After Easter, FC Energie Cottbus continues with an English week in the 3rd league. On Tuesday evening, TSV 1860 Munich comes to Lausitz. Both teams can dream of returning to the 2nd Bundesliga.
- FC Energie Cottbus welcomes 1860 Munich on Tuesday (7 p.m.).
- With a victory in Havelse, Cottbus has returned to the promotion race
- 1860 still has a chance of returning to the second division
- FCE captain Borgmann sees his team a step further than last year
The first of three tasks in the English week has FC Energie Cottbus mastered confidently. Last Saturday the Lausitzers won in the 3rd league 3-0 in Havelse – and with these three points Energie jumped back to third place in the table. This means the “mini-crisis” is over. Coach Claus-Dieter Wollitz can breathe deeply. “We have to stick with ourselves now and improve on Tuesday,” announced the Cottbus coach.
The next opponent on Tuesday evening (7 p.m.) is 1860 Munich: In terms of sporting caliber, they are one size larger than Havelse. This is evident just by looking at the squad, which includes former national player Kevin Volland. And ex-Herthan player Florian Niederlechner also played in the Bundesliga.
The Munich team will show how sustainable the energy upswing is. And whether there are parallels to last season, when Cottbus ran out of steam in the promotion battle in the second half of the season. “I realize that there are a lot of comparisons with last season. But we have proven that we are further; that we are a different team,” said captain Axel Borgmann optimistically.
Is the trend reversal sustainable?
Borgmann is confirmed by a look at the statistics: A year ago, Energie had 55 points at this point in the season, currently it is 57. However, Cottbus was second at the time, now the Lausitzers are in third place.
By the way, Cottbus and Munich really let it rip in the last meetings in the 3rd league: 3:0, 5:1 (both for 1860) and 5:1 for Cottbus are the most recent final results, which of course FCE midfielder Dominik Pelivan can also remember.
“These three games were very eventful. I think it will be a great game based on the scheduling alone,” said the 29-year-old. “It’s a floodlit game. We can look forward to a lot of action.”
Last chance for the sixties
Around 16,000 spectators will then be in Stadium of Friendship expected when the two promotion candidates meet. The starting position is very different for both teams.
For Munich, the guest appearance in Lausitz is almost the last chance in the promotion race. Both teams are separated by seven points. In the event of a defeat, there would be ten points that would be difficult to make up in the final spurt of the season. The pressure is correspondingly great for Sixty coach Markus Kauczinski. “There is still a chance, but we have to take it,” he says. “Others also manage to score points constantly, for example Osnabrück or Essen.”
The pressure on Cottbus’s shoulders isn’t that great at the moment. And yet it is clear to everyone involved at FC Energie that a home win would be extremely important. Especially with a view to the third challenge in this English week: On Sunday (1:30 p.m., live on rbb television and in the stream on rbb24.de) the Wollitz team travels to leaders Osnabrück. VfL is the best team in the second half of the season and has not lost a game this year.
Broadcast: rbb|24, April 6th, 2026, 2:25 p.m
Audio: rbb|24, April 6, 2026, Andreas Friebel
