The new German professional season started off Friday night with a rare 3.Liga sellout. (Amateurs might have been playing already, as the Regionalliga Bayern started two weeks ago). HFC hosted moneybags “Rasenballsport” (which evidently is German for “Red Bull, hehehe). It was a hard fought match, and money came out ahead, as usual. Leipzig figures to be a promotion contender, as RedBull expects Bundesliga fussball at some point and with ex-Hoffenheim manager Ralf Rangnick as director, they not only have money, but some smarts. This is certain to be one of the main stories in the 3.Liga this week, as everybody except RedBull stockholders and perhaps some Leipzig fans will be rooting against them. HFC should expect a difficult season, but showed good fight this round.
It wasn’t until the last minute that Duisburg got their 3.Liga license, but they had strong fan support with a decent crowd for their opener. Unfortunately, they couldn’t get the win against Heidenheim, who expect to challenge for the promotion this season.
The Zebras will probably settle down and I would expect them perhaps to challenge near the upper regions.
The preseason favorites, Münster and Osnabrück had thumping wins, doing nothing to change the perception that they want “up”. Osnabrück was perhaps more impressive, as their win came on the road against a tough Chemnitz, and they could have even woin higher, as CFC ruined any hope in the 2nd half by going down a man.
Newly promoted Kiel demonstrated grit as they fought Hansa to a draw in Rostock. Expect Hansa fans to riot if Rostock sucks, and they didn’t show anything to suggest that will challenge for promotion.
Darmstadt got a new lease on life when Offenbach got red-carded by the DFB finance committee. Their opener against promoted Elversberg didn’t give much of indication that they intend to take full advantage of the gift.
This should be another interesting season in the 3.Liga, several clubs have reasonable ambitions for promotions, plus some “Bundesliga pedigree” clubs like Duisburg and Rostock have big question marks. (Clubs that have played at least one season in the top flight include: Duisburg, Rostock, Stuttgarter Kickers, Saarbrücken, Darmstadt, Unterhaching and Münster, but only the first to have played quite a few campaigns).
The relegation battle will undoubtedly be of interest as well. There are several clubs that seem somewhat dubious.
Total attendance 83,162 (avg 8,316), one sellout (Halle)
Hallescher FC - RasenBallsport Leipzig 0:1 (0:1) 14,022 * MSV Duisburg - 1. FC Heidenheim 0:1 (0:0) 18,111 Stuttgarter Kickers - Rot-Weiß Erfurt 0:1 (0:0) 3,860 1. FC Saarbrücken - SV Wehen Wiesbaden 1:2 (1:2) 5,250 Hansa Rostock - Holstein Kiel 0:0 (0:0) 13,400 SV Darmstadt 98 - SV Elversberg 0:0 (0:0) 5,200 Borussia Dortmund II - VfB Stuttgart II 1:0 (0:0) 3,890 Jahn Regensburg - SpVgg Unterhaching 0:0 (0:0) 4,405 Preußen Münster - Wacker Burghausen 3:0 (1:0) 8,024 Chemnitzer FC - VfL Osnabrück 0:3 (0:2) 7,000 1 Preußen Münster 1 1 0 0 3:0 +3 3 2 VfL Osnabrück 1 1 0 0 3:0 +3 3 --------------------------------------------------------------- 3 SV Wehen Wiesbaden 1 1 0 0 2:1 +1 3 --------------------------------------------------------------- 4 Borussia Dortmund II 1 1 0 0 1:0 +1 3 5 Rot-Weiß Erfurt 1 1 0 0 1:0 +1 3 6 1. FC Heidenheim 1 1 0 0 1:0 +1 3 7 RB Leipzig (N) 1 1 0 0 1:0 +1 3 8 SV Darmstadt 98 1 0 1 0 0:0 0 1 9 SV Elversberg (N) 1 0 1 0 0:0 0 1 10 Holstein Kiel (N) 1 0 1 0 0:0 0 1 11 Jahn Regensburg (A) 1 0 1 0 0:0 0 1 12 Hansa Rostock 1 0 1 0 0:0 0 1 13 SpVgg Unterhaching 1 0 1 0 0:0 0 1 14 1. FC Saarbrücken 1 0 0 1 1:2 -1 0 15 MSV Duisburg (A) 1 0 0 1 0:1 -1 0 16 Hallescher FC 1 0 0 1 0:1 -1 0 17 VfB Stuttgart II 1 0 0 1 0:1 -1 0 --------------------------------------------------------------- 18 Stuttgarter Kickers 1 0 0 1 0:1 -1 0 19 Wacker Burghausen 1 0 0 1 0:3 -3 0 20 Chemnitzer FC 1 0 0 1 0:3 -3 0
Will be interesting to see if the number of relatively big clubs (and the aspiring club in a huge stadium) can lead to record attendance. Wikipedia indicates that last year was the record with an average of 6162, seems like bettering that should be within reach.