After being relegated to Serie B, FC Venezia is now returning directly to Serie A—a mistake by a rival played right into the Lagunari’s hands.
Venezia had promotion in their own hands, needing only a win at Spezia Calcio on Friday—and it looked that way for a long time after Hamburg-born and former Duisburg player John Yeboah (7th minute) and Richie Sagrado (70th minute) had put the visitors up 2-0. But then Spezia suddenly came back, with Mattia Valoti pulling one back (73rd minute) and Gabriele Artistico snatching a 2-2 draw from Venice in the final minute.
The promotion party seemed to have been postponed, but then came good news from Mantua, where Mantova 1911 celebrated a 3-2 victory over Monza thanks to a goal by Fahem Benaissa in the fifth minute of stoppage time. With this loss, Monza remains in third place with 75 points and can no longer catch up to Venice (79 points). Second-place Frosinone (78 points) needs just one point in its final match against Mantova to secure promotion.
The third team to be promoted to Serie A will be decided in a playoff among the teams ranked third through eighth.
Adorante and Yeboah: The Keys to Success
Venice, however, has nothing left to worry about; instead, it can start planning for its 15th Serie A season—and will be determined not to be relegated again right away this time. After the past two promotions, the club—which went bankrupt in 2015 and had to start over—was immediately relegated again in both instances—this was the case in 2021/22 and 2024/25.
Lion Lauberbach, who joined from KV Mechelen in Belgium during the winter transfer window, also played a part in the current promotion. The Erfurt native has a contract at Markusplatz through the summer of 2029 with an option to extend. The 28-year-old, who made his way to Italy’s second division via Rot-Weiß Erfurt, FSV Zwickau, Holstein Kiel, Hansa Rostock, Eintracht Braunschweig, and Mechelen, has now appeared in eleven games and scored one goal for Venice.
However, in the most dangerous offense in the current Serie B (75 goals), Lauberbach was unable to truly surpass Andrea Adorante (17 goals this season) and former German junior national team player Yeboah (10), who now plays for Ecuador (21 international appearances)—and thus remained confined to the role of a substitute.
