As of: December 22, 2025 11:47 a.m
Eintracht Braunschweig’s win at the end of the year against autumn champions FC Schalke 04 was the highlight of a strong development in recent weeks. Coach Heiner Backhaus is now hoping for a quieter second half of the season in the 2nd league and the return of injured key players.
At the moment of what was perhaps his biggest victory to date as Eintracht coach, Backhaus was humbled. After the last game before Christmas, the 43-year-old, who only came to BTSV in the summer, once again remembered the difficult times of 2025: the relegation in the summer and the sporting crisis in the autumn.
“We had to fight for jobs against Saarbrücken until the last minute,” said Backhaus. “It’s hard to imagine what would have happened if we hadn’t survived the relegation. Then we would have played against Havelse on the 130th anniversary or against Schweinfurt – with all due respect to that. But we beat Schalke. There is no more respect than for the boys who lived through that.”
Best second division first half of the season in eight years
The 2-1 win against FC Schalke 04, who had already been declared autumn champions of the 2nd league, was undoubtedly the highlight of Braunschweig’s strong development in recent weeks. With ten points from five games, Eintracht is one of the strongest teams in the league behind promotion hopefuls Elversberg and Darmstadt. The 20 points now mean 13th place in the table – and, as things sometimes go so quickly, the best second division first half of the season in eight years.
Just four weeks ago – after a 0-1 loss at Hertha BSC – it didn’t look anywhere near that. Between mid-September and the end of November, the Braunschweig team lost eight of nine games and complained about numerous failures. “We are now benefiting from these difficult times,” said Backhaus.
“The boys could have killed me at least 70 times if they didn’t agree with me.”
BTSV coach Heiner Backhaus
The coach believes that “a team has grown together” during this phase. And: “If the boys didn’t agree with me, they could have killed me at least 70 times. In this phase you can recognize relationships – whether they are resilient or not.”
At the latest around the home win against 1. FC Kaiserslautern, Backhaus was threatened with elimination. But the relationship held, Eintracht won 2-0 and has been unbeaten since then.
Aydin: “Hope we can keep the momentum going”
Mehmet Can Aydin, who scored the goal against Schalke alongside Sidi Sané, also thought about the time before the most recent run after the successful end of the year: “It was a very difficult time for us. We played well in many games but never rewarded ourselves,” said the 23-year-old, who, like Sané, has a past with S04. He hopes “that we can take this momentum with us after the winter and continue to score points.”
The first half of the season showed him and the team: “You can never rest in the league, you can move up with a win, but you can also end up back in the bottom of the table after a defeat.” Despite the recent successful games, Braunschweig are only three points ahead of Fortuna Düsseldorf in relegation place 16. Greuther Fürth is five points ahead of them in the first direct relegation spot.
Important games against Magdeburg and Fürth
Goalkeeper Ron-Thorben Hoffmann calls for the past games to be “classified correctly now”. Then you can “come out of the winter break feeling very strong.” This will also be important given the upcoming program. Because first we go to the restart on January 16th (6.30 p.m., in the NDR Livecenter) against Magdeburg, who have also been in strong form recently and are only three points behind BTSV, and then to Fürth (January 24th, 1 p.m.).
After the turbulent first half, coach Backhaus would like to see a much calmer second half of the season – knowing full well that there is a lot to do for that. His hope also rests on the return of injured top performers such as Lino Tempelmann and Florian Flick.
The short winter break means “no days off. This is really a gas station.” It’s important to use the days to “switch off a bit. The boys should recharge their batteries so that we can attack the second half of the season with full power next year.”
