Surprise 3. Liga leaders Spielvereinigung Elversberg ask VfL Bochum to the DFB Cup dance on Tuesday evening (8.45pm). RS spoke to the SVE manager.

These Elversberg players are amazing: After twelve match days, the Spielvereinigung is leading the table in the 3rd division. Who would have thought that? Nobody had really taken the promoted team from the Saarland into account, at least not as far as the top positions are concerned.

But if you look a little deeper into the club’s structures, a few things become clear: Elversberg simply keeps up the good work. “Continuity is always the most important thing for us. We lost few players before the season, and have become even stronger. But we have built up the squad base in recent years,” Nils-Ole Book (36), who has been sports director at SVE since the end of October 2018, tells RevierSport. Horst Steffen (53) has been in charge as coach for just as long.

This kind of cooperation is a gift. We always had the goal of promotion and we achieved it last season. There were also critical phases that we had to get through together.

Nils-Ole Book on working together with Horst Steffen

Born in Krefeld, Steffen will be familiar to many KFC fans and MSV Duisburg supporters. The former midfielder played 208 professional games for Uerdingen and 91 matches for Duisburg. “This kind of cooperation is a gift. We always had the goal of promotion and we achieved it last season. There were also critical phases that we had to get through together. In the end, both of us, but also the president, are driven by success to further develop a great team. And that’s working out quite well,” says Book, who comes from Beckum in East Westphalia and once played 16 matches for MSV Duisburg.

But Book also has to admit that he had not expected SV Elversberg to be leading the Third Division table after twelve games. “Of course, you couldn’t expect that,” says Book. And the goals for the rest of the season?

It’s still a duel between 3rd and 1st division. We want to win that too, of course. But it’s a first division team and they have a great team. We have a small chance and we want to use it. Of course, advancing would be good for us both sportingly and financially.

Nils-Ole Book

The successful manager replies: “We are good enough not to let them take that away from us. By that, of course, I mean staying in the league, our primary goal for the season. I believe that our team can also maintain that level. We are not playing above our level. I don’t see the slump that could come. We’re just looking forward to every other game and every other win. “

This should also succeed on Tuesday evening (20.45, RevierSport-Liveticker) against VfL Bochum. As a reminder: In round one of the DFB Cup, the third division newcomers eliminated Bayer Leverkusen, and now VfL, bottom of the Bundesliga, is coming. “It’s still a duel of 3rd against 1st league. Of course we want to win it. But it’s a first division team and they have a great team. We have a small chance that we want to use. Of course, advancing would be good for us both athletically and financially,” Book emphasises.

The player from Elversberg also “outed” himself as a small VfL sympathiser. Book: “I also come from Westphalia and always thought Bochum was cool. They used to be the ‘undelegable’. I’m keeping my fingers crossed for VfL that they might manage to stay in the league in a photo finish, maybe in the relegation. “