Confirmed lineups: VfL Wolfsburg vs. SC Paderborn 07
| Volkswagen Arena ahead of the match between VfL Wolfsburg and FC Bayern München, 9. May 2026. | (Photo by Oliver Hardt / Getty Images) |
VfL Wolfsburg (7-8-19, 16th Bundesliga) host SC Paderborn 07 (18-8-8, 3rd 2. Bundesliga) at the Volkswagen Arena, in the first leg of the promotion-relegation playoff to determine who takes the eighteenth and final Bundesliga spot in the 2026/27 season.
Wolfsburg are 2-3-4 in their nine matches during the second spell of 61-year-old head coach Dieter Hecking, the most recent result of which was a 3-1 victory against FC St. Pauli at Millerntor-Stadion in Hamburg this past weekend that relegated Der Freibeuter and sent Die Wölfe to only their second promotion-relegation playoff in history, their first since 2016/17. Wolfsburg have never been relegated from the Bundesliga in their 81-year history.
Paderborn went 4-4-2 in the final ten matches of the 2. Bundesliga season - and qualified for this playoff tie on the final day, beating out another Niedersachsen club, Hannover 96, by winning 2-0 away at SV Darmstadt 98 and watching a 3-3 draw between Hannover and 1. FC Nürnberg. Paderborn are looking to make it to the Bundesliga for only the third season in their history, after their 2014/15 and 2019/20 seasons both ended in last-place finishes and direct relegation back into the second tier.
Below are the confirmed lineups for the first leg of the playoff tie.
CONFIRMED LINEUPS
VfL Wolfsburg (3-3-2-2): Grabara - Koulierakis, Vavro, Belocian - Mæhle, Gerhardt, Kumbedi - Eriksen, Svanberg - Daghim, Pejčinović.
SC Paderborn 07: Seimen - Brackelmann, Scheller, Hansen - Sticker, Castañeda, Klaas, Curda - Bilbija, Müller - Marino.
