It was touch and go, but MSV Duisburg will in fact start in the 3.Liga for the coming season. The DFB finance review board gave the OK after a few weeks of uncertainty.
MSV managed to avoid relegation on the field in the 2.Liga, but was then denied a 2.Liga operating license, whoch meant forcible relegation. However at the time the MSV board intended to fight the ruling, and apparently had not even applied for a 3.Liga permit. The 2.Liga denial was uphelp by the standing sports court, so Duisburg was without a division. There was a good chance that MSV would fall down to the 4th division Regionalliga West, or even worse. Duisburg’s finances were particularily dodgy, and there was a great outflow of players and staff. There was some speculation that the club might even get wound up and disappear.
Last week, some good news emerged. Schalke 04 surprisingly announced that they would be willing to lend MSV some 250,000 euros to insure that funding was covered. Schalke itself has been wrestling with finance issues from large debts, although things are slowly straightening themselves out.
Finally, today the DFB announced that Duisburg had met all the requirements and would receive a 3.Liga license. MSV added to the positive news by revealing that sports director Ivica Grilic, who had been instrumental in turning around fortunes on and off the field, had agreed to stay on.
Don’t know if this has made the news in Germany but Bert Trautman has died. He was probably the best player never to play for Germany because of their then policy of only selecting players playing with German clubs.
He came to England as a prisoner of war and became a legend in England for playing the last 17 minutes of the 1956 FA Cup final with a broken neck! Probably the only man in history to have both an OBE and an Iron Cross. RIP.