Hannover and St. Pauli split points in Saturday primetime match

On a clear, ten-degree Saturday evening in south-central Niedersachsen, Hannover 96 (2-1-4, 14th) played host to FC St. Pauli (2-4-1, 7th) in the primetime match for the eighth week of the 2026/27 2. Bundesliga season.

Going into this match, the two teams were separated by just three points; a St. Pauli win by three or more goals could move them up one place to sixth in the table, whereas a win for Hannover would move them six places up to eighth - even up to seventh, overtaking St. Pauli if they were to win by four.

St. Pauli are undefeated in all of their last four 2. Bundesliga meetings with Hannover (2-2-0), most recently winning 2-1 away and drawing 0-0 at home in their ultimately successful 2023/24 campaign. The last time that Hannover won, both home and away, was in the 2021/22 season (1-0, 3-0) - and they also won a friendly meeting between the two sides, 3-2 in October 2024.

Benjamin Källman punted the ball into the right side of the St. Pauli third, kicking off the match; the hosts, in red, would go left to right in the opening term, with the visitors, in white, going right to left.

The first chance would come to the visitors in the fifth minute, as a cross from Louis Oppie into the centre of the box was met by a right-footed shot towards the top-centre of the goal from Connor Metcalfe. The 26-year-old Australia international could not take full advantage of the opportunity, as his attempt was gloved down by the hands of Leo Weinkauf.

The first Hannover chance came just three minutes later; Husseyn Chakroun played the ball into the path of an open Källman, who darted into the right side of the box. He was stopped by a well-timed slide tackle from Lars Ritzka, but the rebound deflected back to Chakroun - who powered the following attempt past a diving Ben Voll and into the bottom-left corner. VAR officials Benjamin Cortus and Frederick Assmuth appeared to spot an offside on the part of the Finnish forward when watching the replay, and after conversing with head official Felix Pragan in the minutes afterward, the goal was eventually nullified.

In the thirteenth minute, Stefán Teitur Þórðarson pulled Joel Chima Fujita to the ground in the central area of the Hannover third, close to the box. Eric Smith attempted to curl the following free kick towards the top-left corner, but the attempt from the 29-year-old Swedish defensive midfielder did not test Weinkauf too much, as he reached out and grabbed it with both hands.

Þórðarson then went into the book for another foul on Arkadiusz Pyrka in the seventeenth minute, this time on the right side of the hosts’ third. Ritzka then tried to pick out the top-left corner from distance, but his left-footed attempt went just over the bar and grazed the top of the netting.

Neither side saw a significant chance until the twenty-sixth minute, beginning with a corner conceded by Smith. The set piece was quickly delivered into the left side of the box, far-post by Maurice Neubauer. Kolja Oudenne knocked the ball into the goal area with a header; amidst a scramble of players, Virgil Ghiță followed with another header, sending it sailing just over the bar and out for a goal kick to the visitors. Källman followed with a shot from distance in the thirty-fourth minute, nearly picking out the bottom-right corner with his right boot but missing by a few metres.

Five minutes from halftime, Abdoulie Ceesay made his way into the centre of the box and played the ball short to his right to Pyrka, whose powerful shot towards the bottom-right corner was smothered by the gloves of Weinkauf. Before Niang could get onto the rebound, Tomiak deflected it away from the goal area with his right leg and the visitors won an eventually unsuccessful set piece.

That chance would not stop Hannover from maintaining some form of momentum, though. Forty minutes in, Ghiță started a 3v2 onside run from the left side of the St. Pauli half, and delivered a cross into the right side of the box; Källman met it with a header, just wide of the right post. Three minutes after that, Marcel Hartel went for a shot from distance that just missed the bottom-left corner.

In the last minute of the opening term, St. Pauli went the other way on a counterattack, starting from the left side of the ground. A cross from Oppie made its way into the right side of the box; Ceesay got into the space to meet it, leaping above Jean Hugonet and Tomiak to direct the ball past a leaping Weinkauf and into the bottom-right corner to put St. Pauli in front in the last minute of the opening term.

Felix Prigan called both sides to the locker rooms shortly after, with St. Pauli leading by a goal to none at the break. Shots in the first half finished 7-7, 4-1 on target to St. Pauli with 51 % possession - touches in the opposing penalty area were 11-6 to Hannover. Pass accuracy finished an even 80 % to both sides, but St. Pauli completed 201 passes, Hannover 198.

The second half was kicked off by St. Pauli, beginning with a Niang pass back to Rasmussen. It would be Hannover, however, with the first chance of the term in the forty-ninth minute, as a through ball from Källman landed in front of a wide open Chakroun before the latter slammed the ball past a charging Voll and bottom-right. As Chakroun slid in celebration, Prigan went back to consulting with the VAR officials, but with Ritzka having fouled Källman in the buildup, it was determined that Chakroun’s goal would stand this time - Sandro Wagner’s side were now level.

Neither side saw another decent chance until the hour mark, when a corner to the visitors was played short by Metcalfe, in the direction of Pyrka. The Polish right-back went for the top-left corner from the edge of the box, but Weinkauf made an acrobatic stop with his right glove to deflect the ball away for a corner that was ultimately cleared by Hugonet.

Ceesay followed with a chance of his own in the seventy-second minute, leaping above Tomiak to head a cross from Chima Fujita off the left post. Tomiak could not sweep away the rebound with a slide tackle, but it did not matter - as Weinkauf crouched to glove the ball down with both hands.

Hannover would make their way into the St. Pauli penalty area just six minutes later; Neubauer sent a ground pass along the right side of the box, deflected away by the right boot of David Nemeth. The rebound landed into the path of Källman, whose low to the ground attempt towards the bottom-right corner was denied by the gloves of Voll.

The only moment of note in the five minutes of second half stoppage time was an injury to St. Pauli substitute Ricky-Jade Jones, who landed awkwardly on his elbow while trying to maintain possession of a rolling ball and prevent a standing tackle from Waniss Taïbi. The full-time whistle would go soon after, with the two sides sharing the points in a 1-1 draw.

Shots in the second half finished 8-6 to St. Pauli, but 3-2 to Hannover on target. St. Pauli held 64 % possession, managed more touches in the opposing penalty area (18-13), and held a better pass accuracy of 88 % on 269 completions to 73 % on 125. Overall, St. Pauli outshot Hannover 15-13, 6-4 on target - with 57 % possession and an 84 % pass accuracy on 470 completions, compared to 77 % on 323.

St. Pauli will host SV Darmstadt 98 at Millerntor-Stadion in the Friday primetime match next week; kickoff is set for 20.30 (CET). Less than 48 hours later, Hannover will make the trip an hour southeast to face Eintracht Braunschweig in a Niedersachsen Derby matchup, with kickoff at Eintracht-Stadion set for 14.30 (CET) next Sunday.