The football miracle is perfect: Elversberg crowns its outstanding season with promotion to the Bundesliga. Why it was a fairytale with an announcement - and why SVE is much more than the small club next door.
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- On the final matchday of the Bundesliga 2, SV Elversberg secured promotion to the Bundesliga for the first time on Sunday.
- After losing the relegation play-off against Heidenheim last year, the big coup has now been achieved at the second attempt.
- A look at the steep rise of a village club, its relationship with Bayern Munich and special personnel at the club.
Sportvereinigung Elversberg has achieved a historic promotion to the Bundesliga. The Saarland side won their home match against the already relegated SC Preussen Münster 3-0 on the 34th matchday of the 2nd division, thus securing a place in Germany's top flight for the first time in the club's history.
Just four years after their last game in the Regionalliga, the village club from the Saarland crowned their fairytale promotion and became the 59th club in Bundesliga history.
There were 9,307 spectators in the Kaiserlinde stadium on Sunday - more than the population of Elversberg. Elversberg is a district of the Saarland municipality of Spiesen-Elversberg with around 7500 inhabitants. The village does not have a train station.
Sponsor of Bayern Munich
Behind the sensational success of the SVE - as so often in such promotion fairytales - is a patron: Frank Holzer. The 73-year-old was once a professional footballer himself and worked in the pharmaceutical industry. After completing a degree in pharmacy, he took over the management of the pharmaceutical manufacturer "Ursapharm". Curiously, the eye product "Hylo", which belongs to "Ursapharm", is a sponsor of future league rivals FC Bayern Munich.
Frank Holzer's son Dominik Holzer took over as president of SV Elversberg 16 years ago at the age of 28 from his father, who has been chairman of the supervisory board ever since. "My father and I sat together over a beer at some point and considered whether it would be possible to turn SVE into a second division club through serious and sensible planning," the 44-year-old was once quoted as saying by the Bild newspaper.
At that time, SVE was still playing in the 4th division in front of 400 spectators. Promotion to the 2nd Bundesliga followed in 2023. "League 2 is already too big for us," smiled coach Vincent Wagner a few weeks ago as promotion drew ever closer. Now we're actually going up to the Bundesliga.
A fairytale with an announcement - and yet sensational
A year ago, the Bundesliga 1 was already within reach Elversberg played against Heidenheim in the relegation play-off and even led 2-0 in the first leg away from home, but squandered this lead. In the second leg, the score was 1:1 for a long time until Heidenheim managed to make it 2:1 in stoppage time.
The dream of promotion was shattered - and the team underwent a radical change. Not only did coach Horst Steffen leave, but numerous key players also left the club and hardly anyone believed Elversberg could cause a sensation again. However, the Saarlanders managed to put together a competitive team once again.
In recent years, the club has once again proven to have a golden touch when it comes to (loan) transfers. Nick Woltemade (now at Newcastle United) and Paul Wanner (transferred from Bayern to Eindhoven last year), among others, have also played for Elversberg.
Team manager undressed for Playboy
The one or other personnel matter in the background of the small club is also special. According to the newspaper "Bild", team doctor Dr. Frank Krämer was once Saarland champion in shot put. Team manager Selina Wagner won the Champions League with Wolfsburg as an active player - in 2011 she took photos for Playboy before the Women's World Cup in her home country.
Coach Vincent Wagner took over a professional team for the first time ever last summer. His assistant coach Mike Frantz has more experience than him. He played 228 Bundesliga games for Freiburg and Nuremberg.
The Ursapharm Arena, which currently seats 10,000, still resembles a major construction site. The expansion to the 15,000 seats required by the Bundesliga continues. The work should be completed by spring 2027 at the latest - almost 14 years after the start of the gradual renovation in 2013. The stadium will then be able to accommodate twice as many people as the Elversberg district has inhabitants.
