Normally, SpVgg Unterhaching should be the sole favorite for the championship, Sandro Wagner thinks, he enumerates: “The Würzburger Kickers were still playing in the second division two years ago. Schweinfurt should have been promoted against Havelse the season before last, I saw both games. Bayern II is not allowed to be relegated, they were third division champions before that.”
In addition, there is the insolvent Türkgücü Munich, which also wanted to play in the second division. All of these teams are now starting the new season of the Bavarian football regional league, class four, together with SpVgg Unterhaching. But in the opinion of the Munich ex-professional, all these teams don’t really belong there. But it’s also like this: Unterhaching is still the big favorite this time.
Sandro Wagner is now well acquainted with the regional league.
(Photo: Germann/Eibner-Pressefoto/Imago)
The people of Haching, who are playing the opening game at TSV Buchbach (7 p.m.) on Thursday evening, don’t even bother trying to get low. “Clearly better,” says Wagner when asked about the squad compared to the previous season, and SpVgg finished third after a bumpy start in the second half of the season. Players like the 33-year-old attacker Mathias Fetsch (Wagner: “Top transfer”) or the 32-year-old goalkeeper René Vollath (“elementary!”) can only be brought to a fourth division team if you are serious about it. As does the returnee Maximilian Welzmüller, who will be out injured for a few more weeks. And then there’s Wagner himself: “I’m better than twelve months ago, I’ve learned a lot,” says the 34-year-old, who is only slightly older than Fetsch or Vollath.
Of course, all this doesn’t mean a show run through the villages, rather the opposite, Wagner demands a tough performance principle. It is difficult to win in Buchbach in particular, Haching’s current U17 coach, Daniel Bierofka, pointed out to him that he lost there with 1860 Munich, despite a sovereign season. And in Buchbach it will be like hell, at least that’s what you can assume after visiting the TSV homepage (“Matchday special: Grilled sow”).
“Batista Meier, Vidovic, Motika, Sieb, Scott – that’s already 65 goals away,” calculates Demichelis
While Wagner is apparently looking forward to the upcoming tasks, other supposed favorites are much more humble: “We just have to be patient,” says Martin Demichelis, the other ex-Bayern professional who will continue to scour the villages in the regional league. But the omens could hardly be more different, the Bayern U23 coach is stacked deep after second place in the previous season, wherever possible. Probably also because his squad hasn’t been strengthened – he’s even getting a lot younger.
Nicolas Feldhahn and Maximilian Welzmüller, who moved to Haching, were not replaced by experienced players, and there are only a few other additions. And if so, then they are often not intended for the regional league. Like 17-year-old Lovro Zvonarek, who has already played in the first division in Croatia for a year. He should either be awarded or maybe even make the leap into Julian Nagelsmann’s professional squad. It is also highly unlikely that the returnee Sarpreet Singh will play in the regional league.
The young Bayern squad should get the chance to develop without the pressure to win the title. The bar is particularly high on the offensive: “Batista Meier, Vidovic, Motika, Sieb, Scott – that’s already 65 goals away,” calculates the Argentine. He himself still has to develop further: “I’ve played professionally for 15 years. I’m only in my fifth year as a coach. And I’m planning a long career.”
The former central defender emphasizes that he himself only made his big leap when he was around 20 years old. However, his players still have time: as of now, the young Bavarians don’t have a single player older than 19 in Demichelis’ previous position; and also no attacker. Gone are the days when a Kwasi Wriedt was signed for a mid-six-figure sum to shoot the second team into the third division. The club wants the young players to free themselves, as many as possible.
Around a third of the six Adeyemi millions flow into the Hachinger Regionalliga team, albeit spread over several years
Unterhaching shows much more routine. Of course, one or the other young player will also be involved regularly, after all, SpVgg lives from selling their best talents for a profit. “The youth academy is our main sponsor,” says Schwabl with pleasure. After all, Karim Adeyemi’s further transfer brought in well over six million euros. Around a third of this revenue now flows into the regional league team, albeit spread over several years.
Because the squad there is very large, Hachinger have now even reactivated the second team, which was abolished in 2015. Because the state league club SC Ichenhausen could not report due to a lack of staff, they took the opportunity and now filled up the schedule of the Südwest Staffel, out of competition, of course, but with regular game operations.
Wagner emphasizes that he has nothing to do with this U23; What prospects the players get from the club, who will be traveling through Bavaria primarily for friendlies, is questionable at first. This decision makes it even clearer that Wagner does not want to train a training team, but a promotion team. Or at least a champion team. In the end, there are still two playoff games against the winner of the Regionalliga Nordost for the first team.