Bundesliga northern duel
St. Pauli loses late in Wolfsburg – relegation zone
January 14, 2026 – 8:43 p.mReading time: 2 minutes
For a long time it looked as if FC St. Pauli would be able to take at least one point from Wolfsburg. The late defeat has major consequences for the table.
Bitter setback for him FC St Pauli: The “Kiezkicker” narrowly lost their away game at VfL Wolfsburg 1:2 (1:1). The winning goal for the hosts came shortly before the end.
The 14th team met in front of around 22,000 spectators in the Volkswagen Arena from 6:30 p.m. from Wolfsburg (15 points) and 16th in the table. from Hamburg (12 points). While St. Pauli had an unplanned free game last weekend due to the storm “Elli”.the “Wolves” received a clear 1:8 defeat at FC Bayern Munich.
The debacle only led to two changes in the starting lineup at VfL: Mattias Svanberg and Kilian Fischer had to sit on the bench. St. Pauli was forced to painfully restructure its first team: Jackson Irvine, the captain and important stability factor in recent weeks, had injured his left foot again.
After 25 minutes, Christian Eriksen gave Wolfsburg the lead with a penalty – St. Pauli’s Hauke Wahl had previously committed a punishable handball in the penalty area. Just four minutes after his penalty goal, Eriksen missed another promising opportunity, this time the ball slipped over his instep after an assist from Lovro Majer (29th).
St. Pauli’s starting eleven debutant Ricky-Jade Jones had a great double chance to equalize in the 35th minute: first the Englishman was denied by VfL goalkeeper Kamil Grabara from five meters, then he fired the follow-up shot past the goal from the same position. However, just five minutes later (40′) it was 1-1 after Eric Smith put a shot in the left corner.
After the break, Hamburg fought for more than just an away point. Joel Chima Fujita repeatedly pushed his team forward. In the 50th minute he forced Wolfsburg’s goalkeeper Grabara into a remarkable save with a shot from 18 meters.
Even after the substitution of Mohammed Amoura, who returned from the Africa Cup (61st), VfL didn’t really find its way into the game. Wolfsburg’s attack remained static and unimaginative in the second half, with the exception of a good shot opportunity for Adam Daghim (75′), until Pejzinovic (88′) was finally there with a header.