Kickers Offenbach applies for admission to the 3rd division. Mathias Fetsch (center) has already played for OFC there.
© Huebner
At least eight clubs from the Southwest Regional Football League apply to the DFB for admission to the 3rd division, including Kickers Offenbach, FSV Frankfurt and front-runner SC Freiburg II. The OFC budget would increase significantly in the event of promotion.
Offenbach – For Thomas Sobotzik it is only a formal act at first. The managing director of the regional soccer division Kickers Offenbach has confirmed that the club has submitted the documents for the admission procedure for the 3rd division to the German Football Association (DFB) on time and also the far less tricky ones for another season in fourth class.
By March 1st, the clubs must have given their information on the economic and technical-organizational capacity. Only second division teams have two weeks longer to do this (April 16). In the course of April, all clubs will receive an initial notification confirming their economic and technical-organizational performance or explaining which conditions and requirements must be met. You will then have no more than 15 June to provide this evidence.
“It is a complex and costly process,” says Sobotzik about the work that the branch manager Andreas Mohr takes on. As usual, Sobotzik does not want to give details on key figures. What is certain, however, is that the budget will increase significantly compared to the regional league. Which is mainly due to the guaranteed TV revenues of currently around 1.2 million euros. According to our information, the OFC is currently planning a team budget of around 2.6 million euros in the regional league. One class higher it should rise to up to four million euros, the total budget from around 3.2 million to 5.5 to six million euros. To this end, the OFC must also create new positions, including appointing a stadium officer. In addition, the requirements in the media and communication area are increasing.
In addition to the OFC, according to our information, at least eight clubs from the Regionalliga Südwest submit the registration documents. Leaders SC Freiburg II are among them, TSV Steinbach Haiger, SV Elversberg, SSV Ulm 1846, FC Homburg, FSV Frankfurt and, somewhat surprisingly, TSG Balingen, which was actually relegated in the past Corona season.
At the Bornheimers, who resumed training after the Corona outbreak, auditors and accountants are tying the work together under the leadership of Managing Director Patrick Spengler. The budget for promotion will also increase many times over at FSV compared to the previous one in the regional league. Before Corona it was around 1.5 million euros. Because of the Corona situation, however, viewer income is difficult to calculate, this season the Frankfurters have almost none. While in the regional league, i.e. before the outbreak of the corona pandemic, there were around 1,600 spectators per home game, in the 3rd division there were 3,300.
In the 3rd division, the FSV was only active in 2016/17, slipped into a sporting and even greater economic crisis and, after relegation and averting insolvency, needed three seasons to work hard and earn this comfortable starting position. The OFC fared even worse. Since the admission to the 3rd league was refused in 2013 and the ensuing bankruptcy, the Kickers have been fighting for resurrection. After 15 points from the last seven games and the jump to third place, the hopes have increased again. But Sobotzik keeps the ball flat: “Our next goal is the game in Hoffenheim.” Jm / fri
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