In the Regionalliga West, the top match between Fortuna Köln and Alemannia Aachen is casting its shadow ahead. In the Südstadion, it will be fuller than it has been for a long time.

According to the standings, Fortuna Köln’s home match against Alemannia Aachen has not earned the attribute of top match, but the Regionalliga duel on Friday night (7:30 p.m., RS-Liveticker) is nevertheless attracting plenty of attention.

More than 6,000 spectators want to watch in the Südstadion as the front-runner receives the top favorite, which has not really gotten going so far.

This will clearly surpass Fortuna’s previous season’s best attendance from the opener against 1. FC Köln II (2541) – and also all other home games in recent months. More than 6,000 visitors last came around one and a half years ago, when Rot-Weiss Essen were the guests.

1200 fans from Aachen will officially be in attendance on Friday evening. Coach Heiner Backhaus nevertheless believes “that it can be a home game for us. But the signal for that has to be sent by our team to our fans,” as he explained in the pre-match press briefing.

The coach did not even bother to take pressure off his own team. It’s always nice and inspiring to compete with the best, Backhaus said. “If we want to attack the top again, we have to win there – or at least not lose. And that’s how we have to perform there. There are no excuses there.”

After all, the two teams are already separated by ten places in the table and nine points. Since Backhaus took over, Alemannia has stabilized and is still unbeaten (one win, two draws, one goal conceded). However, the team has yet to catch up with the rest of the league.

Backhaus with plain language: “Tomorrow is a game in which everything is at stake. There is no time for developments. Tomorrow has to be delivered.” The 41-year-old knows that Aachen will face a team that “plays top soccer technically and tactically,” but he has also identified weaknesses.

In order to exploit these, he says, a good plan is needed that has to be followed through in a disciplined manner. “For that, you need courage and greed. That’s what I expect. If we don’t make it, but have given everything, the guys are forgiven.”

The fact that with TSV and SC on Friday evening two teams rich in tradition meet – in 2000 there was the game still in the 2nd Bundesliga – does not seem to matter at all for Backhaus. “It doesn’t matter at all,” he said when asked about it. “It’s all about three points, which Alemannia Aachen absolutely needs. “

And at the same time the ex-professional let himself be carried away to a small tip in the direction of the cathedral cities. One could not compare the tradition of both clubs “with all love”. “When the stadium lights come on for us, we have more spectators than Fortuna Cologne at a home game.”

One thing is clear: Aachen continues to be the league’s spectator leader by a wide margin. The 1-1 draw against Cologne II a week ago was watched by just under 12,000 spectators – despite the current “cucumber series,” as Backhaus calls it. “You can’t compare that to any regional league team. “