BERLIN: Forward Harry Kane scored a hat-trick as Bayern Munich celebrated their 35th German title on a gripping final day of the German Bundesliga season on Saturday with a 5-1 win over Cologne.

VfB Stuttgart secured Champions League qualification and St. Pauli and Heidenheim were relegated elsewhere on an action-packed final match-day.

England’s Kane scored an elegant volley and a direct free-kick in the first half before rounding off his fourth hat-trick of the season, ending as the league’s top scorer with 36 goals.

Said El Mala scored a superb solo goal for Cologne, but efforts from Kane, Tom Bischof and Nicolas Jackson saw Bayern run away with victory.

At the other end of the table, VfL Wolfsburg won a dramatic, three-way fight with St. Pauli and Heidenheim to avoid automatic relegation.

The bottom three all began the day on equal points, but Wolfsburg’s pulse-racing 3-1 win over St. Pauli meant they secured the all-important relegation play-off place in 16th.

St. Pauli goalkeeper Nikola Vasilj kept Wolfsburg at bay with some smart saves in the first half before Konstantinos Koulierakis headed the visitors in front from a corner.

Half-time substitute Abdoulie Ceesay gave St. Pauli hope with a header on 57 minutes, but tempers flared after Wolfsburg restored the lead in controversial circumstances.

Vasilj claimed he had been pushed after deflecting the ball into his own net at a corner, but the goal was given after a nail-biting VAR check.

Christian Eriksen missed a penalty for Wolfsburg 15 minutes from time, but Dezan Pejcinovic sealed St. Pauli’s fate with a cool finish shortly afterwards.

Wolfsburg will play one of Hannover, Elversberg or Paderborn in the play-off later this month, while St. Pauli return to the second tier after two years in the Bundesliga.

Meanwhile, Heidenheim’s three-year spell in the top flight also came to an end after their hopes of a dramatic last-day escape were dashed by a 2-0 defeat to Mainz.

Philipp Tietz headed Mainz in front early on before setting up Nadiem Amiri for the visitors’ second just before half-time.

Stuttgart secured Champions League qualification with a 2-2 draw at Eintracht Frankfurt.

Goals from Chema and Nikolas Nartey put Stuttgart in control in the first half, before Jonathan Burkardt rescued an inconsequential point with two late penalties for Frankfurt.

The draw kept Stuttgart above Hoffenheim and Bayer Leverkusen, who secured Europa League qualification despite dropping points on Saturday.

Leverkusen were held 1-1 at home to Hamburg, Jarell Quansah equalising late on after Fabio Vieira’s superb second-half strike for the visitors.

Hoffenheim slumped to a bitter 4-0 defeat away to Borussia Moenc­hengladbach.

Hugo Bolin and Haris Tabakovic gave Gladbach a 2-0 lead at half time, before Kevin Diks and Robin Hack poured on more misery with two late goals.

Meanwhile, Freiburg secured seventh place and European qualification with a 4-1 win over RB Leipzig.Freiburg will either play in the Conference League or the Champions League next season, depending on whether they beat Aston Villa in the Europa League final later this month.

Elsewhere, Serhou Guirassy and Yan Couto fired Borussia Dortmund to a 2-0 win over Werder Bremen, while Union Berlin beat Augsburg 4-0.

Andrej Ilic, Woo-yeong Jeong and Andras Schafer got on the scoresheet as Union tore through Augsburg on the counter-attack, handing Marie-Louise Eta a memorable victory in her last game as interim coach.

Published in Dawn, May 17th, 2026