BERLIN (AP) — St. Pauli and Heidenheim were relegated from the Bundesliga while Wolfsburg grabbed the last chance for survival on a dramatic last day of the season on Saturday.
Wolfsburg won a relegation decider at St. Pauli 3-1 to send the home team down and qualify for a playoff where it will be favored against the third-place finisher from the second division to decide which plays in the top division next season.
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Bayern's Leon Goretzka leaves the pitch during a Bundesliga soccer match between Bayern and FC Cologne in Munich, Germany, Saturday, May 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader)
Bayern's Harry Kane celebrates after scoring during a Bundesliga soccer match between Bayern and FC Cologne in Munich, Germany, Saturday, May 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader)
St. Pauli's Arkadiusz Pyrka, left, and Wolfsburg's Joakim Maehle fight for the ball during the German Bundesliga soccer match between FC St. Pauli and VfL Wolfsburg in Hamburg, Germany, Saturday, May 16, 2026. (Christian Charisius/dpa via AP)
Wolfsburg's players celebrate after their second goal during the German Bundesliga soccer match between FC St. Pauli and VfL Wolfsburg in Hamburg, Germany, Saturday, May 16, 2026. (Christian Charisius/dpa via AP)
St. Pauli's Jackson Irvine in action during the German Bundesliga soccer match between FC St. Pauli and VfL Wolfsburg in Hamburg, Germany, Saturday, May 16, 2026. (Christian Charisius/dpa via AP)
Heidenheim, which had been level with Wolfsburg and St. Pauli going into the final round, needed a win at home against Mainz to keep alive its hopes but it slumped to a 2-0 loss.
The last two are automatically relegated to the second division.
Stuttgart held on for the last Champions League qualification spot despite conceding two late goals in a 2-2 draw at Eintracht Frankfurt, denying Hoffenheim and Bayer Leverkusen their chance.
Both rivals were hoping for a favor from Frankfurt but they failed to win in any case. Hoffenheim lost at Borussia Mönchengladbach 4-0 and Leverkusen could only draw with Hamburger SV 1-1.
Jonathan Burkardt scored two late penalties for Frankfurt.
Harry Kane scored a hat trick to take his season tally to 36 Bundesliga goals in league champion Bayern Munich ’s 5-1 win at home over Cologne.
Leon Goretzka started his last Bundesliga game with Bayern, which was presented with the league trophy after the game.
Bayern captain Manuel Neuer, who extended his contract the day before, gave the “salad bowl” trophy to Goretzka to hoist to the sky to start the celebrations. The customary beer showers started soon afterward with Dayot Upamecano dousing coach Vincent Kompany. Kompany wasn't the only victim.
Bayern next faces defending champion Stuttgart in the German Cup final in Berlin’s Olympiastadion next Saturday.
Marie-Louise Eta oversaw her second win in charge of Union Berlin as her team ended the season with a 4-0 rout of visiting Augsburg.
Eta, the first female coach in the Bundesliga, is next slated to take over Union’s women’s team, though she may face calls to stay in charge of the men's after finishing with a draw and two wins from her five games at the helm.
Second-placed Borussia Dortmund finished with a 2-0 win at Werder Bremen, and Freiburg enjoyed a 4-1 win at home over third-placed Leipzig.
Freiburg next faces Aston Villa in the Europa League final in Istanbul on Wednesday.
AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
Bayern's Leon Goretzka leaves the pitch during a Bundesliga soccer match between Bayern and FC Cologne in Munich, Germany, Saturday, May 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader)
Bayern's Harry Kane celebrates after scoring during a Bundesliga soccer match between Bayern and FC Cologne in Munich, Germany, Saturday, May 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader)
St. Pauli's Arkadiusz Pyrka, left, and Wolfsburg's Joakim Maehle fight for the ball during the German Bundesliga soccer match between FC St. Pauli and VfL Wolfsburg in Hamburg, Germany, Saturday, May 16, 2026. (Christian Charisius/dpa via AP)
Wolfsburg's players celebrate after their second goal during the German Bundesliga soccer match between FC St. Pauli and VfL Wolfsburg in Hamburg, Germany, Saturday, May 16, 2026. (Christian Charisius/dpa via AP)
St. Pauli's Jackson Irvine in action during the German Bundesliga soccer match between FC St. Pauli and VfL Wolfsburg in Hamburg, Germany, Saturday, May 16, 2026. (Christian Charisius/dpa via AP)
NEW YORK (AP) — The Long Island Rail Road, North America’s largest commuter rail system, was shut down Saturday after unionized workers went on strike for the first time in three decades.
The railroad, which serves New York City and its eastern suburbs, ceased operations just after midnight after five unions representing about half its workforce walked off the job.
The unions and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, the public agency that runs the railroad, have been negotiating for months on a new contract. President Donald Trump’s administration tried to broker a deal, but the unions were legally allowed to strike starting at 12:01 a.m. Saturday.
Kevin Sexton of the National Vice President of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen said no new negotiations have been scheduled.
“We’re far apart at this point,” Sexton said early Saturday. “We are truly sorry that we are in this situation.”
MTA Chairman Janno Lieber said the agency “gave the union everything they said they wanted in terms of pay” and that to him it was apparent the unions always intended to walk out.
The walkout, the first for the LIRR since a two-day strike in 1994, promises to cause headaches for sports fans planning to see the Yankees and Mets battle this weekend or to watch the Knicks’ playoff run at Madison Square Garden, which is located directly above the railroad’s Penn Station hub in Manhattan.
If the shutdown continues into the work week, the roughly 250,000 people who ride the system to and from work each weekday will be forced to find alternative routes to the city from its Long Island suburbs.
For many, that likely means navigating the region’s notoriously congested roads.
“People are still going to commute, but if everybody starts driving now, the traffic is only going to get worse,” said Rich Piccola, an accountant who commutes into the city as he waited at Penn Station for a train home Thursday.
Gov. Kathy Hochul, a Democrat, blamed the Trump administration for cutting mediation short and pushing the negotiations toward a strike. Trump, a Republican, responded on his Truth Social platform on Saturday that he had nothing to do with the strike and “never even heard about it until this morning.”
“No, Kathy, it’s your fault, and now looking over the facts, you should not have allowed this to happen,” Trump wrote, renewing his endorsement of Long Island politician Bruce Blakeman, who's challenging Hochul’s reelection bid. “If you can’t solve it, let me know, and I’ll show you how to properly get things done.”
Hochul urged Long Islanders to work from home if possible. The MTA has said it will provide limited shuttle buses to New York City subway stations, but that contingency plan wasn't envisioned to handle all the riders the system normally carries on a workday.
And while remote work options greatly expanded during the COVID-19 pandemic, many workers still need to show up in person, said Lisa Daglian, executive director of the Permanent Citizens Advisory Committee to the MTA, a commuter advocacy group.
“You work in construction, you work in the healthcare industry, you work at a school or you’re about to graduate from school, that’s not always possible,” she said of telecommuting. “People need to get where they need to go.”
The most recent contract talks have stalled on the question of worker’s salaries and health care premiums.
The MTA has said the unions’ initial demands would have led to fare increases and impacted contract negotiations with other unionized workers.
The unions, which represent locomotive engineers, machinists, signalmen and other train workers, have said more substantial raises were warranted to help workers keep up with inflation and rising living costs.
Duane O’Connor, who was picketing on Saturday morning at Penn Station, said that while he regrets the impact on commuters, workers are simply asking for fair wages.
“I feel terrible. Terrible. This is going to hurt. This is going to hurt the island, this is going to hurt the city ... All we are asking for is fair wages. Record inflation the last few years. Our contract goes back three years, it’s not going forward, so we went through those record inflationary years and they’re trying to lowball us,” he said.
Some riders, while sympathetic to the union’s affordability concerns, worry they’ll bear the brunt of any pay raises.
If the unions get the pay increases they are looking for, "it will come at the expense of our riders who will see next year’s 4% fare increase doubled to 8%,” Gerard Bringmann, chair of the LIRR Commuter Council, a rider advocacy group, said in a statement. “Like the union workers, we too are burdened by the increase in the cost of living here on Long Island.”
With Hochul running for reelection, the pressure might be on the MTA to strike a deal to end the shutdown, said William Dwyer, a labor relations expert at Rutgers University in New Jersey, where commuter rail workers staged a three-day strike last year.
“She’s up for reelection, and Long Island is a critical vote for her,” he said. “So if there’s a significant fare hike, that does not bode well for her on Election Day.”
Follow Philip Marcelo at https://x.com/philmarcelo
Long Island Rail Road workers walk on the picket line outside of Penn Station on the first day of their strike, Saturday, May 16, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Heather Khalifa)
Service suspended signs are posted inside Penn Station on the first day of a Long Island Rail Road strike, Saturday, May 16, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Heather Khalifa)
Service suspended signs are posted inside Penn Station on the first day of a Long Island Rail Road strike, Saturday, May 16, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Heather Khalifa)
Service suspended signs are posted inside Penn Station on the first day of a Long Island Rail Road strike, Saturday, May 16, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Heather Khalifa)
A pedestrian walks past closed off tracks inside Penn Station on the first day of a Long Island Rail Road strike, Saturday, May 16, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Heather Khalifa)
A sign warns commuters of a potential Long Island Rail Road strike at Penn Station in New York, Thursday, May 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
A sign warns commuters of a potential Long Island Rail Road strike at Penn Station in New York, Thursday, May 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
A sign warns commuters of a potential Long Island Rail Road strike at Penn Station in New York, Thursday, May 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
