Third division football club Rot-Weiss Essen can rely on its fans. The Hafenstraße was almost sold out again against FSV Zwickau.

Rot-Weiss Essen against FSV Zwickau – this match took place on the 14th third division matchday at the Hafenstraße stadium. The last time these two clubs met was over 25 years ago.

On 17 May 1997, Essen conceded a 1:2 defeat against the Swans in the 2nd Bundesliga. In the Georg Melches Stadium at the time, 3341 fans were there live.

When Essen’s stadium announcer Walter Ruege then announced the number of spectators during the second half on Saturday afternoon, it quickly became clear that more than five times as many fans as 25 years ago were making the pilgrimage to Hafenstraße: 17,317 was the number of the day – an impressive crowd. About 600 fans from Saxony travelled with them to Essen.

The spectators then saw an intense, contested game. After 93 minutes, there was no winner, the two third division teams separated 1-1. Felix Götze (26th) leveled the early visitors’ lead by Mike Könnecke (3rd) with an impressive lob.

By virtue of the game against Zwickau, Essen overtook TSV 1860 München in the spectator rankings for third-division home games, also according to total attendance, and is now in second place. In seven home games, a total of 112,454 fans were on hand at Hafenstraße – an average of 16,065 spectators per duel. At 1860 München, all home games were sold out, making 105,000 visitors in seven appearances at Grünwalder Straße.

Only Dynamo Dresden is ahead of Essen in this ranking: seven games, 152,142 fans, 21,735 spectators on average.