Elversberg, town of 13,000, prepares for Bundesliga debut
Elversberg's football team will play in the Bundesliga for the first time on Saturday in the small south-west German town of Elversberg, close to the border with France. The promotion represents the culmination of a rapid rise for a club based in a town of around 13,000 people with no railway station.
The club has climbed from the regional leagues to the top flight in a matter of years, registering three promotions in the past five years and moving from the fourth tier to the Bundesliga. Coach Vincent Wagner warned of the scale of the challenge, saying: "For the team to avoid relegation in the top flight would be like a journey to Mars." Technical director Josef Welzmuller described the progression as deliberate: "We did it step by step and it didn't feel like a fairytale for the people here because they are so strong in their decision-making and very clear in how they want to play and we want to act as a club. "This is the whole magic to be honest, and a lot of very, very hard work."
A significant factor in Elversberg's development was Ole Book, who joined the club in 2017 as a scout and was promoted to sporting director within a year after establishing a reputation for identifying young talent. One beneficiary was Nick Woltemade, who was brought in on loan from Werder Bremen II in 2022 and went on to score 10 goals that season; Woltemade then joined Stuttgart before his £69m club record move to Newcastle last year.
Book left Elversberg when Borussia Dortmund appointed him as sporting director in April, with the Dortmund announcement praising his ability to find and develop youngsters and "creating value for the squad". Despite that departure, Welzmuller said recruitment will remain focused on youth. "We won't do anything different," Welzmuller added. "The identity stays the same and it is built on three core pillars. The first is to be brave, the second is to be intense and the third is to be clever. "You will see when you watch us we want high-intensity players, and that will stay the same forever."
The club is expanding its stadium to increase capacity to 15,000 — 2,000 more than the town's population — ahead of a season that will pit Elversberg against established sides. The campaign will include fixtures against "Harry Kane's Bayern Munich, Bayer Leverkusen and Dortmund", and the town has visibly rallied behind the team. "What happened in the last few years was exceptional for the town," Welzmuller said. "When you walk or drive through the town at the moment you see Elversberg flags all around and you see people walking around with the team's merchandise like a hat or jersey, which makes us all feel very proud. "I feel like the club is part of the life of the people here."
Wagner stressed the squad's preparation and said the team can match the pace on the pitch when money and infrastructure are put aside. "For us, the Bundesliga feels so far away at times. And yet, if you set aside the infrastructure and the money and just focus on playing football, we can - funnily enough - somehow already keep up with the pace," he said. "We've had a long and intensive pre-season, strengthened the team as much as we could, and managed to keep most of the players we wanted to keep. "The team is ready for the Bundesliga."
First to visit the town are Leverkusen — the team that produced their own fairytale just two years ago by winning the Bundesliga title unbeaten.
