The poor third division soccer team Rot-Weiss Essen has released its captain Felix Bastians from playing and training.
“We – the entire board, the sporting management and the coaching team – made this decision unanimously after a detailed analysis,” RWE announced on its website on Tuesday and described the measure as “no alternative”.
The 35-year-old was increasingly no longer living up to the expectations of “being a leader on the pitch and in the dressing room.” Essen recently suffered two significant defeats against SC Verl (0:5) and SpVgg Unterhaching (0:4), RWE is currently in 15th place.
Bastians has played six of the ten third division games so far this season and has been under contract with Essen since September 2021. The defender previously played 92 times in the Bundesliga for SC Freiburg and Hertha BSC, among others.