Two matchdays before the end of the season, it is still unclear whether a team from the Oberliga Niederrhein will be promoted to the Regionalliga West. Everything depends on KFC Uerdingen.
The 2023/24 season in the Oberliga Niederrhein is drawing to a close and will probably go down in the history books. It has long been clear that champions Sportfreunde Baumberg will not be exercising their right to promotion. With KFC Uerdingen, Ratingen 04/19 and ETB Schwarz-Weiß Essen, only three teams have applied for a regional league license.
It currently seems possible that neither Ratingen 04/19 nor KFC Uerdingen will be promoted. It is even possible that SV Lippstadt could end up popping the champagne corks. But why at all?
Although KFC Uerdingen could clinch sporting promotion with a home win against SpVg Schonnebeck on Friday (May 24, 7.30 pm), the leap into the fourth division is more than questionable due to financial problems. Those responsible would like to clarify before the game whether an application for insolvency should be made. Should this happen, there would be a deduction of nine points. The lead over Ratingen 04/19 is five points.
A possible insolvency would therefore be the final blow for KFC. The door would therefore be open for Ratingen 04/19 to finish in the top three, which is the prerequisite for promotion to the Regionalliga. However, Ratingen, who have stumbled recently, are just one point ahead of VfB Homberg and VfB Hilden with two games remaining. Homberg in particular have been in magnificent form of late, winning seven games in a row.
Even a nine-point deduction for Uerdingen would only give ETB Schwarz-Weiß Essen a theoretical chance of finishing in the top three. Although Essen still have three games left, they are already six points behind Ratingen. So all the teams ahead of them would have to slip up.
That’s why the cellar children have to hope for a Lower Rhine climber
Because of this constellation, SV Lippstadt is watching very closely. Should there be no Lower Rhine team promoted to the Regionalliga, SV Lippstadt, in 15th place in the Regionalliga West, would suddenly be able to stay in the league after all and not be relegated to the Oberliga Westfalen.
This would mean that four teams would suddenly be relegated from the Oberliga Niederrhein. Fifteenth place, which is currently held by DJK Adler Union Frintrop, would therefore be a relegation place. The relegation-threatened Lower Rhine clubs will therefore be keeping their fingers crossed for KFC Uerdingen and Ratingen 04/19 in the final spurt of the season – in stark contrast to SV Lippstadt