It’s the top match of the upcoming Regionalliga matchday: league leaders Alemannia Aachen face Fortuna Köln at an almost sold-out Tivoli.

The next stop on Alemannia Aachen’s promotion mission is Fortuna Köln. On Saturday afternoon (March 30, 2 p.m.), the league leaders will face the third-placed team from the southern city at the Tivoli.

A total of 27,300 tickets have already been sold for this top match. 29,000 fans are expected on Saturday, a fantastic crowd. Alemannia head coach Heiner Backhaus is once again looking forward to the huge support of his own fans:

“We always have finals now and we always owe it to the people who make this such a festive day that we give it our all. That is the absolute DNA of the club. We can go into the game with a broad chest and know that we have the best fans ever behind us, who will forgive anything and are brutally behind us. We want to play with this energy. The first spark has to come from the team for the atmosphere and energy. A madhouse always needs a pace that goes with it. And the players have to exemplify that.”

A home win could see Aachen take a big step towards the championship, while a defeat would bring Fortuna Köln right back into the race, who could close the gap to six points with a win. Backhaus is aware of the difficulty of the task and is hoping for a confident performance from his squad:

I want to turn this squad into a promotion team.

Heiner Backhaus

“When we played in Cologne six months ago, we were ten points behind, now we’re nine points ahead of Fortuna Cologne. That’s a cushion, of course. Fortuna Cologne are a really good team and one of the top teams in the league with the ball. They scored half of their goals from their own possession. But we also want to and can think about ourselves.”

Successful coach Backhaus does not want to look too far into the future just yet. However, the former professional did let one sentence slip: “I want to turn this squad into a promotion team. “