BERLIN (AP) — Union Berlin’s week went from bad to worse Sunday with a 1-0 loss at home to last-placed Holstein Kiel in the Bundesliga.

Armin Gigović scored before the break for the visitors, finishing off a counterattack started by team captain Timo Becker and involving Japan forward Shuto Machino.

It was promoted Kiel’s first-ever Bundesliga win away from home, and it lifted the team off the bottom, a point above Heidenheim, while dealing Union its third consecutive defeat a week after its 6-0 loss at Borussia Dortmund – the club’s heaviest ever Bundesliga loss.

Union dropped to 14th in the 18-team league, six points above Bochum in the relegation playoff spot, with tough games against Eintracht Frankfurt, Bayern Munich and Freiburg to follow.

The buildup to Sunday’s match was dominated by the German soccer federation’s sports court’s decision on Friday to reject Union’s appeal against an earlier court decision that awarded Bochum a 2-0 win over Union after the Bochum goalkeeper was struck by a firelighter thrown by a Union fan during the team’s match in December.

Holstein Kiel gets first ever Bundesliga away win, 1-0 at Union Berlin | iNFOnews.ca — Berlin’s Rani Khedira, left, and Holstein Kiel’s Nicolai Remberg, right, challenge for the ball during the German Bundesliga soccer match between 1. FC Union Berlin and Holstein Kiel in Berlin, Germany, Sunday, March 2, 2025. (Andreas Gora/dpa via AP)

The goalkeeper, Patrick Drewes, was unable to continue and the teams had agreed to play the remaining three minutes without scoring to leave the score at 1-1.

Union is again appealing against awarding Bochum the win. The case has implications for the Bundesliga’s relegation battle. St. Pauli and Kiel had also appealed against the decision to award Bochum a win.