Football Season Guide

SV Elversberg

In


Wahid Faghir (att) VfB Stuttgart - on loan; Dominik Martinovic (att) SV Waldhof Mannheim; Joseph Boyamba (mid) 1860 Munich; Arne Sicker (def) SV Sandhausen; Tim Boss (gk) FC Magdeburg; Paul Stock (mid) TSV Steinbach Haiger;

Out


Eros Dacaj (mid) (sp) SV Rodinghausen; Valdrin Mustafa (att) (r) Viktoria Koln; Sinan Tekerci (mid) (sp) Stuttgarter Kickers; Anton Ziegler (mid) SF Kollerbach; Laurin von Piechowski (def) (sp) released; Luca Menke (def) (sp) released; Nick Woltemade (att) (k) SV Werder Bremen - end of loan; Ben Bobzien (att) (sp) FSV Mainz - end of loan; Tobias Mißner (def) released; Daniel Pantschenko (mid) Titus Petange - on loan;

An impressive campaign saw Elversberg win the title and reach the second division for the first time in their history. They topped the table for the majority of the season as long-term coach Horst Steffen guided the club to a second consecutive promotion. The rise has been quite dramatic in recent years with the small-town club regularly playing in the fourth-tier up until a few seasons ago. Boss Steffen has had to strengthen his squad in the summer to compete at this level but just as important was keeping the core of his squad intact. Standout performers Schnellbacher and Rochelt remain at the club and that is certainly a positive moving forward. Elversberg were the top scorers in their league last season and although goals may be a little harder to come by, it is an area in which they should be dangerous. New striker Martinovic is hungry to make the step up after scoring lots of goals in the third tier. New recruits Boyamba and Stock should also add goals and assists while youngster Faghir, on loan from Stuttgart, is an intriguing prospect with more game-time. Defence is an area of concern for Elversberg with the likes of Correia, Conrad, and Antonitsch at the back-end of their career, still, there is some much-needed experience with Sicker also joining from Sandhausen.

Target


Elversberg are naturally one of the favourites for the drop due to their lack of experience at this level. However, survival is certainly achievable under the watchful eye of coach Steffen.