The SV Rödinghausen is the top team heading into the duel in Duisburg. The MSV is in second place, the SVR in sixth – only three points separate the teams. The chase duel takes place on Saturday.
After a mixed start to the season with just four points from four games, SV Rödinghausen has now become one of the top teams in the Regionalliga West.
The club from eastern Westphalia has picked up 13 points from their last five matches and will now travel to MSV Duisburg full of confidence. And on Saturday (October 5, 2:00 p.m.) in Duisburg-Meiderich, the SVR will be looking to pull off another surprise. “We have put together a really good team, including in terms of depth. If we fight and run for each other like we have in the last few games, then we’ll be hard to beat,” Julian Wolff told Forecasting.
With 18 goals scored – the sixth-best league tally – and only nine conceded (only MSV have conceded fewer, with six, editor’s note), SVR have a strong offense and a rock-solid defense.
SVR captain Wolff, who has over 300 fourth-division matches under his belt, is in a good position to comment. He, too, is quick to point out that head coach Farat Toku has formed a great community that stands up for each other. That has always been the strength of the coach: forming real units – just remember the Toku era at SG Wattenscheid 09. With the smallest of means, the 44-year-old managed to surprise the league with the SG year after year.
“I don’t look back at all anymore. What counts is the present. The team is currently doing a good job. But we haven’t achieved anything yet. It’s also pointless to talk about goals at this point in the season. Our goal is always the next game, and with that, the next win,” says Toku.
But of course Toku is also aware that expectations in Rödinghausen have grown since 2019/2020 at the latest, when Enrico Maaßen’s team won the championship. They have since finished sixth twice, fourth once and then eighth last time out. “We want to play a good role,” said SVR sporting director Alexander Müller ahead of the season.
Toku and the team will be judged on that. The aim is to finish in the top third, and ideally to challenge for first place. Toku, like SV Rödinghausen as a club, is ambitious as a coach.
The Bochum native took over the East Westphalia club in the 2023/2024 season in 15th place and still managed to lead SVR to a respectable 8th place in the table. The positive development will continue this season. The last victories against Wuppertal, Bocholt, Düren and Cologne’s U21 underline this development of the team and the individual players.
In first place: of course, this is where Rödinghausen’s next opponent, MSV Duisburg, wants to be. The only thing on the Zebras’ minds in this series is immediate promotion – something Toku is well aware of.
“We’re going to Duisburg to get something. But we also know what to expect there. MSV is always the favorite at home in this league. They have a very good squad and great fans behind them. But we’re also looking forward to this challenge, like every other week,” says Toku.
SV Rödinghausen has done very well with this understatement so far this season.