They need 2,5 million until tomorrow noon... looks bleak. If you ever wanted to watch a German 5th division match - tomorrow the Lower Saxony final between Havelse and Eintracht II will be live broadcasted on this strange local Langenhagen based internet channel: http://www.liveimnetz.de/ 19:00 CET Currently there's an interview with the guitar player from Molly Hatchet on there (I like Molly Hatchet, but damn... now they are on German provincial open channels?). And weiiiiirrrddd commercials.
I'm not sure if those local commentators are charming or annoying (have only seen parts of the game, though - don't know if more exposure would have had an effect). ----------- Rot-Weiss Essen has gone into insolvency, they are definitly relegated now, the only remaining question is if they can play 5th division next year, or if the club will go bankrupt. Hansa Rostock II is voluntarily relegated. So, update: Relegated from RL: Insolvency: TeBe Berlin, SSV Reutlingen, Eintr. Bamberg, RW Essen No license: Hansa Rostock II Relegated: St. Pauli II, Goslar, Worms, Trier, Bayern Alzenau
Wow! What about the new stadium at Hafenstr.? The title of this thread is certainly turning out to be accurate if a relatively well-supported traditional club like this can be in this situation.
The rebuilding of the stadium has been stopped already, it probably will not be completed. And here's another one, actually: Bonner SC will not get a license for next season. Relegated from RL: Insolvency: TeBe Berlin, SSV Reutlingen, Eintr. Bamberg, RW Essen No license: Hansa Rostock II, Bonner SC Relegated: St. Pauli II, Goslar, Trier, Bayern Alzenau So again, more teams are releagted for financial than for sporting reasons (just like last season). And the Havelse - Eintracht II game ended 1:1, for the record. Second leg next week.
Next season AT LEAST 25 of 54 RL teams will be reserve sides. As of right now RL West will have 10 reserve sides, in a 18 team league. Wolfsburg II HSV II Hannover II Hertha BSC II Braunschweig II Cottbus II --------------- Bochum II Köln II K'lautern II Düsseldorf II Schalke II Leverkusen II Mainz II Gladbach II Dortmund II Bielefeld II --------------- Nürnberg II Freiburg II KSC II 1860 II E. Frankfurt II Gr. Fürth II Wehen II FSV Frankfurt II Hoffenheim II If Kiel II can go up, and Eintracht Braunschweig II wins their final this could still go up to 26, if a Northern team gets no license and St. Pauli II stays up in addition to 27.
To be honest, you couldn't reduce interest much more anyway. With Saarbrücken going up and Essen down you can count the clubs that can draw a crowd on one hand. Makes it harder for the pro clubs to justify not having a reserve league, though. If we now get Regionalliga groups in which the reserve sides are actually the majority the argument that they need the competition holds less and less water.
3. Liga, sure. Not for the clubs who didn't qualify, of course - for individual clubs it was, for German football as a whole, that's another matter (and the jury's still out on this, I guess).
Very true...I used to be on the other side of the fence here, but these developments really made me rethink that position. So maybe the new RL is indeed a very positive thing as it really makes clear that a reserve league is the way to go.
Only if they turn it around fast, otherwise there won't be enough big clubs to form a succesfull RL with, so you could stop promotion on the Oberliga level, make the first three leagues a closed system (or semiclosed like DEL to let clubs like RB Leipzig in) and have the reserve sides of the clubs of the 3rd first leagues play in a different piramid alltogether. I'd hate to see that outcome.
Waldhof Mannheim was denied a license. With Waldhof and Essen gone, there are only about 3 to 5 big clubs left in the league (Magdeburg for sure, Halle, Kassel, Münster and Chemnitz could at least make a claim). Relegated from RL: Insolvency: TeBe Berlin, SSV Reutlingen, Eintr. Bamberg, RW Essen No license: Hansa Rostock II, Bonner SC, Waldhof Mannheim Relegated: St. Pauli II, Goslar, Bayern Alzenau NO team from RL West relegated by league position this year.
In the only important football match today Eintracht II won 3:1 and claimed the Lower Saxon title. However, meanwhile all pro clubs got their license, so Havelse is sure to be promoted as well. Now all participants of next years RL should be final - unless another club goes into insolvency before the end of the month (in that case one of the remaining 3 relegated teams, starting with St. Pauli, would take their place - if insolvency occurred after the end of June the RL would play with less teams instead, as the new season would have started then already).
Hard to say as they obviously don't inform the public about all the financial ongoings. So far it's not sure if they will play 5th division next year, however, at the end of June we will know for sure. So far they seem carefully optimistic that this will be possible at least.
The groups for 2011 have been finalized - no major changes, Worms moves from West to South, reserve sides in italics: North: Holstein Kiel, VfL Wolfsburg II, Chemnitzer FC, Hallescher FC, Hamburger SV II, 1. FC Magdeburg, VFC Plauen, Hannover 96 II, VfB Lübeck, ZFC Meuselwitz, Hertha BSC Berlin II, Türkiyemspor Berlin, SV Wilhelmshaven, FC Oberneuland, Energie Cottbus II, Rasenball Leipzig, TSV Havelse, Eintracht Braunschweig II West: Borussia Dortmund II, Wuppertaler SV, Sportfreunde Lotte, VfL Bochum II, 1. FC Köln II, Preußen Münster, SV Elversberg, 1. FC Kaiserslautern II, SC Verl, Fortuna Düsseldorf II, Schalke 04 II, Bayer 04 Leverkusen II, FSV Mainz 05 II, Borussia Mönchengladbach II, Eintracht Trier, SC Wiedenbrück, Arminia Bielefeld II, FC 08 Homburg/Saar South: 1. FC Nürnberg II, SC Freiburg II, Hessen Kassel, Karlsruher SC II, SSV Ulm 1846, 1860 München II, Eintracht Frankfurt II, Stuttgarter Kickers, SpVgg Weiden, SpVgg Greuther Fürth II, SG Sonnenhof Großaspach, SC Pfullendorf, SV Darmstadt 98, SV Wehen Wiesbaden II, Wormatia Worms, FC Memmingen, TSG Hoffenheim II, FSV Frankfurt II
Well, the standard of football have been better I think. But my fear that minor clubs will simply not be able to compete with the amas from the pro-clubs might be justified.
I guess they should consider themselves fortunate to have only gone down one level, right? Plus, they get a derby with SW Essen out of the deal! Is there a bigger city in Europe with similarly low level football? I would be surprised.
Well, it's certainly the best case scenario as long as they get through insolvency. And depends on what you consider a similar level of football. Russia has a few cities of 1 million+ inhabitants with 3rd division clubs, which is higher up in the pyramid of course, but Essen will probably have higher attendances.