SV Sandhausen presented its second new signing before the winter break. He comes from Austria.

The football year is not yet over for SV Sandhausen, but the third division club is already preparing for the period after the winter break. One day before the home game against VfB Lübeck (Tuesday, 7 p.m.), SVS announced the signing of Patrick Greil.

The 27-year-old is moving from Austrian Bundesliga club Rapid Vienna to Hardtwald and is expected to strengthen the central midfield of coach Jens Keller’s team. “He is a very strong player who exudes an incredible amount of goal-scoring potential and presence in the game,” said Keller about the new signing. “Patrick brings a lot of quality and will do our offensive play good.”

Greil has spent his career in Austria so far and had been under contract with Rapid Vienna since the summer of 2020. He barely got a look-in there this season. Overall, the midfielder brings the experience of 64 appearances (five goals, eight assists) in the Austrian top flight with him to Sandhausen. His new club did not provide any information on the duration of the contract.

Greil is already the second winter signing for SVS after Lithuanian central defender Edvinas Girdvainis. It seems that the second division relegated team wants to make further adjustments after the major changes in the summer and prepare for a possible promotion race.

In recent weeks, Sandhäuser has been one of the most form-strongest third division teams. But the 4-0 loss at FC Ingolstadt at the weekend was a setback. The basement team is currently in sixth place in the table, three points behind the relegation spot – level on points with Rot-Weiss Essen, which suffered a 2-0 home defeat against Sandhausen at the beginning of December.

Apart from the two newcomers from the Palatinate, the third division clubs have so far held back on transfers. Only SSV Ulm 1846 has already announced that Philipp Strompf (Vastaras SK/Sweden) will strengthen their team for the rest of the season.