Uwe Koschinat looks back on the year 2025. Even the negative aspects had a positive side for Rot-Weiss Essen.

When Uwe Koschinat spoke at the last press conference before a competitive match in 2025, he, too, realized how quickly the year had passed. The ideal time, then, to look back.

The biggest takeaway is, of course, positive and obvious: Under his leadership, Rot-Weiss Essen has transformed itself from a relegation candidate to a promotion contender within a year. But there were also individual moments along the way.

When asked about the low points, Koschinat immediately thought of the team’s elimination from the Lower Rhine Cup. Why? “Because it really gnaws at me. First, it was a derby you just can’t lose. Second, the way it happened—in terms of our performance—wasn’t okay, and we were knocked out of a great competition.”

Koschinat spoke of other emotional defeats, but the positive memories outweighed them this year. He mentioned the Lower Rhine Cup victory, the fact that the team earned a total of 70 points this season (73 after the win against Ulm), and the DFB Cup exit against Borussia Dortmund, in which RWE put up a strong fight.

But he wanted to highlight the 3-1 win at Jahn Regensburg in September in particular. “Because we implemented a new strategy on the field with a system change back then, and that showed that we can also play a back four very well.” This was followed by a 1-1 draw against VfL Osnabrück and a 3-0 home win against Hansa Rostock. “We picked up seven points during that busy week. That was important because it gave the team the internal conviction that we aren’t dependent on the system.”

However, the low points seem to be particularly important for development. Or rather, what is learned in those moments.

“Sometimes the negative has a silver lining. I’ve mentioned a few times before that I won’t forget the images from my first impressions of Rot-Weiss Essen,” said Koschinat, recalling: “That the performances were so disappointing that there wasn’t just criticism, but also mockery. I think what we took away from that experience is that we understood the team has to stick together very closely. That it only works if we can maintain inner strength and shut out the outside world even during difficult phases. That’s very, very important at a big club like RWE.”