2nd League: Outsiders Holstein Kiel celebrates autumn championship

Despite the upheaval in the summer

“Leaders, frontrunners, hey, hey,” sang the fans of Holstein Kiel and celebrated a perfect end to the first half of the season. With a confident 3-0 win against Hannover 96 on Saturday evening, Kiel achieved its fifth win in a row in the 2nd Bundesliga. “We are happy about the table situation, the points and also the way we are playing. That makes us very proud,” said coach Marcel Rapp.

What no one could have expected before the season: A completely newly formed team is now celebrating Christmas as autumn champions – and not the big names in the league. For the undefeated FC St. Pauli there are more draws than wins. At third-placed Hamburger SV, the future of coach Tim Walter remains unclear even after the 2-0 win in Nuremberg. Bundesliga relegated Hertha BSC is already ten points behind Kiel after a 0-0 draw against bottom-placed Osnabrück. At FC Schalke 04 there is a gap of 15 points.

There was a big upheaval in Kiel in the summer. 15 players left the club, including long-time top performers such as former captain Hauke ​​Wahl (29), veteran Fin Bartels (36) and winger Fabian Reese (26). In return, nine new players were added. Nevertheless, there were no adjustment problems. Four of the first five games of the season have already been won outright.

“I think a lot was done right with the additions,” said striker Benedikt Pichler (26). “Every single player that was brought in is really extremely hungry. There are no players who see Kiel as the last step in their career and want to end their career slowly. It’s a great opportunity for the young players in particular to develop.”

Examples of this include 19-year-old full-back Tom Rothe, who was loaned from Borussia Dortmund and has already been directly involved in seven goals. Or the 20-year-old central defender Colin Kleine-Bekel, who was also trained at BVB but has been under contract in Kiel since the summer of 2022 and has already played four international matches for the German U21 national team. The KSV squad value has increased by around 41 percent since the transfer deadline in the summer, with only Nuremberg ahead of Kiel in the percentage ranking. In the comparison of squad value vs. league rank, only St. Pauli has a larger plus.

Holstein Kiel relies on a broad squad and doesn’t put pressure on itself

Another strength is the breadth of the squad, especially in attack. The fact that the two most successful scorers to date, Pichler (seven goals) and Steven Skrzybski (31; five goals), missed the last two games of the first half of the season was easily compensated for thanks to the Japanese national player Shuto Machino (24) and the up-and-coming Fiete Arp (23). . Arp in particular is in strong form. The former HSV and FC Bayern striker also scored twice against Hannover (minute 27/45), but then had to leave the field injured.

“For me it’s just a great finish because I worked hard for it,” explained Arp. About the chances in the promotion race, he said: “We’re not putting a lot of pressure on ourselves. I think we’re just having a positive upswing. We have the confidence that we’ve earned and we have that hunger to keep picking up points and staying on top.”

As an early Christmas present, before the last game of the year there were also contract extensions with midfield veteran and co-captain Lewis Holtby (33; until 2025) and goalkeeper Timon Weiner (24; until 2027) – an all-round successful pre-Christmas celebration.

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