Holstein Kiel has achieved early promotion to the Bundesliga – and with it something historic. The KSV has come this far with North German calm and composure. And if everything goes as it has so far, then the people of Kiel have come to stay, says NDR reporter Jan Neumann in his commentary.
It’s done – Schleswig-Holstein finally has a Bundesliga soccer team. Congratulations! But now there are already the first critical voices: Do we really need them in the Bundesliga? Few fans, no tradition, no one wants to see that… They’ll be relegated straight away anyway…
I would be very careful with such dire prophecies. Because this success of KSV Holstein definitely didn’t come out of nowhere.
KSV Holstein is a traditional club
Little or nothing is known about the club outside of northern Germany, but Holstein is a traditional club and was a fixture in German football a long time ago: German champions in 1912, runners-up in 1910 and 1930, and the Kiel team played until the introduction of the Bundesliga always in the top division. Never again after that – until today!
The recent success is inextricably linked to one person: Wolfgang Schwenke, managing director responsible for finances. This is in no way intended to diminish the work of the others – Steffen Schneekloth, Uwe Stöver, Marcel Rapp, Dirk Bremser, players etc. – but Schwenke is the constant in the club.
The former THW world-class handball player, who then worked as a handball coach, took over the football club in 2009 – surprisingly to outsiders. This meant that the time of trying to buy success with discarded former Bundesliga professionals or with high-priced coaches like Falko Götz was over, which above all burned money.
Schwenke is fine-tuning the development with North German calm
Instead, the continuous development was worked on with – as Schwenke himself likes to say – North German calm and composure. From 2013 onwards, within eleven years, from the fourth up to the first league. Players, coaches and athletic directors came and went – Schwenke stayed. The five-time German handball champion gave the football club structure, identity and a clear philosophy – the cornerstone of its current success.
In the seven years in the 2nd league, the Kiel team has already knocked energetically on the door to the Bundesliga twice, both times they failed in relegation despite acceptable first leg results.
Coach Marcel Rapp is a maker of improvements
The fact that it worked this season of all times is without a doubt extraordinary. Last summer, more than half the team left, including exceptional players like Fabian Reese, Hauke Wahl and Fin Bartels. Little was expected of the many newcomers, some of whom were very young. But coach Rapp has impressively proven that he is a maker of improvements.
Tom Rothe, who is just 19 years old, has the most minutes of action of all field players, while Colin Kleine-Bekel, who is currently unfortunately injured, held the defense together at the age of 21 until he tore his cruciate ligament. In addition, Rapp and his coaching team brought Fiete Arp out of his slump in form and managed to get top performances out of Lewis Holtby and Steven Skrzybski in the autumn of their careers. This list could be continued indefinitely.
Team spirit instead of group formation
When a group that was thrown together at the start of the season comes together so quickly, you can’t help but describe the squad planning as excellent. Assistant coach Bremser reported that in his decades of experience he had rarely seen a team solve most of the problems themselves and there was hardly any group formation. Everyone is hot and hungry. That too is saying a lot.
Some people will think that Holstein Kiel has no place in the Bundesliga. But I say: Let them do it… with North German calm and composure. Because if everything goes as it has before, then the people of Kiel have come to stay.
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sports club | 12.05.2024 | 11:05 p.m