At Rot-Weiss Essen, fans will still know this name: Maximilian Pronichev. He plays a big role for Regionalliga Nordost leaders Rot-Weiß Erfurt.
Six games, 14 points! The traditional club FC Rot-Weiß Erfurt has made a very good start to the 2023/2024 season and is currently in first place in the Regionalliga Nordost table.
However, the truth is also that the league is very tight: FC RWE are also top of the table, just four points ahead of eighth-placed Chemie Leipzig.
Either way: In Erfurt, people are once again proud of their Red and Whites. And one of the Erfurt fans’ favourite players is someone who has played for RWE before: Maximilian Pronichev.
The former Essen player is in top form and has five scorer points in six appearances – one goal and four assists. In coach Fabian Gerber’s team, the 25-year-old Russian is deployed in the central midfield positions, i.e. on the eight and ten. Already in the past, when he played in the Ruhr area, Pronichev showed his potential. But he is currently only exploiting this potential to the full in Erfurt.
Maximilian Pronichev once played for Schalke and Rot-Weiss Essen
In January 2020, Pronichev moved from Hertha BSC II to Rot-Weiss Essen. The former FC Schalke 04 U19 player was considered a top signing for Essen.
But in the end, after 18 months, both sides had to conclude that it was not a good cooperation after all. First Pronichev came to Essen, then Corona stopped the 2019/2020 season.
The offensive player was too rarely able to prove his ability at RWE. The numbers – 18 games, six goals, four assists – read quite well, but the Russian was considered a problem player. A difficult character. In the summer of 2022, Pronichev left Rot-Weiss Essen for second-division club SV Horn in Austria.
After one year and 25 matches (six goals, four assists) for Horn, Pronichev returned in the summer of 2023 to where he had been most successful so far in his career: the Regionalliga Nordost. He is back playing for “RWE” – FC Rot-Weiß Erfurt, and has been extremely successful to date.
