Newly promoted SSV Ulm took the lead in the 3rd football league on matchday 29, and the march through to league two is becoming more and more concrete.
The Spatzen won 2-0 (2-0) against second division relegated SV Sandhausen on Sunday evening when they returned to their Donaustadion.
Philipp Maier (23rd) and Max Brandt (39th) scored the goals for coach Thomas Wörle’s team in front of 15,019 spectators, who remained unbeaten in the ninth game of the year.
With their 16th win of the season, Ulm surpassed the previous leader Jahn Regensburg due to the better goal difference, but Dynamo Dresden is only one point behind. For Sandhausen, the defeat represents another setback; the Electoral Palatinate team is now eight points behind Dresden.
Ulm played its previous five home games in the alternative stadium in Aalen, 75 km away, due to the lack of pitch heating. That’s over, at least for this season.
However, the Ulm Donaustadion would not be approved for the 2nd Bundesliga for any game. The German Football League stipulates, among other things, that all seats in the stadium must be covered.
This is only the case with two stands in Ulm. “There will be no second division game in Ulm,” said managing director Markus Thiele recently to the “Schwäbische Zeitung”: “At least not yet.” A new building is a possible scenario; if promotion were to happen at the end of the season, another move would probably be necessary.