Great joy in Oberhausen! FC Sterkrade 72 has reached the district cup final and is delighted to have won the Lower Rhine Cup for the 2024/2025 season.
VfB Bottrop, Sterkrade-Nord, Spvvg. Sterkrade 06/07: Two top district league teams and one regional league team have been the “victims” of FC Sterkrade 72 in the Oberhausen-Bottrop District Cup so far.
The Kreisliga A table leader has been in the final since Tuesday evening (December 12, 2023)! In the Sterkrade derby, 72 won 6:4 in front of 250 spectators against Spielvereinigung, the leaders of District League Group 5 in the Lower Rhine region.
The final will take place at the end of May or beginning of June against another top team from the district league: SV Rhenania Bottrop.
“We did what we can do. We showed pure passion and deserved to reach the final. We also had enough chances to decide the game in 90 or 120 minutes. But winning a penalty shoot-out is another level of emotion,” said a delighted 72-man coach Patrick Wojwod the day after.
The score was 1:1 after 120 minutes before Jannis Heins, Angelo Gerbeshi, David Fojcik, Lars van Gelder and Damian Ford all converted penalties in the penalty shoot-out to secure a 6:4 victory for FC Sterkrade. “We’re like the 1st FC Saarbrücken of the district cup (laughs),” said Wojwod.
Wojwod’s third final – top of the district league
On FC Sterkrade 72’s Facebook page, the club’s managers also commented on the 2024/2025 Lower Rhine Cup, as the A-league club has already qualified for the attractive association cup by reaching the final of the district cup.
“We’re already dreaming of MSV Duisburg, Rot-Weiss Essen or Rot Weiß Oberhausen. Our boys around head coach Patrick Wojwod were able to achieve a great end to the year by reaching the final. We are now going into the well-earned break with a really positive feeling. Then it’s full steam ahead to our goal of promotion to the district league!”
On a side note: This is coach Wojwod’s third district cup final in the last five years as coach. He has won the trophy twice with VfB Bottrop – against Fortuna and Rhenania Bottrop. As we all know, all good things come in threes.
And then there is the fight for promotion to the district league. FC Sterkrade 72 (45 points) and Arminia Lirich (43 points) are in a neck-and-neck race. FC 72 has conceded points twice this season, while Sterkrade has lost twice to Arminia Lirich. And yet the Wojwod team is still ahead. “We also want to be in front at the end. That’s our goal,” he emphasizes. Maybe there will be a district cup win on top of that
