Hertha's women win playoff first leg in Saarbrücken 4:1 and lay the foundation for promotion to the 2nd division

Early lead sets the tone

In front of 3,924 spectators at Saarbrücken's Ludwigspark, the visitors from the capital quickly snuffed out the hopes of the Saarland women. Wellhausen and Seifert made the most of the opening phase and pointed the way to victory early on. Saarbrücken found almost no attacking answers in the first half against Hertha's compact defense.

After the break, Svenja Poock extended the lead to 3:0 just seconds after the restart, seemingly settling the contest early. The hosts were able to pull one back through Lara Martin with 20 minutes remaining, "zumal Sari Saeland die Führung der Berlinerinnen nur vier Minuten nach dem Ehrentreffer wieder auf drei Tore ausbaute". In the end, the result was a fully deserved 4:1 win for the capital side, also in terms of the margin.

Second-half finish

Hertha BSC came through 4:1 (2:0) and gave themselves a comfortable position heading into the second leg. As early as next Sunday (2 pm), Hertha can complete the women's team's first-ever promotion to the second division in the playoff second leg at the Amateurstadion. With a three-goal advantage from the first leg, another win would be enough for the Berlin side to make the leap into the professional ranks.

Second leg in one week: promotion in sight

The contrast with Saarbrücken's season-long form is remarkable: over the entire season, the Saarbrücken women had not lost a single match in their Regionalliga division and had conceded just five goals in total. All the more impressive was the dominance Hertha showed at the Ludwigspark. The coach, team and fans can barely have spent more than a half worrying about the outcome of the promotion playoff.

Should Hertha complete the promotion in the second leg, it would be a milestone in the club's history: the women's team would take the field in the 2. Bundesliga for the first time. The club would thereby further professionalize its women's department structurally and position itself more broadly within the German women's football landscape.

Another Saarbrücken showdown in the DFB-Pokal

A notable parallel in the men's game: in August, Saarbrücken and Berlin will meet again when Hertha's men travel to the Ludwigspark for the first round of the DFB-Pokal. Saarbrücken therefore remains a Hertha opponent across several competitions this season, albeit in very different roles: while the women have already handed the Regionalliga champions a clear defeat, the men face a new sporting challenge in the cup.

The goals were spread across the team: Wellhausen, Seifert, Poock and Saeland all got their names on the scoresheet, while Lara Martin netted Saarbrücken's consolation goal to make it 1:3. Hertha's side once more underlined the balance that had already brought the Regionalliga title in the Nordost division.