Which lower-league teams have played in Europe? | OneFootball

How many teams from below the Bundesliga have competed in Europe?

If Arminia Bielefeld beat VfB Stuttgart in the DFB Cup final, the 3. Liga champions will get to compete in the UEFA Europa League's league phase for 2025/26. But how many other German teams from below the Bundesliga have featured in European competition before?

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In Germany, the winner of the domestic cup earns the right to play in the main stage of the following season's Europa League, unless they have already qualified via their league position.

>>> How does European qualification work?

Given neither Stuttgart nor Bielefeld have finished in the Bundesliga's top five, one of them will qualify by winning the DFB Cup on Saturday.

Hannover's European odyssey failed to live up to expectations. (imago sportfotodienst)

Not only would it be a first major national honour for Arminia but a maiden European qualification that caps off a season in which they regained promotion back to Bundesliga 2 as champions of the 3. Liga. It would also make them only the fifth club from outside the Bundesliga to represent Germany on the continental stage.

bundesliga.com introduces the elite group of lower-league European qualifiers in Germany...

1) Hannover - 1992/93

The first German lower-league side to gain entry to European competition were Hannover, who did so by becoming the first Bundesliga 2 side and so far only team from outside the top flight to win the DFB Cup. Their dramatic penalty shootout win over Borussia Mönchengladbach in the 1991/92 final booked them a ticket in the 1992/93 UEFA Cup Winner's Cup, and dreams of glamorous clashes in exotic locations abounded.

Martin Wagner celebrates scoring the free-kick that clinched the DFB Cup title and sent Kaiserslautern to Europe. (Uwe Kraft via www.imago-images.de)

Reality had other plans, however, and Hannover's European campaign started - and ended - without corssing a single international border. Drawn against Werder Bremen, who had qualified for the competition as holders, Hannover travelled a little over 100 kilometres through exotic northern Germany, where they were beaten 3-1 by Bremen in the first leg.

Although they won the return leg 2-1, it wasn't enough to see them through and the second-division side's European adventure was over almost as soon as it had started - with just a relatively quick jaunt up the autobahn (and back) to show for it.

2) Kaiserslautern - 1996/97

The next side to achieve the feat were Kaiserslautern, a few years later in season 1996/97. However, it wasn't in the kind of jubilant circumstances that Bielefeld are currently enjoying. Lautern qualified for Europe by winning the club's second-ever DFB Cup - Martin Wagner's free-kick decided the final against Karlsruhe - but found themselves relegated from the Bundesliga at the end of the season.

Union's Emil Kremenliev (l.) looks to go straight through his defender as the Berlin lost on aggregate to Bulgarian side Litex Lovech in the second round of the UEFA Cup in 2001/02. (Imago)

So it was as a Bundesliga 2 side that the Red Devils entered the 1997/98 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup, but coach Otto Rehhagel didn't have long to get accustomed to balancing a second-division budget with continental demands. Drawn against Red Star Belgrade, who just six years before had become the first Eastern European side to win the European Cup, Lautern faced a stiff test at first time of asking.

And they did well - at least initially. A 1-0 win in the first leg, played at home in the Fritz-Walter-Stadion, gave them reason to hope for a place in the second round. However, in the return leg in Belgrade, Dejan Stanković's strike just after half-time sent the match into extra-time, and three more goals from the Serbs before the final whistle saw the lights go out on Lautern's nascent campaign.

In retrospect, it wasn't all bad news for the Red Devils. Free to focus on league duties, Rehhagel's men stormed to the Bundesliga 2 title and in 1997/98 sensationally claimed their second-ever Bundesliga crown (their fourth national title) in their first season back among Germany's elite - the only promoted team to win the Bundesliga.

3) Union Berlin - 2001/02

Union picked up the baton five seasons after Lautern, the side from the capital winning through to the DFB Cup final in the same campaign that saw them claim promotion to Bundesliga 2 as champions of the northern section of the Regionalliga. Although they lost 2-0 to Schalke in the cup final, the Royal Blues had already qualified for the UEFA Champions League (with a historically dramatic second-placed Bundesliga finish). Under the rules at the time, that meant the cup runners-up got to play in the UEFA Cup.

With a 4-1 aggregate win over Finnish side Haka in the first round, clinched notably thanks to a 3-0 return leg win in Berlin - the capital also saw Hertha reach the third round that year - Union went further than their two predecessors had managed. But they didn't get much farther. Bulgarian side Litex Lovech halted that joyous journey with a 2-0 win at the Friedrich-Ludwig-Jahn-Sportpark before a 0-0 return leg draw in Bulgaria saw Union's European spark die out - for the time being.

Die Eisernen have since returned to European competition on a number of occasions, their ascent to the Bundesliga in 2019/20 having heralded campaigns in the UEFA Conference League, Europa League and Champions League.

4) Alemannia Aachen - 2004/05

Last but not least we have Aachen who - after qualifying for the UEFA Cup as 2003/04 DFB Cup runners-up thanks to winners Bremen's being in the Champions League - racked up the highest number of European matches as a lower-league club. While this was due in large part to a change of format of the competition - a five-team group stage was introduced after the first round - Aachen, then in Bundesliga 2 and coached by current Bochum boss Dieter Hecking, did themselves and Germany proud.

A 5-1 win away to the Icelanders of FH, coupled with a scoreless draw at home in the return leg, saw Aachen through to the group stage, where they beat Lille 1-0, lost 2-0 away to Sevilla and beat AEK Athens 2-0 in Greece before drawing 2-2 at home to Zenit St. Petersburg. With third place in the group stitched up, they moved through to the round of 32 and the challenge of Dutch side AZ Alkmaar.

Following a scoreless draw at home in the first leg, Aachen were looking good for a spot in the round of 16 when Dutch striker Erik Meijer headed them in front in the first half of the return leg. However, Alkmaar managed to level the score and then - after Aachen right-back Thomas Stehle was shown a second yellow card - bag the winner and call time on Alemannia's European tenure.

Although these continental exertions took their toll on Aachen's domestic form, Hecking and his side bounced back in 2005/06, clinching second place in Bundesliga 2 to qualify the club for its first-ever - and, to date, only - Bundesliga season.

>>> How many German clubs have competed in the UEFA Champions League?

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