Osnabrück promote to Bundesliga 2; Essen’s 6-1 loss seals promotion.
Osnabrück: Who are the team returning to Bundesliga 2 for 2026/27? | Bundesliga 2
Osnabrück: Who are the team returning to Bundesliga 2 for 2026
Two years after suffering relegation from the second tier, Osnabrück are back in Bundesliga 2 after third-placed Rot-Weiss Essen failed to beat VfB Stuttgart II on Saturday afternoon.
Essen’s 6-1 defeat in Stuttgart confirmed the Lower Saxony outfit’s promotion - but how did they do it?
Having finished only five points above the 3. Liga relegation zone last term, Osnabrück struggled to hit the ground running in 2025
26, drawing 0-0 at home to Alemannia Aachen and losing 3-1 at 1860 Munich in their opening two league games.
However, eight wins and four draws from their subsequent 13 games propelled Timo Schultz’s side into the promotion mix, leaving them level on points with leaders Duisburg and second-placed Energie Cottbus at the top of the standings after Matchday 15.
Defeats to Verl, Wehen Wiesbaden andStuttgartII before Christmas threatened to knock Schultz’s men off their stride, but a magnificent 12-match unbeaten run between Matchdays 20 and 31 helped open up a seven-point cushion over the 3. Liga promotion play-off spot with only seven games remaining.
A 1-0 reverse at Duisburg on Matchday 32 came too late for Osnabrück’s promotion rivals, with subsequent wins over Cottbus, Ingolstadt and Verl - coupled with Essen’s result on Saturday - rubber-stamping their place in Bundesliga 2.
While Osnabrück’s ascent to the 3. Liga summit has undoubtedly been a team effort, Meißner’s impact cannot be understated.
The 26-year-old former Germany Under-18 forward, who is currently on loan from Bundesliga 2 sideDynamo Dresden, has registered 22 goal involvements in the third tier this season, with a whopping 15 of those (seven goals, eight assists) coming in 2026 alone.
Schultz came through the youth ranks atWerder Bremen, but his playing career is best remembered for a six-year spell withSt. Paulibetween 2005 and 2011.
He was part of the Pauli side that gained promotion to the Bundesliga after an eight-year absence in 2010, and made his top-flight debut againstBorussia Dortmundin September that year. He then coached the Hamburg cult club between 2020 and 2022 before a short spell in the Bundesliga atColognein 2024.
Founded in 1899 as Fußball Club Osnabrück before becoming VfL Osnabrück in 1924, the club were members of the top-tier Oberliga Nord until 1963 but have never made it to the Bundesliga.
They won the Regionalliga Nord - Germany’s second tier at the time - in 1970
71, but missed out on a place in the top flight after finishing second to Regionalliga West championsBochumin their promotion play-off group.
Osnabrück have spent eight seasons in Bundesliga 2 since the turn of the century, with their highest finish (12th) coming in 2007
08 under Claus Dieter Wollitz. They also reached the DFB Cup quarter-finals in 2009
10, losing toSchalkein the last eight.
Built in the early 1930s, Osnabrück’s Stadion an der Bremer Brücke currently holds 16,100 people.
The atmospheric arena, which is named after a nearby bridge on the Osnabrück-Bremen railway line, has staged several Germany women’s and youth internationals in recent decades, including the final of the Women’s European Championship in 1989.
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