SC Paderborn 07 vs. VfL Wolfsburg preview: All to play for in second leg of playoff

SC PADERBORN 07

The second leg of the Bundesliga promotion-relegation playoff will see 2. Bundesliga side SC Paderborn 07 (18-8-8, 3rd 2. Bundesliga), on home turf, look to make just their third appearance in the Bundesliga in their 119-year history.

Paderborn made it to the top tier of German football in the 2014/15 and 2019/20 seasons, but finished eighteenth and were relegated in those same seasons. They go into Monday evening’s match at Home Deluxe Arena hoping that the third time is the charm, and that a dominant performance could lead them to a longer-lasting promotion to the first division.

The first leg was statistically one-sided in favour of the hosts at Volkswagen Arena - with Wolfsburg outshooting Paderborn 17-2, 6-1 on target with 63% possession - but a few notable saves from goalkeeper Dennis Seimen, including on a one-on-one with Adam Daghim, kept the visitors in this series.

Knowing the intensity that Wolfsburg would bring to the match, the performance left the coach of the Nordrhein-Westfalen side, 39-year-old Ralf Kettemann, so pleased with the result that "if everything had gone according to plan, we might even have grabbed a late winner in the end”; he then told reporters that “on Monday, our fans will carry us in our stadium, and we are looking forward to it”.

In a press conference on Sunday afternoon, Kettemann said about his opponents: “I must say, it is a different quality [for us to face]. Of course, they had imagined the season to go very differently from what happened. But we know that Wolfsburg is alive; they have been in the top eight in their last five matches in the Bundesliga.”

“The match will be about being on the ball a little more - attitude, passion, team spirit, will – all of that has to be back,” the 39-year-old from Crailsheim, Baden-Württemberg said to the media. He was also asked about the potential of a penalty shootout and whether his side is preparing to go the distance, responding by saying: “At the end of the training, the players should take the marble again. We'll sort out who's shooting," Kettemann said.

Kettemann was also asked in the press conference about his own experience, to go from the academy teams to this kind of a performance in his first season as coach of a senior team. He brushed it off by saying, “I want to enjoy it consciously. I'm in the action. I try not to reminisce too much.”

The final questions of the press conference were about the atmosphere, both within the club and with its supporters. “I think it’s great. These moments do not happen often, so we should seize every opportunity we have in these matches. We have created something special with the fans, and we want to make another amazing moment,” Kettemann said. Addressing local supporters in the same answer, he concluded by saying, “To all Paderborners: Seize the moment. We need some serious eurphoria!”

Team News:

Paderborn have only two absences to note ahead of this crucial matchup - one of which is a suspension and the other, an injury.

German left-back / centre-back Jonah Sticker is suspended for this match after picking up two yellow cards in a span of nine minutes in the first leg of the relegation playoff.

Filipino left-back Raphael Obermair (Achilles tendon) is the only injury in the Paderborn squad, projected to return to training in mid-July at the earliest. Kettemann was asked about the state of the 30-year-old Germany-born international, indicating that some progress has been made in his recovery by saying that “the chance of him returning this early is slim, but not impossible.”

Kettemann also updated on the condition and playing time of German centre-back Marcel Hoffmeier, who is on track to full recovery from an anterior cruciate ligament injury suffered on 29. August 2025 against 1. FC Nürnberg. He said that Hoffmeier is “not ready for 90 or 120 minutes - but is ready to some degree” - adding that “it would be one of the most incredible stories if he is in the 90 tomorrow”.

Projected XI (3-4-2-1): Seimen - Brackelmann, Scheller, Hansen - Hoffmeier, Castañeda, Bilbija, Curda - Klaas, Müller - Marino.

VFL WOLFSBURG

On the other side of the field is Bundesliga side VfL Wolfsburg (7-8-19, 16th Bundesliga), who narrowly won their only other appearance in the relegation playoff in 2016/17 (2-0 on aggregate against Eintracht Braunschweig), and have never been relegated from the German top-flight after promoting to the top division 29 years ago.

Both sides have not been the most consistent results-wise at the tail end of the season - with Paderborn 1-2-2 in their last five matches, and Wolfsburg with a slightly better 1-3-1, their only defeat having come by a one-goal margin to champions FC Bayern München.

Despite controlling the pace of play in their most recent performance, the first leg of the relegation playoff this past Thursday, head coach Dieter Hecking said that his Wölfe were “too sloppy in the final third”. The 61-year-old from Castrop-Rauxel, just over 100 kilometres from Paderborn, also said that Wolfsburg failed to score over the 90 minutes because "Paderborn also defended better than they had in their recent 2. Bundesliga matches; they did not open up the spaces in quite the same way.”

However, Hecking said about the result that he “knew that these would be two very tight games” and that “none of this came a surprise”. Looking forward and regarding the club’s preparation for this matchup, he said that the club is “in good mental shape, as we should be”, and added that his squad “had a relaxed training session, no major fluctuations”.

“I think that you have to take matches like this one coming up as they are - and again, that is exactly what we wanted,” Hecking said to the media on Sunday afternoon, in his final pre-match press conference as Wolfsburg coach on the current short-term contract. “We wanted to be in this final, now we are playing it and we have every chance of staying in this league.”

When asked by the media about any potential tension surrounding the club ahead of the second leg because of the results of the first, Hecking said: “I think that there is far too much interpretation being put into that first leg. Again, I have been around here long enough; I have said everything, it has happened exactly as I said it … a victory would have been nicer, we would have liked to get it, but we did not.”

“So now, we have one last match against an opponent who defended well in the first leg. That is why this match exists, and we will play it with the conviction that we can win,” he concluded.

When asked about possible tactical approaches in this second leg, Hecking said: “We reviewed the match, of course, we discussed it with the team - what we did well and where we see in our game what we could have done better. It was not our best match in recent weeks, that is for sure … we discussed this with the team, they also noticed it themselves on the field, but did not see the right solutions for themselves at that moment.”

Hecking finished by saying: “It [the match] is all about positioning when in possession, and positioning when out of possession. We will certainly adjust one or two things in this regard; the approach might change a little, but no significant, major changes to our strategy.”

Team News:

Wolfsburg’s list of absences this week is entirely injury-based - with nine players sidelined and unable to play another match until the 2026/27 preseason in July.

German defensive midfielder Yannick Gerhardt (calf), who picked up an injury in the seventy-fourth minute of the first leg, and Austrian winger Patrick Wimmer (muscle) are both week-to-week. German defensive midfielder Maximilian Arnold (groin) also remains out, with his time of return yet to be determined.

Brazilian defender Cleiton Santos (ankle), Brazilian defender Rogério (fitness), Dutch centre-back Jenson Seelt (knee), German right-back Kilian Fischer (thigh), and Danish striker Jonas Wind (muscle) are all guaranteed to be out of this match, with their recoveries expected to be finished in the first two weeks of June.

Bence Dárdai (anterior cruciate ligament), who has been out since November, is set to return for the 2026/27 preseason in late July.

Projected XI (3-3-2-2): Grabara - Koulierakis, Vavro, Belocian - Mæhle, Svanberg, Kumbedi - Eriksen, Majer - Daghim, Pejčinović.