Bundesliga: Wolfsburg Say Goodbye to the Top Flight for the First Time Since 1997… and Paderborn Return

Wolfsburg failed to survive the relegation playoff and were relegated to the German 2. Bundesliga after losing 2–1 to Paderborn in the second leg on Monday, following extra time.

Wolfsburg — the 2009 Bundesliga champions — dropped out of the top division for the first time since 1997. The team had drawn 0–0 at home in the first leg before losing away in a match where they played most of the game with ten men after Danish defender Joachim Mæhle was sent off in the 14th minute.

Despite Wolfsburg taking the lead through Dzenan Pejcinovic just three minutes into the match, Paderborn equalized through Philipp Bilbija (38’), before Laurin Curda secured the victory in extra time (100’).

Since their first promotion in the spring of 1997, Wolfsburg had never left the Bundesliga, completing 29 consecutive seasons among the elite. They won their only league title in 2009 and finished runners‑up in 2015, also lifting the German Cup that same year.

The club — owned by German automotive giant Volkswagen — had previously secured survival twice through the relegation playoff, in 2017 and 2018.

Since the reintroduction of the playoff system in 2009, Paderborn have become the fourth second‑division team to earn promotion through this route, after Nürnberg (2009), Fortuna Düsseldorf (2012), and Union Berlin (2019).

Paderborn will now play their third season in the Bundesliga, after the 2014–2015 and 2019–2020 campaigns, both of which ended with the club finishing in 18th place and being relegated.