After relegation from the Oberliga Niederrhein, 1. FC Mönchengladbach is making a fresh start. The goal in the coming season is to stay in the Landesliga 1 Niederrhein.
After two years in the Oberliga Niederrhein, 1. FC Mönchengladbach will have to compete in the Landesliga again next season. With only 13 points, the club was bottom of the table last season and was thus able to start planning for the future at an early stage.
Andre Dammer worked for years in the club’s youth team and took over the first team in the summer. The Gladbach team won the first test match against the district league team VfL Jüchen-Garzweiler without any problems with 9:1. Last Sunday, KFC Uerdingen invited to the opening of the season and organised a small tournament, where Blau-Weiß Mintard was also a guest.
The first game against Mintard was a 3-1 defeat for the relegated Oberliga team. Dammer said after the game: “That was our second test game and already a considerable improvement on the first. I was very satisfied with the first 45 minutes, we could have taken the lead. In the final phase, we lost a bit of steam.”
The team of the 1st FC has been retreaded after the relegation and mainly equipped with players from the own youth. “Only four players remained from last year’s squad, the rest are all new arrivals. The rebuild will take a few weeks, we now have five weeks until the first matchday and we want to make the most of them. “
For the time being, Gladbach are not talking about re-promotion
External additions have not yet been presented. “The player market is relatively exhausted and we don’t have the financial means to do anything else. We have to see who else wants to join us and who would be a reinforcement.” For the past week, however, a total of six Asian players have been in training to try out for a contract in the Landesliga.
For the time being, Gladbach are not talking about a return to the top flight. The club has developed a three-year plan and the only objective for the coming season is to stay in the Landesliga 1 Niederrhein. “For now, we want to keep the league and stabilise ourselves. We want to keep the team together and then strengthen it in three or four positions. Then we’ll see where the journey takes us.”
On the first matchday of the new Landesliga season, Mönchengladbach will host SC 1911 Kapellen-Erft (28 August, 3:30 pm). The first competitive match will take place just a few days before, with Sportfreunde Hamborn as guests in the first round of the Niederrheinpokal (24 August, 19:30).