Assist record expanded at the KSC
© Imago
The conversation with Wanitzek conducted the transfer market before the game on Saturday. The on July 31. Published article was updated afterwards.
In the 2nd Bundesliga, the ball rolls again, and that the Karlsruher SC starts with a win in the new round is also thanks to a player who has already dominated numerous statistics in the lower house: for Marvin Wanitzek it is the ninth season at the KSC and directly against Prussia Münster (3: 2), he cracked the 200 second division. Since his first appearance in the 2019/20 league, there has been no player who comes almost to this number. For the anniversary, he showed himself to score with a goal and a template.
At the 32-year-old midfielder, thinker and handlebar in the team of coach Christian Eichner, it is all the more impressive that he played all 200 second division games for the KSC-and not like Jonas Meffert (186) or teammate Fabian Schleusener (177) in the ranking. “You can be a little proud of it,” Wanitzek recently told his upcoming 200th second division deployment to the transfer market.
A look at the database underlines why the professional in Karlsruhe, who was switched from VfB Stuttgart’s second team in 2017, have long since held the status of the club icon: In his performance data you can only find five league games in which Wanitzek has not been on the pitch since the 2019/20 season. The reasons were healthy or due to a yellow lock. The long-term burner status is now cemented by Wanitzek’s 198 starting eleven operations in 200 second division games-also a value that is unique in the league.
“I have never set myself a number of games as a goal. I just want to stay fit and healthy and hope that a few more games will be added.” When asked which duels he particularly likes to retire, Wanitzek said: “When we played in Gelsenkirchen for the first time. There I was able to score the 2-1 goal with a nice shot” (on the game report). The match at the 1st FC Köln last season will also “be remembered forever”. In the spectacular 4: 4 in the cathedral city, the right foot with three goals (“The first three-pack in my career”) ensured that the KSC took a point back to the wildlife park after 0: 3 deficit.
Karlsruhes Wanitzek dominates second division statistics
Less positively thinks of the meetings with the Cologne local rival almost 55 kilometers upstream. “I don’t like to remember the games against Fortuna Düsseldorf because we have never been able to beat her. I hope that this season will work against Fortuna,” said Wanitzek, who asked the question of what is in the new season for the KSC: “I find it difficult to make a precise prognosis. The 2nd division is very much balanced.”
However, it should be clear that the team of coach Eichner also wants to play in the upper third in the 2025/26 season. During the first half of the past season, the KSC was in the top of the table in the meantime, but after the winter exit of the goalie’s Budu ZivziVadze gen Heidenheim and finally ranked eighth after 34 match days. Six new additions are now available. With the offensive man Philipp Förster, who was once trained in the KSC youngsters and most recently active for Darmstadt, another could follow before the start of the season. Nardin Mulahusejnovic by Zrinjski Mostar and Bojan Radulovic by Huddersfield Town are also traded in the local media.
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“Everyone knows: an ascent with the KSC would be the absolute highlight. As a fan, I witnessed the last ascent to league one. I will do everything to do that it will work during my active time,” Wanitzek had known in the course of his contract extension in May and underlined his special connection to the association, which “is much more for me than my employer”.
In the blue jersey, Wanitzek has been screwing up other second division statistics since Saturday, in which he has already dominated. Since his first season in the lower house, no other player in the league has collected more scorer than the 1.79 meter tall midfielder, 111 in number. In the ranking of most assists since 2019/20, Wanitzek can also be found at the top with 58 templates ahead of Fabian Reese (42), Marcel Hartel (40) or Sonny Kittel (38). In the club’s internal, he has long since led this ranking and in recent years fled up KSC legends such as Thomas Häßler, Manni Bender, Alexander Iashvili or Sergej Kiryakov with 80 goal templates in 298 competitive games (see gallery above).