Adler Union Frintrop will play in the Oberliga Niederrhein next season. RevierSport explains which coach is behind the success of the Essen amateur club.
Marcel Cornelissen has been the coach of Adler Union Frintrop since October 2019. It has been a challenging and moving time, with many sporting highlights, Niederrheinpokal victories over Oberliga clubs, but also two Corona-related season interruptions.
The crowning glory followed on 07 May 2023: Adler Union won the Landesliga championship with an 8:0 home victory over VfB Frohnhausen.
In about three and a half years in charge, the 35-year-old has thus managed to lead the club from the Bezirksliga to the Oberliga. His record is almost unbelievable: 70 league games, 168 points – an average of 2.4. Without question: Cornelissen is the most successful amateur coach of the past two years. Yet the Rot-Weiss Essen fan was a blank slate in Essen before his move to Frintrop and previously only coached the district league team BV Rentfort.
What makes him so successful? Cornelissen is an extremely meticulous, ambitious coach who has a very good standing within the team. Week after week, he prepared his team well for the next task and the respective strengths and weaknesses of the opponent – including video analyses. In addition, the coach managed to keep the 30-man squad (25 field players, 5 goalkeepers) in good spirits. Even players who played less did not spread a bad mood, but subordinated everything to the common goals.
However, not everything went according to plan this season and the Frintrop team suffered several setbacks. The second home game was lost against DV Solingen – including a 1:4 half-time deficit – with 4:5. In addition, the champions lost both top matches against second-placed Sportfreunde Niederwenigern (2:3, 0:2). The low point was the 2:4 away defeat in the first leg in Frohnhausen.
Cornelissen was voted Essen’s coach of the year in 2022
But Cornelissen kept his cool, made the right adjustments and led his team back to success after every setback. The coach reacted to long-term absences of regular players like Leon Engelberg, Niclas Toepelt or Christian Büttner with a certain tactical variability and thus the champions were also difficult for the opponents to calculate.
Almost the most important aspect: Adler Union Frintrop did not disguise themselves in the higher league and played the cheeky, courageous offensive football from the Bezirksliga championship season. With success: 89 goals in 25 games speak for themselves – also thanks to the coach. Back in December 2022, the 35-year-old extended his contract at Wasserturm early on until 2024.
In the same month, he was also voted Essen’s coach of the year. The chances of defending the title are certainly not bad. One thing is clear: Marcel Cornelissen is a stroke of luck for Adler Union Frintrop and the architect of the double promotion.
*** Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version) ***