DÜSSELDORF, Germany (AP) — Bochum clinched Bundesliga survival by coming from three goals down and winning a penalty shootout 6-5 to thwart Fortuna Düsseldorf’s promotion bid on Monday. Second division club Düsseldorf was 3-0 up from the first leg of their playoff on Thursday, but Philipp Hofmann scored twice and Kevin Stöger converted a penalty for Bochum to win the second leg 3-0. “Everyone wrote us off after the first game and that gave us even more motivation, to create history, to do something incredible," said Hofmann, who scored an own goal in the first leg.
Not even Leon Goretzka’s presence could help Bochum’s chances of staying in the Bundesliga. An own goal, a counterattack and a rebound gave Fortuna Düsseldorf a big advantage with a 3-0 win in Bochum in the first leg of their Bundesliga relegation/promotion playoff on Thursday. Bochum defender Philipp Hofmann was the unlucky figure early on as Christos Tzolis’ corner in the 13th minute struck the near post and rebounded in off Hofmann’s thigh.
St. Pauli has won the German second division title as it prepares to return to the Bundesliga for the first time since the 2010-11 season. Hamburg-based St. Pauli and second-place Holstein Kiel had both already secured promotion before the last day of games Sunday but were competing for the prestige of being promoted as second-division champion. St. Pauli won 2-1 at Wehen Wiesbaden to edge Holstein, which beat Hannover 2-1, by a point.
Bayern Munich never managed it. Bayer Leverkusen became the first team since the Bundesliga was founded in 1963 to complete a whole season undefeated on Saturday. Early goals from Victor Boniface and Robert Andrich gave the league champion a 2-1 win over Augsburg in their last game of the season.