Latest news with #Saarland
Forbes
26-05-2025
- Sport
- Forbes
Pragmatic Heidenheim Secure Bundesliga Spot With Win Over Elversberg
Leo Scienza of Heidenheim 1846 celebrates with the fans following the team's victory in the ... More Bundesliga playoffs second leg match between SV Elversberg and 1. FC Heidenheim 1846 (Photo by) Elversberg's run from the fourth division to the Bundesliga has been stopped. In front of 9,970 fans at the Waldstadion an der Kaiserlinde, Bundesliga side Heidenheim beat 2. Bundesliga Elversberg 2-1 (4-3 on aggregate) to win the Relegation Playoffs. Heidenheim secured its spot in the Bundesliga most dramatically. Dominated on the pitch by the lower division team, Heidenheim forward Leonardo Scienza scored with just seconds remaining. It was Heidenheim's only opportunity in the second half. The Bundesliga team had taken the lead thanks to a goal by Mathias Honsak (9'). But from then on, it was all Elversberg, and in the 31st minute, Robin Fellhauer finally scored the equalizer. Then, within seconds of the second-half kickoff, Elversberg thought they had the lead. Fisnik Asllani thought he had given the Saarländer the lead, but VAR intervened correctly—Lukas Petkov was offside in the buildup. 'I was praying that it would be a goal,' Asllani said in the mixed zone after the game. 'But I think it is the correct decision. After all, that's what VAR is for: to make correct decisions. Otherwise, it would be pointless.' It felt like the decisive moment of the game because even though Elversberg dominated, the club coached by Horst Steffen didn't generate enough dangerous situations. Although they dominated possession and encircled Heidenheim in their own end, opportunities to score goals were lacking. 'Fortune wasn't on our side,' Steffen said. 'A few centimetres decide whether you win or lose the game. It is really sad. It is a sad moment. We thought we had a big opportunity and fulfilled our dream of reaching the Bundesliga.' The xG underlines this observation. While Heidenheim had an xG of 1.55, Elversberg's xG was just 1.55. Heidenheim also produced more shots on goal (11 to 8). 'We just weren't clinical enough,' Steffen said when asked about the difference between his side and Heidenheim. 'Perhaps we just lacked the experience to get the job done.' On balance, Heidenheim's performance over the full 180 minutes wasn't pretty. Although Heidenheim boss Frank Schmidt has evolved his game over the last few years, his sense of pragmatism has always been the foundation of the Swabian-based club. Heidenheim head coach Frank Schmidt got the job done. (Photo by) Sitting deep and absorbing the pressure, Heidenheim, in fact, never really looked in danger of conceding a second goal. And while the almost 10,000 fans in the Waldstadion were getting ready for 30 minutes of extra time, Scienza broke through the box and ended the match with seconds to go. 'It is difficult to put it all in words,' Schmidt said after the game. 'I knew that it would be a difficult task as Elversberg under Steffen plays good football. Even though you know how they play, they are hard to defend.' Then Schmidt admitted what everyone saw with their own eyes. 'To be honest, we didn't do much in the attack,' Schmidt said. 'Until Scienza and Paul Wanner, who came on fresh, combined to get the job done.' Moments of ecstasy for the winner and agony for the loser followed. 'It is brutal,' Schmidt said. 'We have experienced it ourselves. It is cruel that a team that finished third in the 2. Bundesliga has to play in the relegation playoffs. You play a great season, and your dream is being shattered.' Failure in the 2020 relegation playoffs for Heidenheim wasn't the end of the story. The club would win the 2. Bundesliga in 2023. Perhaps in a few years, Elversberg might be there as well. Indeed, an argument could be made that the Saarländer weren't quite ready for promotion yet. Promoted twice in the last three seasons, Elversberg's infrastructure hasn't quite kept pace with the club's growth. One example is the stadium, which is currently being expanded to 15,000 seats and, as a result, is open on one end. Still, the club is doing a fantastic job, and there is a sense of when and not if Elversberg will eventually represent the Saarland in the Bundesliga.
Yahoo
26-05-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Dramatic late goal saves Heidenheim's Bundesliga status
Heidenheim will play in the Bundesliga again next year after overcoming Elversberg 2-1 with a dramatic stoppage time goal in the German league's most lucrative playoff on Monday. The teams drew 2-2 in Heidenheim last Thursday and Heidenheim secured its place in the top tier with a 4-3 aggregate triumph after Leo Scienza completed a superbly worked goal in the fifth minute of injury time. The playoff, known in Germany as the 'Relegation,' is between the teams that finish third-to-last in the Bundesliga and second in Bundesliga 2. Heidenheim's victory meant the top tier club has won all six playoffs. It ended Elversberg's fairy tale rise for at least one more year and broke the hearts of a capacity crowd at Elversberg's tiny home ground. The club from the Saarland was aiming to become the smallest ever club to play in the Bundesliga based on population size. Elversberg is in Spiesen-Elversberg, a town of around 13,000. It has been in the Bundesliga 2 for only two seasons. ___ AP soccer:
Yahoo
26-05-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Dramatic late goal saves Heidenheim's Bundesliga status
Heidenheim will play in the Bundesliga again next year after overcoming Elversberg 2-1 with a dramatic stoppage time goal in the German league's most lucrative playoff on Monday. The teams drew 2-2 in Heidenheim last Thursday and Heidenheim secured its place in the top tier with a 4-3 aggregate triumph after Leo Scienza completed a superbly worked goal in the fifth minute of injury time. Advertisement The playoff, known in Germany as the 'Relegation,' is between the teams that finish third-to-last in the Bundesliga and second in Bundesliga 2. Heidenheim's victory meant the top tier club has won all six playoffs. It ended Elversberg's fairy tale rise for at least one more year and broke the hearts of a capacity crowd at Elversberg's tiny home ground. The club from the Saarland was aiming to become the smallest ever club to play in the Bundesliga based on population size. Elversberg is in Spiesen-Elversberg, a town of around 13,000. It has been in the Bundesliga 2 for only two seasons. ___ AP soccer:
Associated Press
26-05-2025
- Sport
- Associated Press
Dramatic late goal saves Heidenheim's Bundesliga status
Heidenheim will play in the Bundesliga again next year after overcoming Elversberg 2-1 with a dramatic stoppage time goal in the German league's most lucrative playoff on Monday. The teams drew 2-2 in Heidenheim last Thursday and Heidenheim secured its place in the top tier with a 4-3 aggregate triumph after Leo Scienza completed a superbly worked goal in the fifth minute of injury time. The playoff, known in Germany as the 'Relegation,' is between the teams that finish third-to-last in the Bundesliga and second in Bundesliga 2. Heidenheim's victory meant the top tier club has won all six playoffs. It ended Elversberg's fairy tale rise for at least one more year and broke the hearts of a capacity crowd at Elversberg's tiny home ground. The club from the Saarland was aiming to become the smallest ever club to play in the Bundesliga based on population size. Elversberg is in Spiesen-Elversberg, a town of around 13,000. It has been in the Bundesliga 2 for only two seasons. ___ AP soccer:
Yahoo
20-05-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
German rail firm jokes over tiny fan train for Bundesliga play-off
Employees sit at the counters in the modernized Deutsche Bahn (DB) travel centre at Hamburg Central Station. The centre reopens after a year of renovations, marked by a small ceremony. Marcus Brandt/dpa German rail firm Deutsche Bahn has joked that a small one carriage train will be enough to transport fans between Elversberg and Heidenheim for the Bundesliga play-off legs. Spiesen-Elversberg has a population of only 13,000 and a stadium holding just 9,000, making it arguably the smallest place ever to play in the men's football Bundesliga if the second-tier club win the play-off. Advertisement In Thursday's first leg, they visit Bundesliga third-bottom side Heidenheim, who have a stadium of just 15,000 and population of 50,000. The second leg at Elversberg is on Monday. A photograph of the tiny fan train was posted by a Deutsche Bahn Instagram account and has received largely positive comments from amused social media users. Clubs from big cities with easy train connections normally meet in the play-off. Saarland's Spiesen-Elversberg does not even have a train station. Deutsche Bahn's journey planner suggests first a local bus and then a complicated train route to reach Heidenheim, which could last six and a half hours and include as much a six changes depending on the timing of the journey. By road the route is under four hours. Heidenheim left a wink as a comment on the post and wrote: "This is just a joke. We advise all fans to go by special bus or car. After all, we actually want to get there for kick-off." Advertisement But defeat for Baden-Württemberg's Heidenheim and relegation to the second tier after two seasons in the top flight will have serious consequences. "In the Bundesliga, our total budget is around 80 million ($90 million), in the second division it would be around half that," chief executive Holger Sanwald told dpa.
