RESOLVING THE LEDGER
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SV 07 Elversberg 2026/27 season preview: Transfers, pre-season, predicted lineup & predictions
Not to everyone’s delight, Elversberg are active in the transfer market ahead of their first-ever top-flight season. The smallest town to be represented in Bundesliga is backed by investor Frank Holzer, who is the head of pharmaceutical company Ursapharm, which didn’t go well with the traditional ethos of German football.
How was their 2025/26?
After missing out on a promotion the previous season with a narrow defeat to Heidenheim in the playoff, Elversberg faced a similar scare in the final month of the 2. Bundesliga campaign. A defeat to eventually relegated Fortuna Düsseldorf made them wait until the final matchday of the season to write history.
The club from a town of 13,000 inhabitants has only made the jump to the second division in 2023. Despite the promising 2024/25 campaign, few predicted them to be around the top once again since their long-serving coach Horst Steffen was poached by Werder Bremen, while top scorers Fisnik Asllani and Muhammed Damar returned to their parent club Hoffenheim.
And, in the middle of the season, 12-goal hero Younes Ebnoutalib joined Eintracht Frankfurt. To their credit, Vincent Wagner’s side maintained their momentum after the departure of the Moroccan attacker with David Mokwa proving to be the perfect replacement.
Their form at the Ursapharm-Arena an der Kaiserlinde was a big factor as Hertha and Schalke were the only teams to return home with three points. In the end, Elversberg followed the latter to win automatic promotion to Bundesliga .
The Coach
A goal-scoring center-back in his playing career, Vincent Wagner wasn’t able to go beyond Regionalliga. However, he has now become a Bundesliga head coach at the young age of 40.
After Asllani and Damar’s memorable loan spells, Elversberg glanced at Hoffenheim once again to replace Steffen. Including three years in Sinsheim, Wagner worked with youth teams in four different clubs.
The Nordhausen native has managed back-to-back promotions, leading Hoffenheim II to 3. Liga before joining Elversberg. His repertoire of working with youth teams perfectly suits Elversberg’s policy in the transfer market.
Transfers
Christian Weber, who signed Christos Tzolis during his time at Fortuna Düsseldorf, is preparing a Bundesliga squad for the first time. Weber and co. are tasked with finding promising youngsters so that debutants Elversberg could emulate Heidenheim’s success instead of an immediate relegation like Holstein Kiel.
Bambasé Conté and Jarzinho Malanga returned to their parent clubs after playing their part in the promotion season, while Die Elv hope to reach an agreement with HSV for the permanent transfer of Immanuel Pherai as they did for fellow midfielder Lukasz Poreba .
With Cole Campbell (Dortmund) and Maurice Krattenmacher (Bayern), Elversberg signed prospects from Germany’s big clubs. The club shattered its transfer record for the US youth international as they parted ways with €6 million to sign the winger who only played 90 minutes of Bundesliga football for BVB and Hoffenheim last term.
According to Transfermarkt, they also spent €2.5 million to secure loan deals for Noel Futkeu (Frankfurt), Francis Onyeka (Leverkusen) and Noah Darvich (Stuttgart). The former finished as top scorer in 2. Bundesliga last season despite his club Greuther Fürth needing a playoff tie to stay in the division.
Onyeka also had a successful campaign in 2. Bundesliga with Bochum before captaining Germany U19 in their way of reaching the final of the European Championship. Darvich previously led Germany U17 to continental and World Cup triumphs, and he’ll hope to make his breakthrough in first-team football after scoring 10 3. Liga goals for Stuttgart II last season.
The lack of Bundesliga experience in the squad isn’t addressed in the market. Michel-Ange Balikwisha is linked with a move after his poor debut season at Celtic as 27-year-old center-back Luca Sirch , who played 60 2. Bundesliga games for Kaiserslautern in the past couple of seasons, is so far the oldest new signing.
Pre-season preparations
Wagner’s side had a positive pre-season with marquee wins over NEC Nijmegen and Strasbourg . Darvich, Campbell and Onyeka were in excellent form as they ended their preparations with a 4-1 victory against Lorient .
In the opening competitive game of the season, 3. Liga leaders Duisburg gave them a bigger test until Onyeka’s late brace sealed Elversberg’s place in the second round of the DFB-Pokal.
Predicted starting lineup
In the absence of the suspended skipper Lukas Pinckert, Luca Schnellbacher captained the side in Duisburg. The 32-year-old striker continued his fine pre-season form by scoring Elversberg’s first goal of the season, but Futkeu and Mokwa are expected to have more playing time ahead of him.
In midfield, Darvich and Onyeka could compete for the number 10 role, although there is a possibility for a lineup featuring all three youngsters (including Campbell) at the same time. Krattenmacher rarely featured during pre-season, but he’ll also be in contention for a starting berth.
Nicolas Kristof, who joined the club when they were in Regionalliga, will be the undisputed number one after helping them to three promotions over the years.
Predicted Lineup (4-2-3-1): Kristof; Günther, Pinckert ©, Rohr, Keidel; Poreba, Darvich; Campbell, Onyeka, Krattenmacher; Futkeu
Fixture list
Elversberg’s first-ever Bundesliga game will be at home against the 2023/24 champions Bayer Leverkusen . The mighty FC Bayern will be the next team visiting Spiesen-Elversberg a week after the newcomers face Borussia Mönchengladbach away from home.
The last two matchdays of the league season will see them face Eintracht Frankfurt and Werder Bremen . With their closest southwest rivals Kaiserslautern in 2. Bundesliga, there will be no derbies for Wagner’s men this term.
Expectations & Prediction
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