Just a few days before Christmas, 1. FC Bocholt officially announced two departures. Both players are transferring to Oberliga-Niederrhein clubs.

1. FC Bocholt loses two of its promotion heroes from last season. Kento Wakamiya and Arman Corovic will leave the club on 1 January 2023, the regional league club announced on Monday evening, 19 December 2022.

Corovic will move to Oberliga club ETB Schwarz-Weiß Essen. RevierSport had already announced this change at the beginning of December. “Coro”, as he is called, came to the Bocholt Hünting from FSV Duisburg in the summer of 2019. At 1. FC Bocholt, the 25-year-old centre-back played 50 games and scored four goals. In the current season, he hardly made an appearance – only seven Regionalliga appearances for a total of 357 minutes – and now he will be hoping for more match practice at the Uhlenkrug.

Centre-back Corovic enjoyed a good education and played in the youth development centres of Bayer 04 Leverkusen (2009 to 2011), VfL Bochum (2011-2014), TSV 1860 Munich (2014-12/2014), Rot-Weiss Essen (2015-2016) and Greuther Fürth (2016-2018). Later, he was still under contract with FSV Duisburg, VfB Speldorf and, since 1 July 2019, Bocholt.

Kento Wakamiya is also moving to SSVg Velbert in the Oberliga Niederrhein. The 23-year-old moved to Bocholt from Niederwenigern in 2021, where he played 52 games. The offensive player scored five goals and set up 14 goals. In the current series, the Japanese player made 13 Regionalliga appearances (one assist) for a total of 326 minutes of play.

“1. FC Bocholt would like to thank Kento and Coro for their consistently self-sacrificing, strong performances for the club, which played a major role in the club’s promotion to the Regionalliga West,” said a club press release.