Actually, Arminia Bielefeld and VfL Bochum are fellow sufferers, mousy football clubs in the eternal ups and downs between the first and second divisions. Despite being 120 kilometers as the crow flies, Bochum in Westphalia and Bielefeld in East Westphalia are not that far apart from a football perspective. They are similar in their endeavors to achieve the possible with limited resources year after year. Sometimes more, sometimes less, sometimes here, sometimes there.
But on Friday evening, their ways parted noticeably. When the Bochum audience celebrated their footballers with standing ovations, the Bielefeld players fell to the ground, and when the Bochum fans sang “Never again second division”, the Bielefeld suspected that they could not really be saved and that they were dedicated to going there are: in the second division.
Arminia’s eighth Bundesliga relegation is imminent. They would not catch up with 1. FC Nürnberg with their nine relegations, but they stayed on their heels in this statistic. When Arminen stood in front of the block of their fans who had traveled with them after the 2-1 defeat in Bochum, there were no whistles from the stands, but no consolation either. You faced each other awkwardly. Then they parted without a word.
Arminia carries the unsettled lifestyle in its DNA: since 1963 a total of 19 years in the Bundesliga, 29 years in the second division and ten years in the third division. Looks like she’ll be back in her own league next year: second. It would be a milestone birthday: the 30th season there.
Three weeks ago, on Easter Sunday, Bayern Munich made a guest appearance in Bielefeld and Arminia’s sporting director Samir Arabi chatted with Bayern’s sporting director Hasan Salihamidzic. “So I told him that a little support wouldn’t hurt,” revealed Arabi now with a view to Bayern’s game on Sunday evening against Bielefeld’s basement rivals VfB Stuttgart. With the “support” it’s such a thing, since the Bielefeld team could only win a meager point in the 1-1 draw against Hertha BSC since their 0-3 defeat against FC Bayern. Actually, these Arminen can no longer be helped.
Two points behind and a significantly poorer goal difference are added before Stuttgart even play at FC Bayern on Sunday evening. The matter would be decided if VfB won, but even if Munich should win as expected: Bielefeld’s win against RB Leipzig at home next Saturday (Stuttgart would have to drop points against Cologne at the same time) is also hardly imaginable in their condition. That’s added.
Arminia has only scored 26 goals this season
After the final whistle in Bochum, Arminia’s winger Patrick Wimmer also spoke of “support” and meant a Munich win against Stuttgart. But you can’t really help a team that doesn’t really have any shooters. 26 goals in 33 games are few, but even worse than these overall statistics are the Bielefeld figures for the last ten games. They only got two draws there because they only scored four goals.
Arminia’s last win so far was eleven weeks ago. After beating Union Berlin 1-0 on February 19, she was 14th in the table and two points clear of Hertha BSC, FC Augsburg three and VfB Stuttgart six. But then something must have happened in the inner workings of this team. Suddenly she stopped scoring goals up front. The change of coach from Frank Kramer to the promoted goalkeeping coach Marco Kostmann also fizzled out.
Goalkeeper Ortega stands out from the team
The only player who showed Bundesliga format in the final third of the season is goalkeeper Stefan Ortega. During the guest appearance in Bochum he was also outstanding, he even parried the goal that made it 0-1 by Sebastian Polter (21st) with quick wit, but 50 centimeters behind the goal line. After Joakim Nilsson equalized 1-1 in the meantime (35′), Ortega was powerless in the final knockout to make it 2-1 (89′) because his team-mate George Bello accidentally straddled the rebound into his own goal after his save.
The relegation was probably particularly painful for Ortega, who personally has had a pretty good season and is even one of the top five goalkeepers in the league, according to his rating from the Kicker magazine. But if you don’t stay in the league even with such a goalkeeper, then that reveals all the more about the insufficient quality of the rest of the squad.
On average, Arminia Bielefeld has been relegated from the top division every six years since they were promoted to the Bundesliga for the first time in 1970. Because the East Westphalians have only played in the Bundesliga for 19 years since then, on average every second season there has ended with relegation. It would be the same this time after staying in the class last season. In this respect, it would actually be business as usual for Arminia. The club would take it. The fans too. In this regard, unlike their football this season, the Bielefeld side are tried and tested.