Last year, ETB SW Essen’s U19s were almost promoted to the Bundesliga – and have now been dramatically relegated from the Niederrheinliga.
In football, it can go from the top to the bottom within a short period of time. ETB SW Essen’s U19s had to learn this bitterly. They failed to qualify for the Niederrheinliga. In the coming season, they will have to make a fresh start in the Landesklasse.
This is a continuation of what began in the summer of 2022. A year ago, the A Juniors were on the verge of celebrating the greatest success in their history. After a very successful season, they were almost promoted to the Bundesliga as champions of a Niederrheinliga division. It was only in the deciding match that they narrowly failed against VfB Hilden (3:4).
“Next season it will be even more difficult to get past these boys,” promised coach Dennis Czayka at the time. But Czayka himself moved to the seniors of Landesliga club SC Velbert, successor Yannik Gonzalez only stayed for a short time and so Björn Matzel took over as coach of the 13th-placed team out of a total of 16 teams in November 2022.
The former FC Kray, TuS Essen-West 81 and BV Eintracht 16 striker led the team out of the relegation zone and into the promotion round. Participation in this round, however, was not synonymous with staying in the league. In the relegation round, U17 coach Cedric Spielhoff took over.
The last two teams in the promotion round, including ETB, and the first four in the relegation round had to play a qualifier in a big qualifier with 18 other teams from the FVN area. In six groups of four teams each, only the respective group winners would be able to celebrate remaining/promotion to the A-Junioren-Niederrheinliga.
Last second knockout for ETB
Three games were played against VfB Speldorf, 1. FC Kleve 63/03 and VfL Rhede. The Essen team drew with Speldorf (2:2) and Rhede (1:1). On Sunday (18 June), the last match against Kleve was won 2:0, but it was not enough.
On the other court, there should have been shooting support. For a long time it looked like it would, but it changed dramatically within two minutes. Until the 88th minute, the home team VfB Speldorf led 2-0, which would have put ETB in first place with five points and kept them in the Niederrheinliga. But VfL Rhede still managed to win the game 3:2 and pushed past ETB with seven points.
A shock that first has to be digested at the Uhlenkrug. A new man will then take over on the sidelines. Mirko Strasdin will take over as coach, talks with players and planning for the season are already underway, as ETB announced on its own social media channels.