Germania Ratingen 04/19 is spending the winter break at the top of the Oberliga Niederrhein table. With 17 rounds to go, they have a six-point lead.
Jens Stieghorst proved he had a really good eye in May 2025 when he lured Damian Apfeld to the Stadionring.
Since the former coach of Rot-Weiss Essen’s U19 team and the senior teams of FC Kray and ETB Schwarz-Weiß Essen took over at Germania Ratingen, everything has been running smoothly. RSV 04/19 is six points ahead of the competition at the halfway point of the Oberliga Niederrhein season.
Forecasting voted Apfeld “Coach of the First Half of the Season.” We also spoke with him.
Yannick Geisler, another former professional, is also leaving Ratingen in the winter. Geisler was once under contract with SC Verl, SC Wiedenrück, Sportfreunde Siegen, and Wuppertaler SV. His new destination is unknown. The 31-year-old defensive midfielder, who has played in over 150 regional league games, has to cut back due to work commitments. Damian Apfeld, how do you rate your team’s first half of the season? After the big upheaval in the summer, we very quickly grew together as a well-functioning unit. We are also very satisfied with our points average, even if there were too many unnecessary draws at the end – as 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 victory at VfB 03 Hilden was something special. It was great to start the first half of the season like that. And what was the most negative experience? Unfortunately, that also has something to do with Hilden: it was the Lower Rhine Cup round of 16 and our elimination against VfB. We were unfortunately lacking in many areas in that important game. That was disappointing.
Will there be any changes to the squad during the winter break?
We would like to strengthen our defensive line-up. In recent games, we have had hardly any defensive players available. We’ve had to improvise and constantly hope that no more players get injured or suspended. Two field players will also be leaving us in the winter. They are Yannick Geisler and Fabrizio Fili. What is your goal for the rest of the season? We want to continue to stabilize our performance and win many games. Let’s see where we stand in the table at the end of the season.
