The U17s of FC Schalke 04 have reached the final round of the German Championship. The opponent is again a team from the West. Coach Onur Cinel doesn’t think that’s ideal.

The U17s of FC Schalke 04 have reached the final round of the German Championship for the second time in a row. This has never happened before in the long history of S04. [url=Coach Onur Cinel criticises finals mode: “Not optimal”]Schalke’s coach Onur Cinel is accordingly proud of his team[/url].

But who will be considered as opponents in the semi-finals? Unfortunately, Cinel has some not so good news for his team. Because it’s already been decided who the Königsblauen will play in the semi-finals. At least, it’s clear from which season the opponents will come from. The DFB has already drawn lots. And it will again be an opponent from the B-Junioren Bundesliga West. In other words, an opponent against whom the team has already played in the championship.

At the moment, Arminia Bielefeld, second in the table, has the best chances. But with two match days to go, BVB (three points behind and the better goal difference) as well as Bayer Leverkusen and Borussia Mönchengladbach, each four points behind, also have a chance of participating in the finals.

Just like last year, when the Knappen won against Fortuna Düsseldorf in the semi-finals, there will be no long away trip, no unknown opponents and no new experience.

Cinel doesn’t think that’s so great either. “It’s not optimal,” says the U17 coach. “From my point of view, a team that participates in the semi-finals would also deserve somewhere to get to know another opponent or to make a long away trip. We don’t have that now. That’s a great pity.” Only the other two semi-finalists will be able to enjoy this in the semi-finals.

The Bundesliga West is also a victim of its own strength. The four finalists are made up of the first three teams from the West, North/Northeast and South/Southwest divisions. According to a certain coefficient, the most successful league of the last three years may provide the fourth participant.

The West is currently leading with ten points, followed by the South/Southwest with eight points and the North/North-East with five points. Three points will be awarded to the German champion, two points to the finalists and one point to the two losing semi-finalists. In the season that features two teams, only the better team counts. So Schalke got three points for the West last year.

One approach could be to put the teams from the league that fields two participants into different draw pots in future. “We’ll take it as it comes because we can’t influence it either. But it wouldn’t be a bad approach,” says Cinel. But for that to happen, the DFB would first have to adjust its mode.

In the north, VfL Wolfsburg has already qualified for the finals. In the south, FC Bayern München, TSG Hoffenheim and VfB Stuttgart are still eligible.