May: Securing a 13th season in the Bundesliga

Review of the year 2023

Another year is coming to an end: 365 days of both highs and lows, but above all a host of memorable moments for FC Augsburg. It’s time once more to reflect on the past twelve months. In part five of FCA’s review of the year, we look back on May.

FC Ausgburg took on 1. FC Union Berlin at the WWK ARENA on matchday 31. FCA picked up important points in the relegation battle in their penultimate home game of the season thanks to Dion Beljo, who scored the only goal of the game.

Following that, Ausgburg were in action against VfL Bochum, with six points separating the sides ahead of kick-off. FCA could’ve secured survival with two games to spare with a win. Arne Maier levelled the game up at 1-1 and Kelvin Yeboah was also on the scoresheet for Enrico Maaßen’s side, but the Fuggerstädter fell to an unfortunate 3-2 loss and missed out on guaranteeing safety.

FCA sat in 13th place on 34 points when Borussia Dortmund visited the WWK ARENA on the penultimate matchday of the season. Dortmund, on the contrary, had justified hopes of winning the title. The title contenders retained the upper hand as FC Augsburg were consigned to a 3-0 defeat after a tough fight as well as 50 minutes with a man disadvantage. It was also time to say a few goodbyes at the last home game of the season: André Hahn, Rafael Gikiewicz, Daniel Caligiuri and Tobias Strohl received an official send-off and were shown their appreciation for their efforts in FCA’s colours.

Securing a 13th season in the Bundesliga

FCA’s final showdown took place at Borussia-Park on 27th May. A point would in all likeliness be enough to keep Ausgburg up since FC Schalke 04 (17th place) and VfL Bochum (16th place) both had far worse goal differences.

However, the drama on the final matchday is hard to beat. Following a 2-0 defeat against the Foals, all eyes turned to VfB Stuttgart at the full-time whistle, but they were unable to get anything more than a draw from their clash against Hoffenheim, helping FCA to secure their place in the Bundesliga for the 2023/24 season. FC Augsburg could therefore look forward to their 13th season of Bundesliga football!