It’s one of the most talked about stories in Bundesliga history and on Monday night we could see a once in a generation event as tiny SV Elversberg try to reach the top flight of German football.
They face FC Heidenheim in the second leg play-off after the two teams slugged out a 2-2 draw in the first leg and, with home advantage, the Bundesliga 2025 betting odds make Elversberg the favourites to go through. If they succeed it will be a third promotion in four years for the team which won the Regionalliga Sudwest in 2022 to reach the third tier of the German leagues.
They followed that up by winning promotion to Bundesliga 2 for the first time in their history in 2023, finishing 11th at the first attempt. And they have followed that up this season with a third placed finish to qualify for an historic play-off against FC Heidenheim who finished 16th in the Bundesliga.
The small former mining town with a population of just under 13,000 has a stadium with a capacity of 10,000, so pretty much all of the adult inhabitants can get a seat! Elversberg secured their place in the play-off a week last Sunday thanks to a 2-1 win away to Schalke 04, in front of 65,000 fans at the Veltins Arena so this is a team without any big match nerves.
Managed by the 56 year old Horst Steffen and backed by a local businessman this is a team which thrives on its status as underdogs and a battling community spirit. The club chairman Frank Holzer, is boss of a local pharmaceutical company, Ursapharm, and is a former professional footballer with a love of the game. Holzer is an old school chairman, far removed from the overseas investors who inhabit the boardrooms of most of the top flight clubs in Europe, so if Elversberg can finish the job on Tuesday night they will send shockwaves through the German football elite.
Die Elv went into the first leg on the back of three consecutive league wins and they took the game to the Bundesliga side, storming into a two goal lead before Heidenheim fought back to level with two goals in three minutes. It was disappointing for the minnows but the SBOTOP odds still believe Steffen can guide his team to the Promised Land.
Elversberg had a two goal lead at half time thanks to strikes from Lukas Petkov and top scorer Fisnik Asllani; but, after having a goal disallowed and hitting the woodwork, the Bundesliga side halved the deficit when Tim Siersleben struck on the hour. Three minutes later Mathias Honsak levelled the scores and then the hosts threw the kitchen sink at it, with 14 shots in the second half; but Elversberg showed defensive resilience to hold out, and now they are priced at 1.72 to take their place in the Bundesliga with Heidenheim priced at 2.19 to hang on to their place.
Liga Three winners in 2023 was the pinnacle of Die Elvs’ history but now they are on the cusp of joining the elite, and have dreams of the likes of Bayern Munich, Bayer Leverkusen and Borussia Dortmund rocking up at the Ursapharm Arena. Kosovan striker Asllani, on loan from Austria Vienna, is star quality with his 16 goals making him the Bundesliga 2 second top scorer while Muhammad Damar, on loan from TSG Hoffenheim, has scored nine goals. And the defence, which stood firm against the Heidenheim onslaught, is led by left back Maurice Neubauer with Robin Fellhauer on the opposite flank. Both fullbacks have been with the club for five seasons and have as much at stake as anyone, while keeper Nicolas Kristof is a dominant force as the last line of defence.
Elversberg have the advantage of being used to winning whereas their opponents are punch drunk. While at the other end of the table Bayern Munich won their title back, Heidenheim have been living in another world and have been battling relegation for much of the campaign.
Holstein Kiel and VfL Bochum have already fallen through the relegation trapdoor and the odds are on Heidenheim joining them after they reached the Bundesliga for the first time in their 179 year history. So this is no David vs Goliath story, but it would still be huge Bundesliga 2025 news if Die Elv can find a way to win on Monday night. I hope they can.
Disclaimer: Odds are correct at time of publish.
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