Split
The OFC is fighting for promotion – five games before the end of the season, four football clubs still have a chance of reaching the third division.
Offenbach – There can only be one. Unfortunately. A club will be promoted from the Regionalliga Südwest. With five games to go before the end of the season, four clubs still have a chance of leaving fourth division: SSV Ulm 1846, SV Elversberg, Kickers Offenbach and TSV Steinbach Haiger. It almost looks as if the decision will not be made until the last matchday (May 14th, 2022), the gaps between first and fourth place are so narrow. Never before has the fight for promotion in the Regionalliga Südwest been so open and exciting. Gone are the days when SV Waldhof Mannheim won the championship by 18 points (2018/19) or 1. FC Saarbrücken was eleven points ahead (2017/18). Last season it was still a duel until the penultimate day of play between SC Freiburg II and SV Elversberg (five points behind).
SV Elversberg has been fighting to return to the 3rd division for years. If the Saarlanders win their catch-up game at TSG Balingen tonight, they will replace SSV Ulm 1846 at the top of the table thanks to the better goal difference. There is really no doubt about that, because the Elversbergers, like the other top clubs, have been extremely strong, confident and successful in recent weeks. Three of the four championship contenders are yet to lose a game in 2022. And it gets even better. Since the end of February, the “Magnificent Four” have won 21 of their 23 games, with two draws.
OFC – Kickers Offenbach last five wins in a row
Elversberg is unbeaten in eleven games. The last defeat dates from December 5, 2021, a 1: 3 against the Offenbacher Kickers. SSV Ulm 1846 last lost on December 12, 2021, in Elversberg. Since then, coach Thomas Wöhrle’s team has been unbeaten in ten games, recently celebrated six wins in a row and has not conceded a goal for seven games. The Offenbacher Kickers last lost on February 27 (0:1 against Hessen Kassel). Then, despite corona confusion and many injuries, five wins in a row followed, with a goal difference of 11:1.
TSV Steinbach has been unbeaten for the longest time. After the last defeat on November 6, 2021 (0:3 against Ulm), 14 games followed without defeat and still the separation from coach Adrian Alipour at the beginning of December. In 2022, the Steinbachers, now with Ersan Parlatan (previously assistant coach at the Turkish first division club Konyaspor/Turkey), only conceded two goals in eight games.
Offenbach Kickers: Ex-OFC coach Boysen fights to stay up
In view of this series of successes, can one still hope that the competitors will slip up? Or will the decision be made in the few remaining duels? Then TSV Steinbach Haiger would have a great opportunity, because the (still) fourth-placed team has three direct duels ahead of them in the next three games: against SV Elversberg, SSV Ulm and Offenbacher Kickers. The first three in the table, on the other hand, no longer meet.
A former Offenbach promotion coach could tip the scales for promotion. Hans-Jürgen Boysen has twice been promoted to the second division with the Kickers (1999 and 2005) and is now fighting for relegation with SG Sonnenhof Großaspach. The Boysen team is still playing against three aspiring players: at home against SV Elversberg (April 22, 2022) and SSV Ulm 1846 (May 7, 2022) and away at Offenbacher Kickers (May 1, 2022). Who do Boysen and his goalscorer Sascha Mölders trip up?
In addition to the championship fight, all four top clubs are also represented in the state cup and can qualify in their semifinals for the final day of the amateurs on May 21st. One as a freshly minted third division and three then surely disappointed regional divisions.
OFC – Kickers Offenbach in the promotion race: “Focus always on the next game”
The Offenbacher Kickers are holding on as usual in the most exciting promotion race since the Southwest Group was introduced. “We always focus on the next game,” says Sreto Ristic. The coach also emphasizes how difficult it is to always have to win: “That is not a matter of course.” Especially in games against the OFC, which with its fan base almost always gives the opponents a “game of the year feeling”. cares. It won’t be any different on Wednesday (April 13, 2022, 5 p.m.) at Bahlinger SC.
If the top four in the league continue to score so consistently, the goal difference may even decide in the end – that would be another novelty in the Regionalliga Südwest. SV Elversberg is currently ahead of OFC (+33), Ulm and Steinbach (both +26) with the best attack in the league (67 goals/difference: +41). The Kickers can still catch up in two catch-up games. Especially when they trump the upcoming opponents Bahlingen, Gießen, Balingen and Steinbach as they did in the first half of the season. They won four times and scored 14:1 goals. (Jochen Koch/Jörg Moll)
