Thanks to Florian Hürzeler, St. Pauli are set to return to the Bundesliga
With Florian Hürzeler in charge, St. Pauli are set to return to the Bundesliga. But who is the 31-year-old head coach often compared to Julian Nagelsmann? We spoke to him to find out.
Wins against Hansa Rostock and Hamburger SV would be enough for St. Pauli to mathematically secure their promotion back to the Bundesliga for the first time since 2010/11. It would also mean that Germany’s second-largest city, Hamburg, would be back in the Bundesliga for the first time in five years. Gegenpressing caught up with the St. Pauli boss, Fabian Hürzeler, to chat about the imminent promotion, comparisons to Julian Nagelsmann, and much more.
“You feel that something is in the air,” Hürzeler said. “But first, we are not done yet. That’s the most important part to say.” That’s undoubtedly true. Although St. Pauli are now 11 points ahead of local rivals HSV, who are now fourth, the gap to the promotion/relegation playoff spot – currently occupied by Fortuna Düsseldorf – is just five points. A narrow gap, considering that before the 2-1 away win against Hannover 96, St. Pauli lost 4-3 to Elversberg and 2-1 to Karlsruher SC.
“It would be a great feeling,” the 31-year-old said when asked about possibly securing promotion in the Hamburger Stadtderby on May 3. “But to be honest, we must focus on our way. The whole season we tried to focus on our process and not Hamburg’s results. I am not the guy who will say ‘oh perfect HSV might not do it’ I don’t have that feeling that they shouldn’t be successful. I always say: in life, you always get what you deserve.”
There is no doubt that St. Pauli have tried very hard to make the promotion about their success and not about the failure of their city rivals. But after a long five years of continued HSV failures culminating in St. Pauli representing the city in the Bundesliga, it is hard to separate the two stories. In fact, there is an interesting parallel to Germany’s largest city and capital: Berlin. As Hertha Berlin have been usurped by city rivals Union Berlin, St. Pauli could now do something similar in Hamburg.
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to The Gegenpressing Newsletter to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.