SV Hamburg clinch Bundesliga return after seven years in 2nd tier
Hamburg fans storm the pitch to celebrate the team's promotion to the 1st Bundesliga, after the German second Bundesliga soccer match between Hamburger SV and SSV Ulm 1846 at Volkspark stadium. Marcus Brandt/dpa
Former European champions SV Hamburg stormed back into the Bundesliga after seven agonising years in the second division with an emphatic 6-1 triumph over now relegated Ulm.
Ulm led from Tom Gaal in the seventh minute but their fate was effectively sealed when after Ludovit Reis had levelled in the 10th they failed to convert a penalty from Selim Telalovic in the 36th.
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Hamburg pounced immediately to lead 3-1 at the half from Ransford Königsdörffer in the 42nd and Davie Selke in stoppage time.
A bizarre own goal from Philipp Strompf four minutes after the restart ended all doubts, Königsdorffer added a classy second in the 62nd before Daniel Elfadli wrapped up matters late on in front of an ecstatic 57,000-strong crowd.
Hamburg won three Bundesliga titles, the German Cup, the European Cup and the Cup Winners' Cup in their heydays in the late 1970s and first half of the 1980s wit5h a team including Kevin Keegan, Felix Magath and Manfred Kaltz.
But in 2018 they became the last founding member of the Bundesliga in 1963 to be relegated. They failed six times to return into the top flight, finishing fourth on four occasions and third twice before losing play-off ties.
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Part of it was down to their "April curse" or "promotion jitters" in the form of late collapses.
It happened again when they managed just one point from the three final April games, but other teams in a tight promotion race also faltered and Hamburg got back on winning tracks last weekend with a 4-0 in Darmstadt.
The team of young coach Melvin Polzin, who took over from Steffen Baumgart late last year, secured promotion with one game to spare.
They are one point ahead of Cologne who also close to instant promotion back, with Elversberg four points back in the play-off spot in their bid to become the first club in 32 years from the small south-western state of Saarland to reach the top flight.
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