St. Pauli were relegated to the second tier as Wolfsburg kept their hopes of staying in the Bundesliga alive with a 3-1 win at Millerntor-Stadion.
Wolfsburg knew they simply had to avoid defeat in order to send St. Pauli down automatically, with anything but a loss enough to send Dieter Hecking's team into the relegation play-off with the third-place team from the 2. Bundesliga.
Joel Chima Fujita rattled the woodwork as St. Pauli pressed for an opener, but Wolfsburg went ahead when Konstantinos Koulierakis turned in from Christian Eriksen's corner in the 37th minute, after Vinicius Souza had struck the post.
Yet St. Pauli hauled themselves level 12 minutes after the interval, with substitute Abdoulie Ceesay heading in from Connor Metcalfe's delivery.
Wolfsburg, though, were back in front seven minutes later as St. Pauli goalkeeper Nikola Vasilj made a real mess of trying to clear a cross, only managing to punch it into his own net. The goal was initially disallowed, but then given after a VAR review.
The technology provided Wolfsburg with another boost when Tomoya Ando's handball was spotted on a review, but Eriksen slammed his penalty against the crossbar.
However, St. Pauli could not make their luck count, and Dzenan Pejcinovic drilled home to put Wolfsburg two to the good, ensuring they live to fight another day.
FINAL
— VfL Wolfsburg EN/US 🇬🇧 🇺🇸 (@VfLWolfsburg_EN) May 16, 2026
With today's important victory, we move ahead to the relegation playoffs.
Still work to be done this season but we have achieved the first step. Thank you for your support.
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1-3 #FCSPWOB#VfLWolfsburg pic.twitter.com/oNSvHertq3
Data Debrief: Wolfsburg show plenty of bite
Hecking saw his team create chances worth 3.04 expected goals in their 1-0 loss to Bayern Munich last week, and he seemingly decided that an all-out attacking approach was the way to go once again.
This time, it paid off, as Wolfsburg's three goals came from 3.42 xG, with St. Pauli creating chances worth 1.47 xG.
While Wolfsburg had 10 shots on target, they limited their hosts to just two, and ultimately were deserved victors, even if Eriksen's blushes had to be spared.
The Dane may have missed his penalty, but he turned in a strong performance. He created a game-high six chances, while also having three shots and registering 87 touches, which ranked behind only two of his team-mates.