Rot-Weiß Oberhausen has one of the best goalkeepers in the league. The defense is solid. And yet the gap to the top is quite large.

Only 14 goals conceded in 15 appearances: Robin Benz is statistically the second-best goalkeeper in the Regionalliga West behind Fortuna Köln’s keeper and captain Andre Weis (14 games, 12 goals conceded).

While Fortuna are in second place, Rot-Weiß Oberhausen are only seventh with Benz in the box. They are ten points off the top of the table. The defensively strong teams are usually at the top. But not RWO.

“Yes, that’s a shame. We’re really stable. Unfortunately, we’ve had some unfortunate games this season. We’ve also had a lot of games where we simply haven’t had any luck with our finishing. That’s also part of the truth,” muses the 28-year-old.

He adds with regard to his personally strong statistics: “I don’t attach much importance to statistics. I just want to help the team. But, of course, every goalkeeper is happy to concede so few goals. But at the end of the day, it’s about the team: and we’re not quite satisfied yet. “

This is the best squad I’ve ever played in. If we have everyone on board, I’m not worried. We have a lot of quality.

Robin Benz

But Benz, who is in his fourth year at RWO, is far from giving up. Ahead of Saturday’s home game, the Bochum native, who has long since moved to Oberhausen, emphasizes: “We have to win the games against Paderborn, Wiedenbrück and Velbert. Then we could celebrate Christmas with ten wins and attack again in the new year.”

Attack, by which he of course means attacking first place. Benz also knows that the RWO squad was put together by manager Patrick Bauder and Jörn Nowak to celebrate something big in May 2024. “It’s the best squad I’ve ever played in. But you also have to say that we were missing ten lads at times due to injury and illness in training. If we have everyone on board, I’m not worried. We have a lot of quality.”

The former Bonner SC and KFC Uerdingen goalkeeper also focuses on quality outside of sport. He is studying social sciences at Ruhr University Bochum. The academic path is very important to Benz. “I’m now in my fifth semester. Let’s see if I can maybe do a Master’s degree and then a lot of things are possible with this course. I could work in the Ministry of the Interior, at the Office for the Protection of the Constitution, at Greenpeace or somewhere in marketing. But I still have time until then. First of all, I want to play soccer for many more years,” says Benz. Preferably from summer 2024 in the 3rd division with Rot-Weiß Oberhausen.