Frankfurt gets a new sporting director, Mainz and Offenbach experience setbacks – Wehen Wiesbaden is on the upswing
A record and a new board for Eintracht, disappointment in Mainz and Offenbach, and SVWW travels to Darmstadt in the cup – that's how things currently look for the four other major football clubs in the Rhine-Main area.
Frankfurt
Joti Chatzialexiou will become Eintracht Frankfurt's new sporting director. The 50-year-old Frankfurt native joins from 1. FC Nürnberg and will strengthen the executive board on February 1st. He has signed a contract until June 30, 2030. Previously, the supervisory board had released the previous sporting director, Markus Krösche, at his own request. Krösche, who joined Eintracht in the summer of 2021, is reportedly close to a move to AC Milan.
Just one day after his 16th birthday, Niko Ilicevic – nephew of former professional Ivo Ilicevic (who played for Darmstadt, Kaiserslautern, and Hamburger SV, among others) – made his Bundesliga debut, equaling a record. He came on shortly before the end of the 3-1 home win against Hamburger SV, thus drawing level with the previous Bundesliga record holder, Youssoufa Moukoko. The striker had debuted for Borussia Dortmund on November 21, 2020.
Eintracht Frankfurt currently sits in eighth place in the Bundesliga. They also secured a 3-1 victory against Hamburger SV in the DFB Cup. Now, Borussia Dortmund will visit Frankfurt for the round of 16.
Mainz
After a promising start to the season, disillusionment has set in at Mainz. In the Bundesliga, Urs Fischer's team has slipped to ninth place after a very weak 1-4 defeat against newly promoted SV Elversberg. At home, the 05ers have only managed one point from four home games. And in the cup, they were eliminated in the second round after an uninspired 0-2 loss to second-division side VfL Bochum.
Rael Nakuzola has been awarded a professional contract. He only joined the reserve team of 1. FSV Mainz 05 from the youth academy of Rot-Weiss Essen in the summer, but quickly established himself as a serious option for the first team. After two Bundesliga substitute appearances, the 19-year-old left-back is now officially a professional.
Wehen Wiesbaden
Following the coaching change from Daniel Scherning to Jochen Seitz, Wehen Wiesbaden is experiencing a remarkable upward trend, going six competitive matches unbeaten. Among these victories, some of them quite emphatic, was a 7-1 win against SG Sonnenhof Großaspach, with midfielder Raul Paula even scoring a goal from the halfway line.
SVWW will travel to Darmstadt for their cup match. However, not to face second-division side SV Darmstadt 98, but rather to take on sixth-tier Rot-Weiß Darmstadt in the quarterfinals of the Hessen Cup. The team qualified for the next round with a 3-1 victory over SG Bornheim Grün-Weiss. The quarterfinal matches are scheduled to be played in February 2027. SVWW has won the cup, which qualifies for the DFB Cup, twice in a row.
Offenbach
October was anything but golden for OFC. After a strong start to the season, the Kickers failed to secure a single league victory that month. Their only competitive win was a 4-0 victory in the Hessen Cup against Verbandsliga side VfR Groß-Gerau, which saw coach Mark Zimmermann's team advance to the quarterfinals. They did, however, manage to snatch a 1-1 draw against league leaders SGV Heilbronn-Freiberg at the Bieberer Berg stadium.
Onur Ünlücifci will remain with Offenbach. The 29-year-old left winger had been sidelined with an injury since last autumn. His contract expired in the summer. After recovering from his injury and subsequent rehabilitation, he returned to the pitch and signed a new contract with OFC in October, making several appearances since then.
Beyond the Lilies – News from Frankfurt, Mainz, Offenbach and Wehen
Stephan Köhnlein is the editor-in-chief of the independent online magazine Lilienblog, which focuses on SV Darmstadt 98. In this section, he takes a look beyond the Lilies each month at other football clubs in the Rhine-Main area.
