Two decades after their last promotion to the Bundesliga, Energie Cottbus are back in Germany’s second-tier.
| Inaki Esnaola/Getty Images |
A second promotion in three years returned Energie Cottbus to 2. Bundesliga for the first time since 2014. They’ll start the season as clear candidates for an immediate relegation back to 3. Liga, however.
How was their 2025/26?
A narrow win in Regensburg confirmed Cottbus’ promotion on the final day of the 3. Liga season. After finishing fourth the previous season, Claus-Dieter Wollitz’s men relied on their excellent start to the campaign before winning four of the last five to seal automatic promotion.
Erik Engelhardt and Tolcay Ciğerci accounted for more than half of their goals, with the former notching a career-best 22-goal season without taking a single penalty-kick. Meanwhile, the former HSV midfielder scored 17 goals and assisted 12.
Ciğerci was the architect when Cottbus stepped up gear with a sensational come-from-behind 5-3 win over RW Essen on matchday 34. RWE then lost back-to-back games, which allowed Cottbus to climb just above VfL Osnabrück for a second-placed finish.
The Coach
Claus-Dieter ‘Pele’ Wollitz is the real boss at Energie Cottbus. The 61-year-old, whose ball-juggling skills earned him the nickname of Brazilian legend at the age of six, is not only the head coach of the club, but he also works as the sporting director.
He might not have won the World Cup three times, but he lifted the DFB-Pokal with Kaiserslautern and the 2. Bundesliga with Köln as a player. There were two more promotions from Regionalliga to 3. Liga in his managerial career before he accomplished his biggest feat last season.
Having missed out on a back-to-back promotion following a heavy defeat to Ingolstadt at home on the last day of the 2024/25 season, Wollitz’s Cottbus achieved their goal in the second time of asking. Back at the club in 2021 for his third spell, Wollitz is known for his strict disciplinary beliefs and outbursts in the dugout from time to time.
During his playing career, he was briefly coached by the legendary Rinus Michels at Bayer Leverkusen. He agreed with Cottbus to take over the sporting director role instead of coaching after Cottbus’ promotion to 3. Liga in 2024, but they revised the decision before entering the new territory and he brought success with double responsibility.
Transfers
Fortuna Düsseldorf got relegated, but former Hertha and Borussia Dortmund II goalkeeper Marcel Lotka will stay in 2. Bundesliga after he arrives at LEAG Energie Stadion to replace Marius Funk. The defense will be bolstered by the loan signings of Luca Erlein and Fousseny Doumbia from Bayer Leverkusen and Eintracht Frankfurt, respectively.
Erlein played every minute when Germany reached the U19 Euros final last month before signing for Leverkusen from Hoffenheim. On the contrary, Ryan Malone, Leonardo Bittencourt and Christian Kinsombi arrived with plenty of experience, while striker Lucas Copaldo returned after a season at Paderborn.
The ex-FC Bayern man scored seven 3. Liga goals for Cottbus on loan from LASK during 2024/25. It’ll also be a second Cottbus stint for Bittencourt as well after he played for five Bundesliga clubs in total since leaving for Borussia Dortmund in 2012.
Pre-season preparations
In terms of pre-season results, Cottbus have only won twice and lost four of their seven games. However, Wollitz had a chance to test the new signings against opponents like Werder Bremen, RB Salzburg and Dynamo Dresden.
Their heaviest defeat came against Europa League participants Salzburg as they conceded four second-half goals for a final scoreline of 5-0. Cottbus completed their preparations with a 4-2 defeat to Bremen in two 60-minute halves at LEAG Energie Stadion.
Predicted starting lineup
The Polish shot-stopper Lotka is one of the only six non-German players in the squad at the first Bundesliga club to field an entire lineup of foreigners in 2001. Nyamekye Awortwie-Grant and Can Yahya Moustfa are expected to be replaced by the new signings Erlein and Bittencourt.
Both Copaldo and Engelhardt started the game against Bremen, but we might not see that often during the season since Wollitz prefers 4-2-3-1.
Predicted Lineup (4-3-3): Lotka; Lucoqui, Manu, Erlein, Rorig; Michelbrink, Bittencourt; Copaldo, Boziaris, Cigerci; Engelhardt
Fixture list
Hannover will be the opponents in the first 2. Bundesliga fixture at LEAG Energie Stadion in over a decade. They will face another promotion candidate Wolfsburg on matchday 4 after games against Arminia Bielefeld, FC Augsburg (DFB-Pokal) and Greuther Fürth.
Their last two games of the season will be against Holstein Kiel and Kaiserslautern.
Expectations & Prediction
However, there could still be another tie after that if Cottbus finish in 16th place. As customary for newly-promoted teams, they will start the season as overwhelming favorites for relegation. The first couple of months would give us more signals about how they cope with the new challenge, but it’s safe to predict a relegation fight at this point.