Schalke seals promotion back to the Bundesliga after 3 seasons away

GELSENKIRCHEN, Germany (AP) — Edin Džeko returned in time for the celebrations as seven-time German champion Schalke sealed its return to the Bundesliga with a 1-0 win over Fortuna Düsseldorf on Saturday.

Kenan Karaman’s strike in the 13th minute was enough for Schalke to move an unassailable 10 points clear of third-place Hannover in Germany’s second division. Hannover has three games remaining and Schalke has two. The top two teams secure automatic promotion to the top division.

“I cannot put it in words,” said Karaman, the team captain who unleashed the ball inside the far post for his 14th goal of the season. “We waited a long time for this moment, as a club, as a city, all the people around it. I'm just happy that we could take the final step at home because the fans deserve it.”

The supporters were urged not to storm the field and hundreds of stewards lined up to ensure there were no injuries, but the fans seemed to content to celebrate in the stands with flares, beer and songs.

“There was a lot of pressure, so much pressure. The last years weren't easy,” Karaman said of three straight seasons in the second division.

Schalke’s promotion push this season was helped by the surprise signing of Džeko in January. The now 40-year-old Bosnia forward chipped in six goals in nine league appearances for Schalke. But he hadn't played since suffering a shoulder injury in Bosnia’s World Cup playoff win over Italy on March 31.

Others stepped up in Džeko’s absence, especially Mali forward Moussa Sylla, who scored three of his seven goals this season in Schalke’s last six games.

Džeko made his comeback after coming on as a substitute in the 69th minute on Saturday. He didn’t score, but none of the Schalke fans among 61,587 supporters in the sold-out stadium were complaining.

“We wanted this win, we wanted to celebrate with the fans today,” said Džeko, who didn't want to look too far ahead. “First we celebrate, but I'm very very happy with this decision to come here in January.”

It’s Schalke’s second promotion from the second division in five years after its initial relegation from the Bundesliga in 2021. Schalke bounced back as second-division champion the following season but it was relegated again in 2023 after just one season in the top division.

“Nothing is more important than bringing this club back to where it belongs,” Schalke defender Timo Becker said.

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Schalke's goalkeeper Loris Karius celebrates at the end of the German Bundesliga 2 soccer match between FC Schalke 04 and Fortuna Duesseldorf in Gelsenkirchen, Germany, Saturday, May 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner)

Schalke players celebrate at the end of the German Bundesliga 2 soccer match between FC Schalke 04 and Fortuna Duesseldorf in Gelsenkirchen, Germany, Saturday, May 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner)

Schalke's head coach Miron Muslic celebrates with family members at the end of the German Bundesliga 2 soccer match between FC Schalke 04 and Fortuna Duesseldorf in Gelsenkirchen, Germany, Saturday, May 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner)

Schalke players celebrate at the end of the German Bundesliga 2 soccer match between FC Schalke 04 and Fortuna Duesseldorf in Gelsenkirchen, Germany, Saturday, May 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner)

Schalke's Timo Becker, center, celebrates at the end of the German Bundesliga 2 soccer match between FC Schalke 04 and Fortuna Duesseldorf in Gelsenkirchen, Germany, Saturday, May 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner)

FC Schalke 04 supporters march to the stadium ahead of their 2. Bundesliga match against Fortuna Duesseldorf, where their club can secure early promotion back to the Bundesliga with a win in the evening at the Arena in Gelsenkirchen, Germany, Saturday, May 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner)

FC Schalke 04 supporters march to the stadium ahead of their 2. Bundesliga match against Fortuna Duesseldorf, where their club can secure early promotion back to the Bundesliga with a win in the evening at the Arena in Gelsenkirchen, Germany, Saturday, May 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner)

Schalke fans sing and hold up scarves prior to the German Bundesliga 2 soccer match between FC Schalke 04 and Fortuna Duesseldorf in Gelsenkirchen, Germany, Saturday, May 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner)

Schalke's Edin Dzeko, left, tries to block a shot from Duesseldorf's Tim Oberdorf during the German Bundesliga 2 soccer match between FC Schalke 04 and Fortuna Duesseldorf in Gelsenkirchen, Germany, Saturday, May 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner)

Schalke fans light flares during the German Bundesliga 2 soccer match between FC Schalke 04 and Fortuna Duesseldorf in Gelsenkirchen, Germany, Saturday, May 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner)

A maker of the widely used abortion pill mifepristone asked the Supreme Court on Saturday to block an appellate court ruling that cut off mail-order access to the drug just a day earlier, in what was the biggest jolt to abortion policy in the U.S. since the overturning of Roe v. Wade.

Danco Laboratories, which is also a defendant in the lawsuit in question, asked to block the New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decision while appeals are pending, saying the appellate ruling “injects immediate confusion and upheaval into highly time-sensitive medical decisions.”

The appeals court's unanimous ruling Friday marked a substantial victory for abortion opponents seeking to stem the flow of abortion pills prescribed online, which they view as subverting state bans. It requires that mifepristone be distributed only in person and at clinics, overruling regulations set by the federal Food and Drug Administration.

“We’re now going to see, I think in a way we haven’t before, what the nation will look like when abortion bans are actually in effect,” said Mary Ziegler, an expert on abortion law and a professor at University of California at Davis School of Law.

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Frustrated with a lack of federal action against medicated abortions, Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill sued the FDA last month, saying its regulations undermined the state’s ban on abortions at all stages of pregnancy.

“The regulation creates an effective way for an out-of-state prescriber to place the drug in the hands of Louisianans in defiance of Louisiana law,” Judge Kyle Duncan, who was appointed by President Donald Trump, wrote in the ruling.

FDA officials have said the agency is conducting a new review of mifepristone’s safety, but the appeals court noted that there was no timeline for its completion.

Friday’s ruling is in effect while the case works its way through the courts. It affects all states, even those without abortion restrictions.

There is little precedent for a federal court overruling the scientific regulations of the FDA, and it remains to be seen how the decision could impact how the drug is dispensed long-term.

Murrill, a Republican, celebrated the ruling as a “victory for life” while other anti-abortion advocates cheered the reversal of rules finalized under President Joe Biden that ended a longstanding requirement that the pills be obtained at an in-person doctor’s visit.

Representatives for the FDA and the U.S. Department of Justice did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Mifepristone was approved in 2000 as a safe and effective way to end early pregnancies. It is typically used in combination with a second drug, misoprostol, which is not affected by the ruling but is less effective on its own.

Surveys have found that the majority of abortions in the U.S. are administered using pills and that about one in four abortions nationally are prescribed via telehealth. Providers have suggested that its availability through telehealth is a reason why the number of abortions in the U.S. has not fallen since Roe was overturned in 2022.

As a result, abortion pills and those who prescribe them out of state have become key targets of abortion opponents.

Some Democratic-led states have adopted laws that aim to protect providers who prescribe via telehealth and mail the pills to states with bans. Those so-called shield laws are being tested through civil and criminal cases in Louisiana and Texas.

One telehealth provider in a state with a shield law, Dr. Angel Foster, was working with legal experts to understand how the ruling would impact her organization, The Massachusetts Medication Abortion Project.

“We will do everything in our power to continue providing care to people in all 50 states,” she said.

The case, which is expected to be appealed to the Supreme Court, could again make abortion a key issue in the midterm elections as Democrats aim to take back control of the House and Republicans fight to hold on to a narrow majority.

“This is going to be a pretty significant change in terms of how people experience abortion access, probably as significant as anything we’ve seen since Roe was overturned,” Ziegler said. “So another big question mark is going to be the extent to which voters feel that before they go to the polls, and the extent to which it becomes then an election issue.”

Ziegler said the case also “sort of puts the president in the position of having to get off the sidelines on this issue in a way we haven’t seen before.”

Recent electoral results suggest that voters seeking to maintain abortion access have the political momentum. Since Roe was overturned, abortion has been on the ballot directly in 17 states. Voters have sided with the abortion-rights side in 14 of those questions.

Abortion-rights supporter Fatima Goss Graves, president and CEO of the National Women’s Law Center, said the ruling is “deeply out of step with both the public and fact-based science.”

Trump received criticism after the ruling from some anti-abortion advocates who expressed frustration that he did not take action himself to block distribution of the pill.

The FDA under Trump approved another generic version of mifepristone last year, which peeved some allies of the Republican president.

“It’s shameful that the Trump administration’s inaction has forced pro-life states to take their battle to the federal courts,” said Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, who also applauded the ruling.

Associated Press writer Jamie Stengle in Dallas contributed.

Dr. Marty Makary, commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, speaks while, from left, National Institutes of Health Director Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Joe Rogan, President Donald Trump, Joe Rogan and CEO of Americans for Ibogaine W. Bryan Hubbard listen in the Oval Office of the White House, Saturday, April 18, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

FILE - Attorney General Liz Murrill speaks with the news media, Oct. 15, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen, File)