Timo Becker may no longer play for FC Schalke 04, but he’s still a fan. Now he could be promoted to the Bundesliga with his current club Holstein Kiel.

When Timo Becker won 2-0 with Holstein Kiel against his great love FC Schalke 04 in the Gelsenkirchen Arena on the fourth matchday of Bundesliga 2, he probably assumed that his team’s performance was just as much a flash in the pan as that of S04.

But it wasn’t. “It always looks stupid when you come here as a Schalke team and then win,” Becker told Forecasting afterwards. Born in Herten, Becker is a Schalke supporter through and through, as are his friends. After promotion two years ago, the professional, who was on loan from the Royal Blues to Hansa Rostock at the time, celebrated with his former teammates on an open-top bus, from which the players cheered on their supporters.

In order to be in Gelsenkirchen in time for the promotion celebrations for the decisive game against FC St. Pauli on the penultimate match day, Becker had himself substituted early for Hansa Rostock’s away game in Nuremberg.

Even after the win with Kiel, he hoped that Schalke would quickly get back on track. “And then I hope that we have another party like this at the end and I can go on the bus,” he explained. Now it is quite possible that he will be able to celebrate promotion on an open-top bus after the season. But this bus would probably drive through Kiel. Because after the first half of the season, the Storks are a whopping 15 points ahead of the miners at the top of the table

And Becker is having the season of his life. He made 13 appearances in the first half of the season, missing the other four games due to injury or illness. The right-back, who also played for Rot-Weiss Essen, scored three goals. That is already as many as he scored in the whole of last season. Most recently, he scored in the convincing 3-0 win against Hannover 96 on the last matchday before the winter break. He also set up a goal in this match.

“Very great first half of the season with a perfect finish,” Becker wrote on Instagram. “Feels great. Proud of this team.” With Steven Skrzybski, who is also an S04 fan, Timon Weiner and Lewis Holtby, a whole host of former Schalke players play in Kiel. They can all dream of the Bundesliga. At any rate, they are currently a lot closer to promotion than their former club from Gelsenkirchen