Record bankruptcy for RWE
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VfL Osnabrück was promoted to the 2nd Bundesliga thanks to a historic defeat by Rot-Weiss Essen. Although Lower Saxony won’t be on the 36th matchday of the 3rd league until Sunday, the purple-whites can no longer be pushed out of the promotion zone. Essen suffered a 6-1 defeat at VfB Stuttgart’s second team. RWE has never lost more in the 3rd league. SSV Ulm and TSV Havelse lost their last remaining chance of staying in the league. The relegation of last year’s second division team and the promoted team is certain after those of 1. FC Schweinfurt and Erzgebirge Aue. Meanwhile, SV Meppen and Sonnenhof Großaspach secured promotion to the third division from the North and Southwest regional leagues.
Jeremy Arévalo was significantly involved in the Essen slap in Stuttgart. The striker, who was signed for the first team in the winter for 7.5 million euros, scored three times in the 56th, 78th and 82nd minutes. Nicolas Sessa opened the scoring with the first two goals in the 24th minute (penalty) and in injury time of the first half. In addition to Arévalo’s hat-trick, Mohamed Sankoh also scored after the break in the 61st minute. Loan player Jaka Cuber Potocnik (1. FC Köln) only scored the consolation goal to make it 1:6 shortly before the end. In the 3rd league, there had only been a greater defeat by a team 25 times in 18 years.
With the promotion, the Osnabrück team crowns an impressive season. Before the season, only a few people had Lower Saxony on the list as a candidate for promotion after VfL had only narrowly avoided falling into the regional league the previous season. But the new coach Timo Schultz quickly managed to form a stable unit. The former coach of FC St. Pauli and 1. FC Köln had already shown himself to be self-confident when he took office: “I will not come here as a coach to manage the third division for two years. That is not my claim and the whole club is far too ambitious for that,” Schultz said when he was introduced.
Ulm and Havelse are relegated – Verl benefits from Essen’s bankruptcy
After defeats on Saturday, Ulm and Havelse can no longer reach the safe shore. Second division relegated Ulm is thus passed through. A 0:2 against Viktoria Köln with goals from Leonhard Münst and Soichiro Kozuki means the lights go out early for the Sparrows. Havelse could no longer be saved after a 4-0 defeat at SC Verl.
The SCV can continue to aim upwards after goals from Oualid Mhamdi, Marco Wörner and Jonas Arweiler. Thanks to the Essen defeat, Verl is now only three points behind the promotion relegation place. Second in the table is Energie Cottbus, which can take a big step towards promotion on Sunday in Duisburg. There, MSV would again overtake RWE if they won a point. Hansa Rostock also still has a chance of promotion (to the table) despite a 1-1 draw in Aachen.
