The incredible tale of Elversberg: The tiny German club's rapid rise from fourth tier to going toe-to-toe with Bayern Munich in the Bundesliga

Elversberg is a municipality in south Germany with a population of just 13,000 people. It is only the 30th biggest town in the Saarland, one of the country's 30 states, and doesn't even have a train station or community hall. It is the smallest place to ever house a Bundesliga club, and Elversberg have thusly been dubbed the Dorfverein ('The village club').

Originally formed in 1907 before dissolving during the First World War, Elversberg were reformed in 1918, and spent the best part of a century as an amateur team. In the early 2000s, however, things began to change. Local pharmaceutical company Ursapharm became Elversberg's primary backer and sponsor under former club president Frank Holzer, and his son Dominik took over in 2011.

Two years later, Elversberg won promotion to the 3.Liga, Germany's third tier and lowest fully professional division. Unfortunately, they were immediately relegated, but Ursapharm acquired the naming rights to the club's home ground, officially renaming it the Ursapharm-Arena an der Kaiserlinde (keeping its links to an 100-year old lime tree that sadly fell in 2015), and it was gradually expanded to hold 10,000 spectators.

A proper footballing vision was still missing, that was until Horst Steffen came in as head coach in 2018. Steffen established a dynamic, front-footed style that delivered consistent value for money for fans, eventually delivering the Regionalliga Sudwest title in 2021-22.

That put Elversberg back in the 3.Liga, and this time, they were ready for the step up. Steffen's side proved as much right at the start of the 2022-23 campaign by pulling off the greatest upset in their history, beating Leverkusen 4-3 in the first round of the DFB-Pokal.

Bochum ended their journey in the next round, but Elversberg performed at a consistently high level in the league. They ended up pipping Frieburg to the 3.Liga trophy after a thrilling promotion battle that saw the top five clubs separated by only five points.

Elversberg posted the best attacking numbers in the division, too, with 80 goals scored across their 38 games - 10 of which came from Stuttgart loanee Nick Woltemade. Steffen once claimed that "a spectacular victory is much more preferable to me than a measly 1-0", and his players took that attitude into every contest.

Their maiden 2.Bundesliga campaign was a tough learning experience, but Elversberg still consolidated a an 11-placed finish. Then, in 2024-25, they came within touching distance of reaching the Promised Land.

After placing third in the league behind Koln and Hamburg, Elversberg qualified for the promotion/relegation play-off game against Bundesliga strugglers Heidenheim. The two teams played out a 2-2 draw in the first leg, and were locked at 1-1 in the second until the fifth minute of stoppage time, when Leo Scienza netted a dramatic winner to break Elversberg's hearts.

There was double devastation for Elversberg when Steffen decided to leave the club after receiving an offer to join Werder Bremen. The minnows received a €300,000 compensation fee, but that did little to cushion the blow of losing the manager who had taken the club to never-before-seen heights.

The process for finding Steffen's replacement was extensive. Sporting director Nils-Ole Book wanted a tactically modern coach who would keep promoting attractive, high-intensity football while bringing through the club's most promising youth talents. They eventually settled on Wagner, who had led Hoffenheim's reserves to promotion to the 3.Liga in 2024-25.

"With everything he brings to the table, he fits in very well with us," Book said at Wagner's unveiling. "Vincent will not only continue our current path, but also enrich and develop it with new energy."

Despite his lack of experience as a top-level coach, Wagner has since delivered on that brief in spectacular fashion, proving himself as a more than worthy successor to Steffen, who would only last seven months in charge at Werder before being dismissed. Optimism was not high initially, though, in no small part because of the departures of key goal-scoring duo Fisnik Asllani and Muhammed Damar at the end of their respective loan spells.

Elversberg also lost defensive talisman Robin Fellhauer to Augsburg, among a host of other departures, which led to pundits predicting a mid-table regression. However, Book worked tirelessly with limited resources to make sure Wagner wasn't left shorthanded.

Lukasz Poreba, Bambase Conté and Jarzinho Malanga all came in from Bundesliga clubs on loan, and Elversberg signed Lasse Gunther and Jan Gyamerah on permanent deals to bolster the defence. The new players jelled rapidly as Wagner quickly defied the doubters in a historic 2025-26 campaign.

Elversberg made a brilliant start under Wagner, winning seven of their first nine 2.Bundesliga games, and though their form was patchy thereafter, they did enough to keep pace with their promotion rivals. Schalke eventually pulled clear to take first place, but the race for the second automatic promotion spot went right down to the final day of the season.

A home game against rock bottom Preussen Munster looked favourable for Elversberg, who were sat in second - ahead of Paderborn courtesy of a superior goal difference - but the weight of the occasion could easily have caused the players to wilt. Wagner's men showed no signs of nerves, though, on their way to a thumping 3-0 win that made Elversberg a Bundesliga club for the first time in their 119-year history.

"Of course, this is something special," Wagner said. "A friend of mine said this week, 'If Elv can get promoted, it's like flying to the moon.' And we managed to make the moon landing today."

The achievement was made all the more remarkable by the fact Elversberg sold the league's top scorer, Younes Ebnoutalib, to Eintracht Frankfurt in January, and saw Book depart for Borussia Dortmund two months later.

Lukas Petkov stepped up to fill the void left by Ebnoutalib, netting six goals in the second half of the campaign while setting up another 11 over the whole year, withTom Zimmerschied serving as the ideal partner for the Bulgarian with nine goal contributions of his own. Elversberg were irresistible going forward, scoring a league-high 64 goals, and they only shipped 39 at the other end, the second-best record in the division behind Schalke.

Sweeping changes were made over the summer as Elversberg prepared for life in the Bundesliga, including the start of a stadium renovation to meet Bundesliga requirements. The Ursapharm Arena will expand to a capacity of 15,000 by next spring, but for now, one side of the ground resembles a construction site, with a temporary steel gantry in place for journalists to cover games.

Elversberg also brought in Christian Weber from Fortuna Dusseldorf, where he had worked 16 years as a scout and later as their sporting director. Following in Book's footsteps was no mean task considering his stellar reputation for identifying under-the-radar talent, but Weber made a series of his own clever moves in his first transfer window at the club.

He pulled off an impressive coup by signing 21-year-old attacking midfielder Maurice Krattenmacher from Bayern for just €2m, and continued the club trend of finding value in the loan market by securing deals for Francis Onyeka from Bayer Leverkusen, Noah Darvich from Stuttgart and Noel Futkeu from Eintracht. Elversberg also broke their transfer record when luring Cole Campbell away from Dortmund for €6m, which generated the biggest buzz.

Campbell is considered one of the United States' most promising young players, and new Elversberg technical director Josef Welzmuller is expecting big things. "He’s a fantastic player. He’s very fast and strong with the ball and in one-on-one situations," Welzmuller told Bulinews in August. "We are very, very sure that he will have a breakout season."

Welzmuller also confirmed that there were never any discussions about the team pivoting to a more defensive approach to achieve Bundesliga survival, which Wagner, who seems to love his space metaphors, sees as the equivalent of a "mission to Mars".

"We won't do anything different," Welzmuller said to BBC Sport. "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." Those pillars looked stronger than ever against Leverkusen on the opening weekend.

Elversberg stunned Carles Martínez's team by racing into a two-goal lead inside the first 10 minutes. Petkov grabbed the first via a deflected shot, before Campbell made it 2-0 with a ferocious drive that was too hot to handle for Leverkusen goalkeeper Mark Flekken. The finish was ruthless, and the 20-year-old's confidence and composure on the ball was impressive as he drove towards the box after latching onto a loose pass.

David Mokwa put the hosts out of site 25 seconds after the second half kick-off, converting a low Petkov cross from close range. Leverkusen eventually fought back with goals from Patrick Schick and Christian Kofane, but it was too little too late. Despite Wagner naming seven Bundesliga debutants in his starting XI, and former Dortmund and Hoffenheim starlet Campbell being the most experienced member of the matchday squad with 10 German top-flight appearances to his name, Elversberg overpowered Leverkusen.

"We fortunately did this with our fans behind us, We're small but mighty," Wagner said after the game. "We’ll have to continue to play courageous football as it’s the only way we’re going to have a chance in this league."

Elversberg came through a far tougher test at ista-Borussia-Park on matchday two. They found themselves 3-1 down to Gladbach before the hour mark, and Wagner was sent off for protesting against the home side's second goal, which came after the referee mistakenly awarded a thrown-in to them instead of Elversberg.

Still, the manager was able to turn the tide with his substitution instructions from the stands. Krattenmacher reduced the arrears one minute after hisintroduction, heading the ball against the crossbar before sliding the rebound into the net, and Felix Heidel then levelled the scoreline with a beautifully struck free-kick in the 80th minute.

The stage was set for a dramatic finale, and deep into stoppage time, Futkeu, another substitute, teed up Krattenmacher to sweep home Elversberg's fourth and complete a memorable brace. It was a pulsating contest that underlined the indomitable spirit running through Wagner's squad.

"I enjoyed the way we played football - simply a sensational team performance from everyone," the coach told reporters. Club captain Lukas Pinckert added: "We were 1-3 down in front of this crowd and turned the game around as a newly-promoted team – that's remarkable. We're simply a unit, we never give up."

If Elversberg can do the impossible and beat Bayern on Sunday, they could storm to the Bundesliga summit, provided other results go their way. That would be dreamland, and the new boys can take extra hope from Schalke's 0-0 draw against Bayern last time out as they bid to keep the likes of Harry Kane and Michael Olise quiet.

There will be no plan to park the bus like Schalke did, though; Elversberg will stick to their core values and take the game to Bayern. Welzmuller, a Munich native who grew up supporting Germany's most successful club, has said of the magnitude of the fixture: "It will be insane. [But] we don't fear anybody." That, above all of their many other endearing qualities as a club, is what makes Elversberg truly special.