The sensational way of FSV Mainz 05 to stay in the league – football

That has never happened in the history of the Bundesliga. Only seven points after the first half of the season and then still relegation. The 1. FSV Mainz 05 succeeded in this feat. A review:

The Mainz coach Achim Beierlorzer was confident: his team was well prepared and would play a decent season. In fact, the start was a bit difficult, but solid: 5: 1 in the DFB Cup against the regional league team Havelse. A compulsory task. No more and no less. The 1: 3 defeat in Leipzig on the first day of the Bundesliga – to get over. Nevertheless, even outsiders felt that there was rumbling between the team and the coach.

Beierlorzer-Aus after players strike

This rumble resulted in an open conflict when Beierlorzer suspended the Hungarian Adam Szalai from training. Szalai, a decisive factor in the cup win in Havelse and a member of the players’ council, had shown poor performance, said Beierlorzer. Therefore, the striker will no longer participate in training.

What followed was an open confrontation between the team and the coach. The players went on strike during training. In addition, there was a poor performance in the home game against VfB Stuttgart. After the 1: 4 swatter against the Swabians, Beierlorzer’s time in Mainz was up.

New hope with Jan-Moritz Lichte

Now the previous co-trainer should fix it: Jan-Moritz Lichte. In the Mainz coaching team since 2017. When he introduced himself, he said of himself: “I’m actually a nice guy, you can get along with me quite well.”

Maybe Lichte was just too nice, because even under him things didn’t go at all for Mainz 05. It was only on the seventh match day that the Mainz team won their first point – a 2: 2 against the later relegated Schalke. But that tie seemed to have given a boost. In the away win in Freiburg and the subsequent draw in the home game against Hoffenheim, Mainz finally seemed to have the long-awaited and much-described “curve”. Just as the hope germinated, the tender plant quickly died off after defeats in early December against the direct competitors in the relegation battle in Bielefeld and Cologne. Lichte wobbled and had to go after a 0-1 home defeat against Bremen and the cup against the second division Bochum at the end of December.

Restlessness also outside of the square

A few days earlier, the Mainz team did not cut a good figure off the field either. At the same time, when the future of coach Jan-Moritz Lichte was discussed again and again, there were also discussions about the future direction in sporting leadership. The name Christian Heidel and the wish of the board to integrate the long-time manager into the club ensured that sports director Rouven Schröder dropped out shortly before Christmas. “If I do something, I have to be 100 percent convinced of it, that is no longer the case,” said Schröder at the time. He believed his powers would be curtailed if Heidel should take on a role at the club.

The upswing comes with Heidel, Svensson and Schmidt

At the end of the year, FSV Mainz 05 was singing and sounding at the bottom of the table and without any athletic leadership. That changed very quickly at the beginning of the year. With the former Mainz coach Martin Schmidt as the sports director, Christian Heidel as the sports director and the former player Bo Svensson as the new coach, three men came to Bruchweg with a “stable odor”. Svensson in particular knew how to breathe self-confidence back into his players and to give back the fun of football. Although the first game with Svensson on the bench against Frankfurt was lost, Mainz scored a respectable point in Dortmund a week later. The race to catch up began.

Mainz 05 is developing into a favorite scare

As a result, FSV Mainz 05 under Bo Svensson developed into a real “favorite scare” in the Bundesliga: The 05ers won a draw in Leverkusen. They even won against Leipzig, Bayern Munich and Mönchengladbach. And that without the best Mainz striker to date, Jean-Philippe Mateta. The Frenchman, who was the top scorer in 05 with 7 goals, switched to Crystal Palace in the English Premier League after the first half of the season. Others took his place. For example Robert Glatzel, who came to Bruchweg from Cardiff City. Or defender Moussa Niakhaté, who suddenly mutated into a goalscorer.

Important points against the direct competition

And so the Mainz team under Bo Svensson not only scored “big points” against the big teams in the league, but also scored the really important points – against direct competition in the relegation battle. With the 0-0 at Schalke, Mainz started a series of nine games without defeat. The basis for staying up with victories against Cologne and Bremen. At the beginning of April, after the draw in Bielefeld, the Mainz team was back on a non-relegation place for the first time in almost half a year.

Not only did coach Bo Svensson make himself popular with the Mainz fans, but also the media and the whole of football Germany became aware of it. And Svensson? Accepted the upswing in Danish calmly. “I can classify that very well. I know the industry. But I also know where we come from, where we are and where we want to go in the future. That’s my focus!”

So far, one-time race to catch up

In the end, the path led to relegation. After the 1-1 draw in Frankfurt it was clear – FSV Mainz 05 could no longer relegate directly. At this point in time, Mainz had won 29 points in the second half of the season. With SV Werder Bremen’s defeat against FC Augsburg on matchday 33, it is now clear: Mainz have managed to stay on the sofa. The Mainz team can no longer be caught before their Sunday game against Borussia Dortmund. There had never been such a race to catch up in the history of the Bundesliga.

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