3rd league promotion prediction: Who will be promoted in 2026?
The promotion race in the 2025/26 season could once again be very close and exciting.
In every 3rd league promotion prediction, more than half a dozen teams are named that could finish in the top 3!
Here we provide a compact overview of the 3rd league promotion candidates for 2026 – who has the best chances of promotion to the 2nd Bundesliga.
3rd league promotion prediction for Regensburg and Ulm
Usually, the teams that were relegated from the previous second division season are automatically considered promotion contenders in the 3rd league promotion prediction. Will this also apply to SSV Ulm and Jahn Regensburg in 2025/26?
Given that the squads of these two teams have changed quite a bit over the summer break, it could be that this duo will only play a minor role in the 3rd league promotion.
The relegated teams often struggle in the new league, as previous seasons have shown. Last season, the three relegated teams had virtually nothing to do with direct return to the second division – none of them finished at the top.
This raises the question in the 3rd league promotion forecast for 2026 as to whether it will be any different for Jahn and SSV Ulm…
3rd league promotion forecast for Rostock & Cottbus
Hansa Rostock and Energie Cottbus were in the promotion race for a long time last season. But in the end, the two eastern teams only finished fourth (Energie) and fifth (Hansa).
This means that both Rostock and Cottbus should be among the frontrunners in the 3rd league promotion predictions. However, the experts rate Hansa slightly higher.
What speaks in favor of Rostock in the 3rd league promotion predictions: The squad!
On paper, Hansa has the most valuable squad in this third division season. On paper, Rostock is therefore the best team of all the 3rd division promotion favorites.
For Cottbus, it could play a role that they were in the top 3 for a long time last season and then squandered promotion – and with it their chance to march straight through from the regional league – with a weak spring.
For Energie, which has seen many departures and new arrivals, this will be the second year after promotion to League 3 – and such years are known to be more difficult than the first. Will this also be the case for Cottbus?
3rd league prediction: promotion to 1860 Munich
Several examples from the recent past – including this one from last season – show that many teams should be considered in the forecast for the 3rd league. Arminia Bielefeld stormed into the 2nd Bundesliga as third division champions, even though they only managed 14th place in the previous season.
This time, 1860 Munich could step out of the shadow of the actual favorites – although the “Lions” (11th place last season) have even become favorites themselves with their prominent new signings.
1860 is included in every 3rd division promotion prediction. With the two established and Bundesliga-proven offensive partners Kevin Volland and Florian Niederlechner, two lost sons have returned to Grünwalder Straße – and with them great hopes of promotion to the 2nd Bundesliga.
As the 1860 squad has also been strengthened in other areas, the Sixties could well play a role in the promotion race.
The betting providers licensed in Germany are also convinced of this in their 3rd league promotion predictions, as the corresponding betting odds show.
Will Saarbrücken finally achieve promotion?
The FCS has been right in the thick of the promotion race for a ticket to the 2nd Bundesliga for the last three seasons.
At the end of the 2022/23 season, 1. FC Saarbrücken finished in fifth place, just one point behind the relegation spot. The following year, they were again fifth, just three points behind the relegation spot. In the previous season, FCS finally finished third, but lost to Eintracht Braunschweig in the relegation play-offs.
1. FC Saarbrücken is therefore a must in the 3rd league promotion forecast for the 2025/26 season. Will they make it to the second Bundesliga this time?
According to the market value ranking of all third division clubs, FCS has the third-best team at the start of the season, which is very well positioned both at the top and across the board. That should be an argument in Saarbrücken’s favor.
Who else could be a contender for promotion?
Apart from the favorites such as Rostock, 1860, and Saarbrücken, who else could be in contention for promotion from the 3rd division?
According to the assessments and predictions of experts and bookmakers, FC Ingolstadt and Rot-Weiß Essen could play a role in the promotion battle. FCI finished the previous season in tenth place, RWE in eighth. Now both teams are looking up.
RW Essen in particular is considered an insider tip in many 3rd league promotion predictions. The reason: the team played a strong second half of the season and has remained virtually unchanged. The team is well-rehearsed.
Wehen Wiesbaden and VfL Osnabrück are also considered possible promotion contenders again after a year in League 3. And what about Viktoria Köln and SC Verl, who finished sixth and seventh last season?
Examples from recent years show that almost anything is possible in this third division: In 2023, Elversberg, promoted from the Regionalliga, achieved the feat of winning the championship and advancing to the 2nd Bundesliga. SSV Ulm repeated this feat in 2024, and with Preußen Münster finishing second and runner-up, another regional league newcomer made it through to the 2nd Bundesliga.
With this in mind, teams that were further down the table last season should not be forgotten in the 3rd league promotion predictions. Teams such as Alemannia Aachen or Waldhof Mannheim, for example.
The fact that this duo is not among the teams with the highest squad market values should be irrelevant at this stage. That was never the case with the big surprises of recent years…
