The Sport- und Spielvereinigung announced some personnel changes shortly before Christmas – two additions and two departures.

From 1 January 2023, Kento Wakamiya will move to Velbert from 1. FC Bocholt and play for SSVg Velbert.

The 23-year-old can be used on both offensive wingers. “He is difficult to defend for any opponent with his speed and agility. Kento is a really good player,” Oliver Kuhn, SSVg boss, is pleased to say.

Before his time in Bocholt, Wakamiya played for Sportfreunde Niederwenigern in the Oberliga.

Also from 1 January 2023, Hinata Gonda will be eligible to play for the Oberliga Niederrhein leaders. Gonda has already been training with SSVg Velbert for two and a half months and has since been able to convince the coaching team around Dimitrios Pappas of his worth. The 20-year-old, who previously played for a university team in Tokyo, feels at home in central midfield and can be deployed in the “8” and “10” positions in the future.

Meanwhile, the Velbert team announced that Axel Glowacki will leave the Sunflower and play for neighbouring TVD Velbert from the new year. Glowacki has played just three minutes in the current season.

Patrick Schikowski has played more. The winger played 18 matches (two goals, two assists) and is now leaving SSVg Velbert. “Unfortunately, the time constraints of his medical studies and the ambitious plans of the current Oberliga team with the targeted promotion to the Regionalliga cannot be reconciled at the moment. We wish Patrick Schikowski all the best for the future. Perhaps our paths will lead us together again at a later date, but at the moment Patrick would like to concentrate on his studies, which we as a club support one hundred percent,” explains Kuhn.