2nd league
“That makes us proud”: outsider Kiel is winter champion
Kiel’s players celebrate the victory against Hannover 96. Photo
© Axel Heimken/dpa
Holstein Kiel managed a strong first half of the season against Hannover. A completely newly formed team is now wintering in first place – and not big names like HSV or Hertha.
“Frontrunner, frontrunner, hey, hey,” sang the fans of Holstein Kiel and celebrated a perfect end to the first half of the season.
With a confident 3-0 win against Hannover 96, Kiel achieved its fifth win in a row in the 2nd Bundesliga. “We are happy about the table situation, the points and also the way we are playing. That makes us very proud,” said coach Marcel Rapp.
What no one could have expected before the season: a completely newly formed team is now winter champions and candidate for promotion after FC St. Pauli’s 1-1 draw against Wehen Wiesbaden. The big names in the league are chasing Holstein after the end of the first half of the season.
At third-placed Hamburger SV, the future of coach Tim Walter remains unclear even after the 2-0 win in Nuremberg. The Bundesliga relegated Hertha BSC (0-0 against Osnabrück) and Schalke 04 (2-2 against Fürth) are already ten and even 15 points behind Kiel.
Upheaval is no problem for Holstein
There was a big upheaval at Holstein in the summer. 15 players left the club, including long-standing top performers such as former captain Hauke Wahl, veteran Fin Bartels and winger Fabian Reese. In return, eleven new players were added. Nevertheless, there were no adjustment problems. Four of the first five games of the season have already been won outright.
“I think a lot was done right with the additions,” said striker Benedikt Pichler. “Every single player who was brought in is really extremely hungry. There are no players who see Kiel as the last step in their career and want to slowly end their career. It’s actually a great opportunity for the young players in particular to develop. “
Examples of this include 19-year-old full-back Tom Rothe, who was loaned from Borussia Dortmund. Or the 20-year-old central defender Colin Kleine-Bekel, who was trained in Dortmund but has been under contract in Kiel since the summer of 2022 and has already played four international matches for the German U21 national team.
Arp: “We don’t put pressure on ourselves”
Another strength is the breadth of the squad, especially in attack. The fact that the two most successful scorers to date, Pichler (7 goals) and Steven Skrzybski (5 goals), missed the last two games of the first half of the season was easily compensated for thanks to the Japanese national player Shuto Machino and the up-and-coming Fiete Arp. Arp in particular is in strong form. The former HSV and FC Bayern Munich striker also scored twice against Hannover (27th/45th).
“For me it’s just a great finish because I worked hard for it,” explained Arp. Speaking about the chances in the promotion race, he said: “We’re not putting a lot of pressure on ourselves. I think we’re just having a positive upswing. We have the confidence that we’ve earned and we have this hunger to keep picking up points and staying at the top .”