Adler Union Frintrop have been dramatically relegated from the Oberliga. However, there will be no major upheaval, and the top scorer will remain independent of the league.
Soccer can sometimes be cruel. Want an example? Adler Union Frintrop were relegated from the Oberliga last Sunday because their direct rivals TSV Meerbusch scored the winning goal in the 95th minute to win 2-1 against VfB Hilden. With a draw, Adler Union would have celebrated their relegation, but in the end, a few seconds were missing.
In the Frintropers’ last home game, against TVD Velbert, it was the 95th minute that robbed the Essen showpiece club of two important points. On that occasion, the home side conceded a penalty at the final whistle to make the final score 3:3.
This is another reason why relegation from the Oberliga is so bitter. The Wasserturm team had held their own against their rivals for a long time with their very limited financial resources, but in the end the soccer gods were not on the side of the future regional league team.
“I’ve since recovered to some extent, but on Sunday there was just emptiness in my head. At that moment, I couldn’t hold back my tears and bewilderment,” top scorer Yannick Reiners told Forecasting.
Adler Union Frintrop “like a little second family”
However, Reiners can still look back with pride at the team spirit throughout the club: “Sunday was one of the bitterest days for many of us. We traveled to Meerbusch with 40 or 50 people just to share in the excitement. That fills you with pride and shows that we’ve done a lot of things right in recent years. We’re not just colleagues on the pitch, we’re like a little second family – and nobody can take that away from us!”
The fact that they were just one minute short of relegation clearly shows that Adler Union were definitely competitive after their sensational double promotion. Frintrop’s number nine sees it similarly:
“Many people didn’t think we could even begin to compete in the Oberliga, but I think we showed, especially in the second half of the season, that we could keep up in terms of soccer, plus we had our mega fans behind us. Little things and perhaps a bit of experience at this level were missing in the end. But we will get up again and come back even stronger, even if a few days of moping are perfectly fine now.”
In this mission, the club led by head coach Marcel Cornelissen can continue to rely on the services of its top scorer. Regardless of relegation, the 27-year-old will remain at the Wasserturm. The 2.04-metre man has been playing in Frintrop since 2001 and has been the personified goal guarantee for years
I can say for myself that I never had any other thoughts in my head and it was clear to me from the start that I would go into my 24th year at Adler Union Frintrop.
Yannick Reiners
2022 Reiners scored 27 goals in the district league championship, a year later he became top scorer in the regional league with 30 goals. In his first Oberliga season, he scored ten times in 27 games. In total, the striker scored 143 goals in 207 senior games for Adler Union.
More games and goals will be added from the summer onwards. “I can say for myself that I never had any other thoughts in my head and it was clear to me from the start that I would start my 24th year at Adler Union Frintrop. We will sit down together at the beginning of the preparation and talk about what we want to do. We definitely want to build on the performances we’ve shown, maintain our DNA and give our fans lots of great moments again next year,” Reiners looks ahead.