The Würzburger Kickers have managed to return to German professional football after four years and won the relegation game against Lok Leipzig.
Coach Michael Schiele’s Franconians won 2-1 (1-0) in front of their home crowd in the evening and achieved promotion to the third division after their 1-0 win in Leipzig the previous week.
The failure is particularly bitter for the Saxons because it is not the first time. Already in 2020 and a year ago, the legitimate successor to the first German football champions VfB Leipzig became champions in their regional league season, only to subsequently lose relegation against Verl and Havelse. The model with only four promoted teams from five regional leagues is highly controversial.
Würzburg, on the other hand, can look forward to a return to league three and attractive opponents like Hansa Rostock or Fortuna Düsseldorf after the goals from top striker Jermain Nischalke (30th minute) and Cherif Cisse (72nd minute).
The Kickers had only finished in second place in the Bavarian Regional League, but benefited from 1. FC Nürnberg II foregoing promotion. The interim equalizer from Leipzig’s Djamal Ziane (71′) virtually fizzled out with the counterattack that gave Würzburg the lead again in front of 10,717 spectators.
Ascent again with Schiele
Coach Schiele had already looked after the club between 2017 and 2020 and even led Würzburg into the 2nd Bundesliga back then. This spring he returned to the Dallenberg – and immediately managed to climb again. Leipzig came with around 2,000 fans and brought more guest supporters to Würzburg than all Bavarian regional league teams combined in the past season.
With a view to the third regional league championship without automatic promotion, the Lok fans unfurled a banner before kick-off that read: “The die has long been cast – but fight until the end.”
Leipzig kept up well in the second leg and created a few chances, but there was no big turnaround. In extra time, a ball from the bottom of the crossbar almost went over the goal line. However, the referee allowed play to continue.
