Darmstadt and Ingolstadt ready for the Bundesliga

In a league saturated by traditional, well supported teams, Germany's second division had two smaller names that quietly reached heights last season that even they thought couldn't be achieved. Now though, as the Bundesliga start draws near both Darmstadt and Ingolstadt are aware of what they have achieved.

Tobias Kempe's free kick in front of just over 16,000 fans on the final day of the season was enough, in the end, to secure a second-place finish for Darmstadt behind Ingolstadt. The Bavarians cruised to the title with a five-point cushion, while just four points separated four teams behind them.

Darmstadt's last venture into Germany's top flight came in 1982. Crippling debt and the rise of other teams saw them drop to the fourth division and a battle with existence. However in a recent, dramatic rise, the Lilies are, technically, the only team to have achieved three promotions in two seasons.

Ingolstadt's story is disparate in comparison. Inspiring development in the short life of the club has seen the Bavarians - formed out of the demise of two others - reach the Bundesliga in just 11 years. Starting out in their regional fifth division, Ingolstadt quickly began to dominate the lower leagues.

Achieving immediate promotion, they climbed higher, eventually reaching the second division in 2008. A quick stop in the third division after relegation and the club was back where it wanted to be. Four years later and top-flight football is a reality.

Expectations, though, have left both teams in a position where immediate relegation seems inevitable. But the trend created by teams in recent years doesn't faze the returning Darmstadt.

“Yes, compared to the rest of the Bundesliga we are just like apples and oranges,” head coach Dirk Schuster told national paper "Frankfurter Allgemeine". “Our goal is to at least secure a relegation play-off spot, or even more. We know that we will have to give everything because we have the league's smallest budget, but we have nothing to lose. We're already here,” said Schuster.

The money that has come from the club's promotion has, wisely, been invested in the ageing stadium. Albeit nostalgically old-fashioned with its high floodlights and terraced, open-aired dome shape, the club wanted to plan for a Bundesliga future. Ingolstadt already has the new stadium, the financial backing and a talented squad. Now it just needs time.

Nothing to lose

On the pitch, signings have been made to add to the squad's inexperience at this level. Seven Bundesliga players – including Junior Diaz and Sandro Wagner - have been brought in for the Lilies (eight if you include Mario Vrancic, formerly of Paderborn) and all for less than one millions euros ($1.1 million).

“Here no one needs to hide,” said Wagner upon arrival. “No pressure is built up expecting magic football. Here nobody needs to be afraid. We can give it everything.”

Even after losing out on German U21 international Philipp Hofmann, who left Kaiserslautern for English second division team Brentford, Schuster was not fazed. “If a player would rather move to the second division in England than play in the Bundesliga, then he is not right for us. We need a team, not a group of individuals," Schuster told German newspaper "BILD".

Just four names have been added to Ralph Hasenhüttl's Ingolstadt squad over the summer, including a key man, Romain Bregerie, from none other than Darmstadt.

The squad will be thrown in at the deep end, facing Wolfsburg and Borussia Dortmund in their opening two home games of Bundesliga life. But to be the best, you have to beat the best and at the rate in which the Bavarians have already progressed, perhaps they are fated for more than one year in the top flight.

“Our players will often play with a heartbeat of 180,” Hasenhüttl explained in an interview with BILD. “We have to play the way we have before. We took more shots than anyone else last season. That must be our main focus in the Bundesliga, because it's our only chance.”

The question that will be asked throughout the campaign, though, is will it be enough? We've had hopes of a fairy tale for the likes of Paderborn, Eintracht Braunschweig and Greuther Fürth among others in recent years, but all were banished after just one year in the Bundesliga. Darmstadt and Ingolstadt will have to do more than just work and play hard if they are to avoid the same fate.