The co-captain’s contract expires. Relegation as a major goal. Disappointment at not being called up for Austria

When Patrick Fabian, managing director of sport at VfL Bochum, spoke about contract negotiations this season, he always did so with a smile when it came to Kevin Stöger. This was because the midfielder went into talks without an advisor for a long time.

Stöger was his own advisor and held contract talks with the VfL management alone. That is different now. However, Stöger’s status in the team remains unchanged, as does the hope of the VfL management that he will remain in Bochum beyond this season.

There has been a constant exchange between Stöger and the VfL management for more than a year. Stöger almost left Bochum in the winter, when league rivals Union Berlin made him an offer. However, Bochum did not want to let the top performer go at short notice.

Bochum would go to the limit for Stöger, it is said. The Bundesliga club can offer emotion, an almost guaranteed regular place, with an important role in the club and the team. Stöger knew and knows all this. Nothing fundamental has changed in the contract negotiations, apart from the fact that he no longer conducts every contract discussion with the club alone.

“I’ve now also got some support in the contract talks,” he said. “Ultimately, I have to see what’s right for me, what’s right for my family. It’s still open. If there’s something to say, I’ll say it.”

Stöger was once again only nominated for the national team on call-up

When it comes to the national team, he has now done so again. Austria national team coach Ralf Rangnick has once again only called him up for the two international matches against Slovakia and Turkey. Nevertheless, Stöger said that he still had hope of being called up.

“I was a bit disappointed that I wasn’t invited,” he said. “I think I’m doing quite well this season. You can also see that from my scoring points and data and values, in this respect I can already compete with top players.”

Stöger is VfL Bochum’s top scorer and the best Austrian in the Bundesliga

With his five goals and seven assists this season, he is not only Bochum’s top scorer, but also the best Austrian in the Bundesliga. This makes him one of the 30 best players in the league. But in addition to the national team, he has another big goal: to keep the league with VfL Bochum. The focus is now on that. “I’m going to give it my all.”

Stöger also used the four days off that coach Thomas Letsch gave the team during the international break to switch off. “I enjoyed the days with my family. I haven’t had much to do with soccer in the past few days,” he said. “I deliberately left the television off. “

For us as a team, it’s not important whether we’re favorites or not

Kevin Stöger

VfL Bochum go into the game against Darmstadt with fresh energy Stöger and his team-mates now head into the final block in the Bundesliga, starting on Sunday against league leaders SV Darmstadt 98 (7.30pm, DAZN). This is one of the few games of the season in which Bochum are favorites.

“For us as a team, it’s not important whether we’re favorites or not,” said Stöger. “That might be an issue for the fans. Maybe some fans think that we have to beat Darmstadt in any case and win clearly because Darmstadt are promoted and bottom of the table. But it won’t be easy at all, it will definitely be a similar game to the one against Mainz. We didn’t play well against Mainz, it was a dirty game. It will be the same kind of game against Darmstadt on Sunday.”

Stöger: One of VfL Bochum’s trademarks is to keep calm But the team is fit and ready for this game, “because it’s a great game in the Vonovia Ruhrstadion. We can take the next step, but we also know that the season is not over after that. All that matters to us is this game and we want to win it. It’s important for us as a team and for the fans to have a sense of achievement again after the past few weeks, which haven’t been all that great.

It is also important to stay focused. Stöger sees this as one of VfL Bochum’s greatest strengths. “I think it’s a trademark of VfL Bochum to keep calm in this situation,” he said. “We as a team are definitely staying calm. We know the situation from last season, when we saved ourselves in the last game. Now we’re in a different situation, where some people think we’ll win every game and have nothing to do with relegation.”

The team has built up a good cushion. “We’ve deservedly earned that,” said Stöger. “Maybe it could even have been a few more points. If someone had said before the season that we would be on this number of points at this point in the season, with this lead, I think everyone would have signed that. We’re on target, we want to keep getting our points. Even if we win now, the season is not over yet. “