Bundesliga
Kiel's promotion-winning season in numbers
Holstein Kiel have been promoted to the Bundesliga for the first time. bundesliga.com has the pertinent facts and figures on the rise of the newest kids on the top-flight block...
Stats correct as of 11 May 2024
1 - Marcel Rapp's Kiel will make their Bundesliga debut in 2024/25. They are the first team from the German state of Schleswig-Holstein to compete in today's top flight, and the northernmost in the division's history.
2 - Holstein narrowly missed out on promotion via the play-off in 2017/18 and 2020/21, losing to Wolfsburg and Cologne respectively.
6 - The team's six successive wins between Matchdays 25 to 30 set a new club record. All were to-nil victories - another gold standard for Die Störche (the Storks) in the second tier of German football.
7 - Kiel have gained promotion to the Bundesliga at the seventh attempt, after going up to Bundesliga 2 as 3. Liga runners-up in 2017.
Watch: The best of Holstein Kiel in 2023/24
7 - Former Germany international Lewis Holtby chipped in with a team-leading seven assists.
10 - Steven Skrzybyski is Holstein's 10-goal top scorer in 2023/24.
17 - Rapp's charges have occupied one of two automatic promotion berths at the end of 17 matchdays, and consistently since Matchday 21.
18 - Holstein's league-high spread of different goalscorers.
20 - Kiel's league-leading number of wins in 2023/24 - another club record.
26 - The number of matchdays Kiel have spent in the top three in 2023/24. They have not placed lower than the promotion play-off spot since Matchday 13.
58 - Holstein will become the 58th different team to play in the Bundesliga.
65 - Kiel's best-ever points return after 33 rounds of fixtures smashing their previous single-season record of sixty-two (2020/21).
1912 - The year Kiel won the German championship.
1961 - The Storks also took the German amateur title in 1961.
2013 - Kiel were playing in Germany's fourth tier as recently as 2013. They gained promotion as 2012/13 Regionalliga champions.