SSV Ulm 1846 seal promotion and capture 3. Liga crown

One year after securing promotion back to the 3. Liga, SSV Ulm have secured back-to-back league titles and are headed back up to the second division. The Swabian "Sparrows" were able to accomplish this feat with two-match-days remaining in the current champion. The reigning Regionalliga Südwest Champions captured the 3. Liga crown via an electrifying home win against FC Viktoria Köln.

Thomas Wörle's Spatzen furnished a thoroughly dominant performance in front of a capacity crowd at the Donaustadion. Ulm set the tone early and didn't relent. It nevertheless took a significant amount of time before the team found the back of the net. Star Brazilian forward Leonardo Scienza - linked with a move to Heidenheim - finally got a chance to open the scoring from the penalty spot just shy of the hour-mark. 

Scienza duly converted the 1-0 in the 59th. Five minutes later, Scienza skillfully set up Max Brandt's 2-0. Scienza recorded his 15th assist of the season on the decisive tally. The 25-year-old has also netted nine league goals. The party on the banks of the Danube quickly shifted into high gear as it became apparent that Ulm would win the match. The crowd got louder as news of the result in a simultaneous kickoff filtered through the stands. 

Second-placed Jahn Regensburg - who lost to Ulm two weeks ago - also fell to SC Freiburg II 1-3 in a parallel match. Ulm sealed a nine-point lead at the top of the table with two match-days remaining. Ulm are back in the German second division for the first time since being relegated to the third tier at the end of the 2000/01 season. The club endured three near insolvencies and several years in the fifth tier on its way back up.