VfL Bochum returns to the Bundesliga after eleven seasons. The club from North Rhine-Westphalia started as the leader of the 2. Bundesliga on the last day of play and defended that position with a 3-1 victory over SV Sandhausen. However, the grapes were sour for Holstein Kiel, who hoped to make it to the Bundesliga for the first time in history. The club, which in the 2012/13 season still played at the fourth level in the Regionalliga Nord, handed over the second place to Greuther Fürth, who with ten men rounded a gap against Fortuna Düsseldorf and is therefore back after eight years. the highest level.
Holstein Kiel can still promote, but will have to win in the play-offs against 1. FC Köln, the number sixteen of the Bundesliga. Prior to the last round of play in the 2. Bundesliga, no one was sure about promotion. The gap between number one Bochum and number three Greuther Fürth was three points, but the difference in goal difference was minimal (+25 to +24). So Bochum had to take at least one point to ensure promotion; with a victory, the team of trainer Thomas Reis would also be sure of the championship.
VfL Bochum – SV Sandhausen 3-1
Bochum grabbed the lead in minute 29 via left winger Milos Pantovic, who was found in the penalty area by a cross from Simon Zoller and then hit at the far post. Kevin Behrens made it 1-1 after an hour, however, by rounding out the outcast Patrick Drewes and finishing from a sharp angle. Anthony Losilla ensured that Bochum took three points with a rebound from close by. Rober Zulj then decided the game definitively. Bochum ends the season with 67 points and has thus collected three points more than number two Greuther Fürth.
Greuther Fürth – Fortuna Düsseldorf 3-2
Greuther Fürth seemed to play a lost game when the team was halfway down with a man down and faced a 1-0 deficit. That deficit was due to a hit by former FC Utrecht midfielder Kristoffer Peterson in minute 26; in injury time of the first half, Anton Stach received a direct red card when he planted his studs on Shinta Appelkamp’s ankle. After the break, Branimir Hrgota made it 1-1 from a penalty awarded after a handball by Christoph Klarer. Appelkamp then made it 1-2 again, but with goals from Julian Green and Dickson Abiama, Greuther Fürth started the impressive comeback.
Holstein Kiel – SV Darmstadt 98 2-3
Holstein Kiel took the lead in the eighteenth minute via Janni-Luca Serra. The striker was not watched by a curving free kick by Alexander Mühling and was able to give a header enough direction around the penalty spot to leave goalkeeper Marcel Schuhen without a chance. In the second half, however, Darmstadt turned the game completely: a double hit by league top scorer Serdar Dursun and a goal by Immanuel Höhn made it 1-3. Because Greuther Fürth was on the rise, that score was not enough to get a PhD. Holstein Kiel therefore looked for a change of its own and came to 2-3 via Fin Bartels, but that was it.
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