Third division team SC Verl is currently shaking up the league. There are several reasons for this. One of them is the strong morale within the team.

SC Verl got off to a bad start this season and conceded three defeats in the first three matchdays. Many experts were already counting the third division club among the hottest relegation candidates at this point. Anyone who had placed a bet back then that Verl would be in third place in the table after 16 games would probably have won a fortune – but it actually turned out that way.

With six wins and two draws from the last eight games, head coach Alexander Ende’s side have climbed to third place and knocked Rot-Weiss Essen (who are level on points but Verl have the better goal difference) out of the relegation places.

Despite the departures of regular players such as Vinko Sapina and Joel Grodowski and former coach Michel Kniat, those responsible have once again managed to put together a good, competitive team from modest resources this season.

The most recent coup was the 2:1 win at SV Waldhof Mannheim on Friday evening. In this game, the Ende team once again had to prove their strong morale. Verl were 1-0 down at the break and played a weak first half.

After the break, the visitors improved significantly, turned the game around with goals from Oliver Batista Meier and Lars Lokotsch and should have won even more in the end. It was the third game in a row in which the SCV turned a 0:1 deficit into a win

In total, this feat has already been achieved five times in 2023/24 – an outstanding record. It is therefore not surprising that Verl is the league leader in this category. No other team has scored as many points after falling behind as the East Westphalians, who have won 16 of their 27 points after trailing 1-0.

In comparison: TSV 1860 Munich have fallen behind eight times this season and then failed to pick up a single point…