2. Bundesliga Promotion/Relegation Playoff Preview: Rot-Weiss Essen vs. SpVgg Greuther Fürth
2. Bundesliga Promotion/Relegation Playoff Preview: Rot-Weiss Essen vs. SpVgg Greuther Fürth 3.
Liga's third-placed team Rot-Weiss Essen entetain Greuther Fürth in the first-leg of the playoff tie that will decide the 18th 2. Bundesliga club for the 2026/27 season. Both teams had dramatic victories in their respective last league games.
Ben Hüning's first goal of the season in the 92nd minute against an already-relegated Ulm secured Essen's spot ahead of Duisburg, who started Saturday's 3. Liga Konferenz in third place. Having lost to Wehen Wiesbaden in similar stage when he was at Arminia Bielefeld, Uwe Koschinat hopes for a different outcome this time around.
Meanwhile, the 2023/24 DFB-Pokal semi-finalists Saarbrücken are the only team to beat Essen away from home in 2026. RWE last competed in 2. Bundesliga two decades ago.
During that time, they also had to spend a season in fifth-tier due to financial relegation. On the contrary, Fürth have been in either of the top two divisions since 1996/97. Although they got relegated immediately in both cases, the traditional club also won Bundesliga promotions twice in this timeframe.