The coach stays, the main sponsor too, the sporting director leaves, plus at least 13 players. FC Wegberg-Beeck is facing a radical change.

FC Wegberg-Beeck must be relegated from the Regionalliga West. The club will return to the Mittelrheinliga in the 2024/25 season.

Then with the coaching duo from the current season, but with a completely new squad. A few days ago, the club announced that, despite relegation, it plans to continue with coach Stephan Houben and his assistant Mike Schmalenberg. After many years at the club, however, sporting director Friedel Henßen is leaving the club.

In a statement, the club said: “The team of Houben and Schmalenberg will now have primary responsibility and be the first point of contact for the team.”

The position of sporting director is therefore unlikely to be filled. This means that Schmalenberg will have a lot of work to do, as it is already clear that 13 players will be leaving Wegberg-Beeck.

Shpend Hasani, Sebastian Wilms, Mathias Hülsenbusch (SV Bergisch Gladbach), Takahito Ohno, Toranosuke Abe, Tobias Müller, captain Maurice Pluntke (SG Holzheim), Norman Post (Dynamo Erkelenz), Timo Bornemann and Merlin Schlosser (both on loan), Yannik Hasenbein (Bergisch Gladbach?), Justin Hoffmanns and Julio Torrens will be taking on new challenges.

The future of Marc Kleefisch, Yannik Leesmacher, Timo Braun, Leon Pesch, Joel Cartus, Finn Theißen, Alec Vinci, Finn Stromberg, Adrijan Behrami and regular goalkeeper Ron Meyer is still open.

Nevertheless, those responsible assume that they will have a strong squad for the Mittelrheinliga. Important here: Werner Tellers will remain the club’s main sponsor, “naturally with a budget adapted to the league”, as the club explained.

The last game with this squad will therefore be played on Friday (7:30 p.m.) when Wegberg-Beeck visit Rot-Weiß Oberhausen at the Stadion Niederrhein.