Holstein Kiel makes perfect promotion to the first class. Our author, a Northern Lights, rubs his eyes in surprise – but only a little.
Beer shower for fans: the professionals from Holstein Kiel celebrate promotion Photo: dpa
At the end it became really exciting again, goosebumps for many people from Kiel. Only an early 1-0 from Benedict Pichler in the third minute against Fortuna Düsseldorf on Saturday evening, after which a fierce ups and downs developed. Düsseldorf, facing certain relegation but still with ambitions for immediate promotion, were pushed and were awarded a penalty in the 69th minute, which was deserved.
From that moment on: Düsseldorf crowbar against Holstein stubbornness. And the stubbornness endured, with a lot of will and a little luck. Final score 1:1. This means that Holstein Kiel’s promotion place to the first class can no longer be taken away. Cheers, beer drinks with Flensburgers and such. But you won’t be the only Kiel-born person who has to rub their eyes in a bit of surprise.
Kiel, which became German champions in 1912 but hasn’t done much in football since then and is a bit of a big city when it’s not bombarded by cruise ships, Kiel is now surprising itself in football. Of course, in handball it doesn’t have to hide, the THW is something like the Bayern Munich of the German handball scene.
Hertha as a bottleneck
At least not with sailing, As a sailing event, Kiel Week has a worldwide reputation. But in football it was dead, third division, even fourth division time. Only in 2018 was Holstein Kiel promoted back to the second class. That was the same year in which HSV was relegated from the first division and then in the very first match in the second division, to the surprise of the fans. from Holstein Kiel got one on the Hanzehoed. Holstein won 3-0 in Hamburg. That was really fun.
At what point did people start to believe in progress? At least not halfway through this season in the second division. Holstein Kiel was already in first place in the second class – autumn champion! – but as we know, football is not just about physical fitness and running routes, it is also about the psyche, and we know that teams with the goal in mind can still concede – see promotion and HSV.
But since March 1, it was a cool spring evening and Holstein played against Hertha in the Olympic Stadium, people actually started to believe in it. The Holsteiners had played more maturely in the red away jersey than the Hertha team, but had scored two stupid goals in the first half and only scored an equally fortunate goal in the second half by Finn Porath, leaving them 1-2 behind when shortly before the end, Holsteiner entered the penalty area, but the whistle was initially missed.
Windy thing
Until the man in the video evidence came forward. Referee Bastian Dankert interrupted, looked at it and whistled a penalty; Timo Becker beat him in. Sign up for extra time. In the Kiel News If you read something about a “crazy Friday evening”, Holstein Kiel felt a bit like Leverkusen this season.
A football season is a long time, but there are sometimes individual sticking points where things can go either way, and this was one of them. The team felt rewarded for their good work and subsequently did not concede a goal for six games. Six wins in a row, all zero, including another sticking point: the 1-0 win against HSV when they were outnumbered. Then another defeat, well, then another victory. And now there was the historic draw against Düsseldorf on Saturday evening, which made promotion clear.
Totally deserved. This Kiel team has grown step by step. The cup match against the mighty Bayern from Munich on January 13, 2021 will never be forgotten (some data you remember). Kiel weather, cold, windy, Hauke Wahl scored the equalizer in injury time, and in the penalty shootout, Finn Bartels hit the thing into the net after a miss in Munich, fireworks above the Holstein Stadium. It doesn’t matter that Kiel went down without a hitch in the semi-final against Dortmund.
The fate of Kiel
Holstein finished third in the rankings twice in recent years, relegated and losing each time. 2018 against Wolfsburg, 2021 against Cologne. And somehow they had resigned themselves to the fact that that would be Kiel’s fate: playing in the top of the second division, remaining sympathetic, playing well-maintained ball and surprising every now and then. Especially since there were always departures. Coach Ole Werner went to Werder Bremen, crowd favorite and mental leader Finn Bartels ended his professional career.
But that could be compensated. Marcel Rapp is a calm and competent representative of the coaching guild, and they also have a talent for new players in Kiel. Tom Rothe was loaned from Dortmund and Lewis Holtby was signed from HSV. It all seemed very solid. And now Dortmund, Bremen, Leipzig and Bayern will have to drive through the Elbe Tunnel again next season and compete for points in this small and windy Holstein Stadium – average attendance this season: 13,717, that’s how many come to Schalke when the replacement goalkeeper takes the ball a shower.
And it cannot be ruled out that the established players of the Bundesliga in the “true north” – the motto of Schleswig-Holstein – will now have to dress warmly, at least occasionally.