Trial for lower divisions

[sdons]

Anybody know anything about getting a look for a lower division squad...Regionalia possibly? Teammate played for Heilbron and I might like to give it a whirl as well..any info helps. thanks

[Alex_K]

Heilbronn isn't exactly Regionalliga level. And unless you've already played professionaly I wouldn't put up my hopes to high.

I don't think Regionalliga clubs hold trials, at least not for the first team. Some lower division sides do, but you won't get payed playing there. And if you live in the US, I'm pretty sure nobody will pay you a flight or something like this for a trial, unless you've played on a high level already.

[sdons]

Played in the USL....what level is Heilbron in? I'm not that well versed in German lover divisions...are you a player there or a resident?

[DanielHSV]

Dont know which league they play, it's not exactly my region. But I couldn't find any club out of Heilbronn in the first 5 divisions.

[Alex_K]

Played in the USL....what level is Heilbron in? I'm not that well versed in German lover divisions...are you a player there or a resident?

No, I'm kind of on the opposite side of Germany ;-). A club from Heilbronn has played 4th division a few years ago, but currently they aren't even on semi-pro level anymore. If Daniel's right I would guess they are in the 6th division currently. I guess it depends on when your teammate has played there.

[ThreeStars]

These are the most popular German Football Clubs from 3rd and 4th division, at least in the north.

The 1.FC St.Pauli is from Hamburg and probably the most popular 3rd Division Club in Germany. Fans wave the Jolly Roger as their banner.
http://www.fcstpauli.de/
Any of the adresses under http://www.fcstpauli.de/sp/pages/kontakt/telefonbuch/geschaeftsstelle.php
should do the job, if you want to contact them.

FC Union Berlin is a very popular Fourth Division Club with Chances to get into third. A great place to start.
http://www.fc-union-berlin.de/
You can write to them under:
http://www.fc-union-berlin.de/default.php?content=kontakt

The second best Football-Club from Berlin (West) is Tennis Borrusia Berlin. They went to the German Cub Final a couple of years ago and were 2nd place in the 2nd Division before they fired Coach Gerland and hired Winfried Schäfer, who ruined everything for them. They are presently also in 4th Division.
http://www.tebe.de
As for Contacts, I see only a snail-mail addy on the page:
Tennis Borussia Berlin e.V.
Waldschulallee 34-42
D-14055 Berlin

A lot of german first division clubs have their second teams playing in 3rd Division.
All of these are professional Football-Clubs with long traditions. I don´t know about the procedure they use for finding players.

[Alex_K]

You do not simply turn up at those clubs. Of course it can't hurt to give it a try, but after following a Regionalliga club for more than a decade, I can assure you that that's not the way players are signed on this level usually. A Regionalliga club will sign players who have played professionally already (1st to 4th division in Germany usually) or talents from amateur sides in their region. If a player contacts a club it's mostly done through his agent.



The second best Football-Club from Berlin (West) is Tennis Borrusia Berlin. They went to the German Cub Final a couple of years ago and were 2nd place in the 2nd Division before they fired Coach Gerland and hired Winfried Schäfer, who ruined everything for them. They are presently also in 4th Division.
http://www.tebe.de


That was Union (with the cup final, I mean). And in defence of Schäfer: it definitely wasn't his fault what happened to Tennis Borussia. But that's kinda off topic.

[ThreeStars]

That was Union (with the cup final, I mean). And in defence of Schäfer: it definitely wasn't his fault what happened to Tennis Borussia. But that's kinda off topic.

You´re right. Tennis Borrussia reached the Semi-Final in 1993 and lost to Hertha BSC (Amateure). It caused so much exitement in Berlin I mistook it for the final. Union went to the final in 2001.
The downhill-slide of TeBe definitely was Schäfer´s fault, he ruined the team. The financial ruin of the Club is linked to that, but not his fault alone.

[Alex_K]

The financial ruin isn't his fault alone? The club was not relegated, they lost their license, so I fail to see how this was the coach's fault. If anyone's to blame it's the Göttinger Gruppe. The entire "TeBe into the Champions League" project was a huge disaster, but saying that it was Schäfer who ruined the club is a bit bizarre.

[European16]

uhm i actually have a trial for dusseldorf in 2 weeks when i go to germany

[Alex_K]

Where have you played before and how did you get the trial? And is it for the first team?

And of course teams have a player on trial sometimes. But I have actually never heard of any public trials or that someone just turned up (unless it's for the amateur or youth sides). I just can't imagine that it works this way. But of course I could be wrong :D.

Anyway, good luck.

[aloisius]

The financial ruin isn't his fault alone? The club was not relegated, they lost their license, so I fail to see how this was the coach's fault. If anyone's to blame it's the Göttinger Gruppe. The entire "TeBe into the Champions League" project was a huge disaster, but saying that it was Schäfer who ruined the club is a bit bizarre.
If I recall, they bought him a team which he was supposed to take into the bundesliga, Once he failed to do that, everything came crushing down.

[Alex_K]

Yes, but he didn't ruin the club. OK, he did not lead them into the Bundesliga. But if they don't survive if they do not get promoted, it's the club's fault more than anything else - "promotion or death" doesn't exactly sound like good planning (and depending on a single sponsor, like the Göttinger Gruppe in this case, was never a good idea as well). That wouldn't have happened to a healthy club.