Germania Ratingen 04/19 heads into the winter break as the leader of the Oberliga Niederrhein. They hold a six-point lead with 17 rounds remaining.
Jens Stieghorst showed real foresight in May 2025 when he lured Damian Apfeld to Stadionring.
Since the former coach of Rot-Weiss Essen’s U19 team, as well as the senior squads of FC Kray and ETB Schwarz-Weiß Essen, took over at Germania Ratingen, things have been running like clockwork. At the halfway point of the Oberliga Niederrhein season, RSV 04/19 sits six points ahead of the competition.
Forecasting named Apfeld “Coach of the First Half of the Season.” We also spoke with him.
With Yannick Geisler, another former pro is leaving Ratingen this winter. Geisler previously played for SC Verl, SC Wiedenrück, Sportfreunde Siegen, and Wuppertaler SV. His next destination is unknown. The 31-year-old defensive midfielder, who has played over 150 Regionalliga matches, has to cut back due to work commitments.
Damian Apfeld, how would you assess your team’s first half of the season?
After the major shake-up in the summer, we very quickly grew together as a well-functioning unit. We’re also very satisfied with our points average, even if there were too many unnecessary draws toward the end—like in the last two home games against Holzheimer SG and 1. FC Monheim.
What has been the highlight for you so far?
The spectacular 5-4 opening-day win at VfB 03 Hilden was certainly special. It was great to start the first half of the season that way.
And what was the biggest negative experience?
Unfortunately, that also has something to do with Hilden: it was the Niederrhein Cup round of 16 and our elimination against VfB. In that crucial game, we unfortunately fell short in so many areas. That was disappointing.
Will there be changes to the roster during the winter break?
We’d like to have a bit more depth in our defensive lineup. In the last few games, we barely had any defensive players available. We had to improvise and constantly hope that no more players would get injured or pick up a suspension. Two outfield players will also be leaving us this winter. They are Yannick Geisler and Fabrizio Fili.
What is your goal for the rest of the season?
We want to continue stabilizing our performances and win as many games as possible. We’ll see where we end up in the standings at the end of the season.
