Union Berlin players were hoisted high and carried around their stadium after securing promotion to the Bundesliga for the first time on Monday.

A goalless draw at home to Stuttgart in the second leg of their play-off was enough for the Köpenick-based club, which finished third in the second division. Union defended for almost the whole game and progressed to the top flight on away goals after their 2-2 first-leg draw in Stuttgart.

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Thousands of fans covered the pitch in scenes of unbridled joy at Union’s cosy stadium after the final whistle, lighting flares, hugging, jumping and cheering, with many capturing the occasion on their phones. The fans savoured their club’s greatest achievement, arguably even bigger than winning the East German Cup in 1968.

The Union coach, Urs Fischer, was promptly drenched in a beer shower while the club president Dirk Zingler was unable to hold back the tears. “I’ve been in this club for 40 years. I’ve waited for this day for so long,” Zingler said.

Following their best ever campaign in the second division, Union are the first club from East Germany’s Oberliga to play in the Bundesliga since Energie Cottbus were relegated in 2009.

Football on BT Sport (@btsportfootball) Just look at those scenes! 🔥



This is what it means for Union Berlin to reach the Bundesliga for the first time in their history 🙌 pic.twitter.com/eJf1qy3xeW

Union, whose beginnings are traced to 1906 as Olympia Oberschöneweide, weathered financial difficulties and a spell in the fourth tier after German reunification to become Berlin’s second-best supported side after Hertha. Fans helped it through the difficult times by contributing labour to modernise the stadium in 2008, while they donated blood four years before to raise money for the cash-strapped club.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Union’s Michael Parensen celebrates with fans. Photograph: Felipe Trueba/EPA

Union prides itself on its resistance to the East German regime, in contrast to hated rival Dynamo Berlin, the club of Stasi chief Erich Mielke. Dynamo won 10 straight East German titles from 1979 to 1988 amid allegations of match-fixing and politically influenced favours, but now languish in the fourth division.

Union are the 56th team to play in the Bundesliga, and the first second-division team to secure promotion through a play-off since Fortuna Düsseldorf in 2012. Stuttgart, who finished third from bottom in the Bundesliga, were relegated. The club recently appointed Sven Mislintat, formerly of Arsenal, as their sporting director and he will now have to mastermind a return to the top flight.

“The whole club did everything for this success. It was a great team performance, even if we had our problems in the first half,” Fischer said. “But I always believed we would manage it.”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Union Berlin coach Urs Fischer gets a beer shower. Photograph: Annegret Hilse/Reuters

Hundreds of Union fans welcomed the team bus to the stadium with red flares of encouragement before the game. In the stadium, a choreography of two hands holding a surgically removed heart urged the players to take their hearts in their hands and give their all for “an end to the waiting”.

Stuttgart had other ideas. The visitors thought they’d taken an early lead through Dennis Aogo’s free-kick, but Nicolás González was offside and impeding Union goalkeeper Rafal Gikiewicz’s view. Referee Christian Dingert ruled the goal out in the first ever use of VAR at Stadion An der Alten Försterei (Stadium at the Old Forester’s House).

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Stuttgart’s former Germany striker, Mario Gómez, came on for the second half, which was delayed as Union fans found some leftovers from the flares and pyrotechnics that greeted the team on its arrival. The visitors maintained their assault on the Union goal but Suleiman Abdullahi struck the post twice for the home side, before Gikiewicz had the final say when he saved from Benjamin Pavard. The France full-back, who won the World Cup last summer, will play Union again in the Bundesliga next season – he is joining Bayern Munich.

“It’s indescribable,” said Union managing director Oliver Ruhnert, whose side previously missed the chance to secure automatic promotion by one goal. “The team took the most difficult path it could.”