Stuttgart clinches final Champions League spot in Germany
Thanks to a draw against Frankfurt on Saturday afternoon (2-2), Stuttgart secured 4th place in the Bundesliga and snatched the last German spot for the upcoming Champions League, alongside Bayern (1st), Dortmund (2nd), and Leipzig (3rd).
In the battle with Hoffenheim and Bayer Leverkusen for the 4th spot in the league, Stuttgart settled for a draw against Eintracht Frankfurt. After goals from Chema Andrés (10th minute) and Nikolas Nartey (45th+4 minute), Sebastian Hoeness’s team was equalized in the second half with two penalties from Jonathan Burkhardt.
With 62 points, the club from Swabia surpassed Hoffenheim (61 points) who lost to Mönchengladbach (4-0), and Bayer Leverkusen (59 points) who drew at home against Hamburger SV (1-1), qualifying for the seventh time in their history for the Champions League (both the Champions League and the European Cup).
On the other end of the table, Heidenheim lost at home to Mainz (2-0) and St. Pauli also suffered a defeat on their turf against Wolfsburg (3-1). With 29 points each, Heidenheim and St. Pauli are relegated to the second division. Wolfsburg, in 16th place, will play a playoff against the 3rd team from the second division, which could be either Elversberg, Hannover, or Paderborn.
Already guaranteed their 35th German championship title, Bayern Munich defeated Cologne 5-1. The Munich team closed the Bundesliga season with 122 goals, including 36 from Harry Kane (59 in all competitions), who scored a hat-trick on Saturday (10th, 13th, 69th minute).
