This week, the first round of the Niederrheinpokal gets underway. VfB Bottrop, promoted from the Landesliga, welcomes the Oberliga team VfB Hamborn to the Jahnstadion at home.

Next Wednesday (24 August, 7:30 p.m.), VfB Bottrop welcomes Oberliga team VfB Homberg for the first round of the Niederrheinpokal. New coach Michael Schrank, who took over from Patrick Wojwod after Bottrop’s promotion to the Landesliga, is already feeling a bit of cup euphoria: “There is certainly anticipation. But at the moment we are still concentrating on the preparation.”

According to Schrank, the preparation was “mixed. Due to the promotion, we had a change in the team, some players left and some new ones joined. There were also a few players missing in the last few weeks. Some were injured, others were on holiday. So we never had the complete team together,” the Bottrop coach complains about the past weeks. Nevertheless, he is positive about the upcoming match and the start of the Landesliga: “We still have to make the best of it. If we have all the players together, we have a good team.”

Bottrop’s opponents are the Regionalliga relegated VfB Homberg. “VfB Homberg is an ambitious Oberliga team. They are certainly the favourites,” Schrank assesses the opponent for Wednesday evening. However, the start of the season did not go according to plan for Homberg. With one draw and two defeats, the team from Duisburg is in 16th place in the table after three matchdays and thus in a relegation spot.

Missing competitive experience could be a disadvantage

Although the Homberg team started the season badly, there is an advantage for the team from Duisburg. Because the Oberliga started on the first weekend in August, they could already gain competitive experience. For VfB Bottrop, on the other hand, the season does not start until the weekend after next. “Of course, that is a disadvantage,” Schrank agrees. “Without competitive matches, you never really know where you stand. Match practice is a huge advantage.”

Despite Hamborn’s role as favourites, Schrank formulates the goal for the upcoming cup match as follows: “We want to progress. The cup is an important competition and generally we want to win every game.” On the weekend after the first cup round, the Bottrop team will then start the season with a home match against PSV Wesel-Lackhausen. “We first have to get to know the league, acclimatise there and stabilise. And then we want to annoy as many as possible. You can’t plan much higher than that yet,” he says, setting out the plan for VfB Bottrop’s first season in the Landesliga in eight years.