A 1-0 defeat to 1. FC Union Berlin this evening has confirmed SC Paderborn 07‘s return to the 2. Bundesliga after a year away.
Stefan Baumgart’s side blew away the 2. Bundesliga in the second half of last season with their attacking football, but an admirable refusal to change their style was always going to make things difficult for them in the top flight, and so it has proved.
Their second Bundesliga campaign has ended the way the first one did – with the team finishing bottom, as confirmed this evening as well – and continues a unique run that has seen them finish either 18th or 2nd in whatever league they are in for a seventh-successive season.
They had won promotion from the 2. Bundesliga just a season after coming up from the 3. Liga, ended a dramatic roller-coaster ride that has been them fall to the brink of the Regionalliga and back again.
Hopefully Baumgart – or his successor – can pick the squad off the floor in the summer so they can be more competitive than in the 2015-16 season, when they dropped straight back down to the 3. Liga. It was a strange campaign when Stefan Effenberg was one of three managers, but they ultimately never recovered from losing six of their first eight games.
In a twist of fate, their relegation was confirmed on the same night that East Westphalian neighbours Arminia Bielefeld booked their ticket to move the other way. Union themselves confirmed they will have a second season in the Bundesliga with their win.
2liga.net 