2. Bundesliga Review: Narrow wins for top three
| Becker scores again | Christof Koepsel/Getty Images |
To commemorate the 150th anniversary of Gelsenkirchen, Schalke played with a special-edition kit for their last 2025 home game against Nürnberg. Vitalie Becker scored the only goal for the league leaders as the 20-year-old scored in back-to-back games.
The win confirmed Schalke will start 2026 at the top of the 2. Bundesliga standings. Meanwhile, Elversberg and Darmstadt regained their spots at the top three with narrow wins over Fortuna Düsseldorf and Preußen Münster
Otto Stange scored the only goal ten minutes before time for Elversberg against Düsseldorf. The pre-season promotion favorites have now dropped to 17th place. A solitary second-half goal from Killian Corredor was also enough for Florian Kohfeldt’s Darmstadt side to see off Münster.
