Regionalliga team 1. FC Kaan-Marienborn is voluntarily relegating its team to Kreisliga C at the end of the season! RevierSport spoke to the coach.

This news was an absolute hammer – and a shock for everyone involved at 1. FC Kaan-Marienborn. The fourth-placed team in the Regionalliga West will withdraw its team completely from the game at the end of the season.

This means that the reserve team, which currently plays in the Kreisliga C, will become Kaan-Marienborn’s first senior team as a result of the withdrawal.

Thus, it is a drop from the Regionalliga West to the Kreisliga C. “It was a very difficult and very sad decision for us, but in the end, unfortunately, there was no alternative. With the extreme and very sudden tightening of the licensing requirements, the West German Football Association has taken away the basis for us to continue playing in the Herkules Arena,” explained Florian Leipold, first chairman of the still-Regionalliga club, in a press release.

Who would have expected that? Probably nobody. Because: Kaan-Marienborn is the surprise team of this year’s regional league season. As Oberliga champions, the Siegen club did not need any start-up time in the higher division and was convincing right from the start. With 44 points from 26 games, the promoted team is sensationally fourth – ahead of Fortuna Köln, Alemannia Aachen or Rot-Weiß Oberhausen.

That was really a shock! I am stunned and have to let the news sink in. At the moment I can’t say much about the situation, but: I will certainly comment on it next week.

Thorsten Nehrbauer.

Coach Thorsten Nehrbauer played a big part in the club’s recent success. The coach and ex-professional led 1. FC Kaan-Marienborn to promotion to the Regionalliga for the second time in the summer of 2022 and also qualified for the DFB Cup.

The 45-year-old Nehrbauer was visibly disappointed when RevierSport asked him on Thursday evening – 23 March – about his club’s exit from the Regionalliga: “I only heard the news on Thursday – just like all the other people. It was really a shock! I am stunned and have to let the news sink in. At the moment, I can’t say much about the situation, but I will certainly comment on it next week. Both on the surprising regional league withdrawal and on my personal future.”

One thing is clear: Thorsten Nehrbauer, who can look back on two Bundesliga – and 132 Zweitliga – games in his active career, certainly does not need to worry about a future in football thanks to his excellent work. Things have been different at 1. FC Kaan-Marienborn since Thursday.