Paderborn beat 10-man Wolfsburg 2-1 in extra time on Monday to clinch Bundesliga promotion for a third time in club history and condemn Wolfsburg to their first ever top flight relegation after 29 years.
Coming off a 0-0 draw in the first leg at home on Thursday, visiting Wolfsburg had a dream start when Dzenan Pejcinovic opened the scoring into the bottom left corner in the third minute.
But Joakim Maehle was sent off 11 minutes later for a second bookable offence and Wolfsburg had to play the rest of the 120 minutes one man down.
Paderborn seized the opportunity and won from Filip Bilbija’s diving header in the 39th and Laurin Curda at the far post in the 100th. They also hit the post twice in regulation.
Paderborn had reached the play-off by coming third in the second division. They previously played in the top flight in 2014-15 and 2019-20, finishing last on both occasions.
“It is great. We worked so hard for it. it was a little easier with the red card and we stayed calm,” Curda told Sky TV.
Wolfsburg were third-last in the Bundesliga and the 2009 champions were unable to save themselves in the play-off like they had managed in 2017 and 2018. The Volkswagen-owned club had played in the top flight without interruption since 1997.
It is the second straight relegation for Wolfsburg coach Dieter Hecking who went down with Bochum last year.
Paderborn are only the fourth second-tier team to win the play-off in 18 editions since the tie was re-introduced in 2009.
Schalke and debutants Elversberg are the other promoted teams while Wolfsburg join St Pauli and Heidenheim as relegated teams.