Cologne returns to the Bundesliga as second division champion

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COLOGNE, Germany (AP) — Cologne clinched its return to the Bundesliga as second division champion on Sunday with a 4-0 rout of Kaiserslautern on the final day of the season.

First-half goals from Eric Martel and Luca Waldschmidt, and two more from Florian Kainz and Mark Uth in the second half, lifted Cologne two points above Hamburger SV, which slumped to a 3-2 loss at Greuther Fürth in its first game since clinching promotion the weekend before.

The top two are automatically promoted to the top division, while Elversberg, which finished third, will face Heidenheim in a two-leg playoff to determine which side will play in the Bundesliga next season. Heidenheim finished third from bottom in the top division on Saturday.

Cologne’s promotion after one season in the second division rewards the club’s management for bringing back Friedhelm Funkel for his third stint as coach for the final two games after the team failed to win its previous two.

Those results allowed Hamburg to go top and clinch its return to the Bundesliga after seven seasons away last weekend. Hamburg squandered first place on the final day with its loss in Fürth, where the visitors had a penalty decision overturned and then a goal ruled out through VAR in stoppage time.

Cologne’s promotion prompted hundreds of its fans to storm the field. Hannes the goat, the club mascot, was safely evacuated beforehand.

It's Cologne's seventh promotion to the top division, and a record seventh also for Funkel. The 71-year-old Funkel is the oldest coach to lead a club to promotion, as he was already in 2018 when led Fortuna Düsseldorf to the Bundesliga.

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