Beer, bratwurst, Bochum
WITHu at the wrong time, no club has been promoted to the Bundesliga, but for VfL Bochum the return after eleven years in the second division could come at a particularly favorable moment. During the pandemic and in the wake of the withdrawn Super League plans of some major clubs, it became clear as never before that professional football is becoming more and more remote and over-the-top. In this historical context, an average club like VfL Bochum can fulfill longings. “VfL is an alternative to this shrill, garish world of football,” says Ilja Kaenzig, spokesman for the board.
In Bochum, in the middle of the city, there is this wonderful stadium, where a Bundesliga Saturday still feels like in the untamed football decades: beer, bratwurst, sweat and drama. “Our football is different, it should remain a national sport. We want to continue this line in a targeted manner, ”says Kaenzig. Unlike in Paderborn, Kiel or Fürth, there is also the fact that games in the Ruhr area traditionally play a very important role in everyday life.
Many family stories have been closely linked to one of the clubs here over the generations, which creates a special magic to this day. Now Schalke failed in the attempt to become a global brand, and BVB is an integral part of glamor football, for which Real Madrid or Manchester City stand. Bochum, on the other hand, has somehow got stuck in time and is suddenly quite sexy. So sexy that new sponsors could be won in the event of promotion, and at the same time many players would be interested in VfL.
Experienced leaders like Simon Zoller and Robert Zulj (both 29) or midfielders Anthony Losilla (35) and Robert Tesche (33) know very well that they will no longer be discovered by top clubs. Your shortest path to a few late years in the football elite is to climb up with VfL. And talents like Armel Bella-Kotchap (19) and Maxim Leitsch (22) have been taught for weeks that another year at VfL, then in the Bundesliga, is better for their further career. Not only for fans and sponsors, the leap into the first division would come at exactly the right moment, but also for this team.
Holstein Kiel has history in mind
Ole Werner recently liked to point out what his team lacks compared to the competition: four weeks of training. His team had to sit out for so long because it was quarantined twice during the season. Werner and head of sport Uwe Stöver were resourceful when it came to keeping the players happy at home.
Close contact, many conversations, and of course also exercises to maintain fitness. But above all, interpersonal relationships were the focus of the telephone calls and voice messages; none of the professionals, many of whom live alone in Kiel, should “go to waste” at home. Everyone should feel “seen”. Most recently in Kiel it was speculated that the two compulsory breaks could perhaps even give birth to a special spirit, a special solidarity. And anticipation to be able to go back to the training ground.
– .
