Vitesse Arnheim was still clinically dead in September. With coach Rüdiger Rehm and many fans, the traditional club is rolling up the field from behind.
When you look at the minus sign in the table, everything comes back to Rüdiger Rehm. The desperate fight for the license with Vitesse Arnheim, the rescue long after the start of the season, the emotional first home game in front of a sold-out crowd.
“The last few months have been a brutal roller coaster ride. Now all that’s left is to get rid of this deficit,” says the coach of the traditional Dutch club.
A draw on Friday (8:00 p.m.) at FC Eindhoven would be enough to at least get to zero after starting with a twelve-point deduction. It’s small successes that make Vitesse happy at the moment. Because the 2017 cup winner is happy to be alive at all – even if it is at the bottom of the second division.
The former European Cup participant only received the license at the last instance at the beginning of September. The league had been running for four weeks – without Vitesse. “We weren’t dead yet, but we were in the intensive care unit. We were hanging by a thread,” says Rehm in an interview with the “Sport-Information-Service” (SID) about the time of fear.
Only an appeals court gave Vitesse its license back. A little later, the first home game became a token of love: 24,000 fans meant a sold-out house, Vitesse beat Helmond 3-1 after falling behind.
Netherlands: Vitesse Arnhem’s miracle comeback
The encounter was already emotionally charged, after all, as every September, the Battle of Arnhem in 1944 was remembered. “It all happened in one day. It was an unbelievable story that you couldn’t make up,” says Rehm.
For a long time it was not clear that eleven players were playing. Many professionals had left Vitesse because of the uncertain situation. When the license finally came, Rehm still had eight players available and the transfer window was closed. “It was only about players without a club,” says Rehm, who looked primarily in Germany.
The discarded Marco Schikora came from Sandhausen and Elias Huth from Regensburg. Maximilian Brüll, who was no longer needed in Mönchengladbach, signed as the new goalkeeper and saved a penalty against Helmond.
And now? What’s next for Vitesse, which has been first class for 35 years in a row until 2024? The good news: Arnheim can’t get relegated in the “Keuken Kampioen Divisie” – but they can actually still get up. This is made possible by dividing the season into four sections.
“If you win a period and don’t come last in the final table, you’re at least in the play-offs,” says Rehm. Vitesse therefore wants to hit the transfer market in winter.
But the club has already won the most important victory, namely in court. “Without him, this wonderful club with this size and this charisma would no longer have been worth anything,” says Rehm: “And now it’s about gilding this victory.”