed a superb season in Bundesliga 2. Fabian Hürzeler’s team has occupied a place in the top two since Matchday 7, leading the standings for 22 out of 26 weeks since then. The Boys in Brown went 20 games unbeaten, before suffering their first of just four defeats so far this season on Matchday 21 to Magdeburg, and their last in the Hamburg derby to Hamburger on Matchday 32.
The Hamburg-based outfit – whose 66-point tally is a new club record in Germany’s second tier – can secure their maiden Bundesliga 2 title if they win their final match of the season or a favorable result from the camp of second place Holstein Kiel, who followed closely with just a point off the league leaders.
A delighted head coach Fabian Hürzeler could not hold himself back as the team celebrated the promotion party at the Millerntor.
“I won’t comment on the game itself today. Just compliments to the team and my staff. So much has to go perfectly to get promoted. You need lots of experts in your team and I have them. I’m so glad to be able to work with them. I also have a team who are willing to learn and want to get better every day. From within they’ve evolved into a unit capable of achieving great things. They’ve come to terms with setbacks and responded to them. It’s important to stress that the foundations for this success were laid before I started by Timo Schultz and Loïc Favé. That’s where we laid the foundations for the way we want to play football.
Director of Sports Andreas Bornemann:
“We’ve taken more right than wrong decisions this season, be it when we put the squad together, the coaching team, and the entire staff. We stuck together when times were tough and kept calm, which was really important. Getting promoted is the product of a long period and it’s deserved.
St. Pauli were previously promoted to the Bundesliga in 1976/77, 1987/88, 1994/95, 2000/01, and 2009/10, with their most recent top-flight stint lasting just one season. The new 2024/25 campaign will be their ninth appearance in the German Bundesliga.
Can head coach Fabian Hürzeler lead his army to last longer in the German top-tier and change history as their most recent top-flight stint lasted just one season?
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Story by: Rabbi Adu Agyei| univers.ug.edu.gh
