Transfers, cup successes and different season starts
Loan deals and record wins in Frankfurt and Mainz, a bumpy start for Wehen Wiesbaden and feelings of happiness in Offenbach – that's how things currently look for the four other major football clubs in the Rhine-Main area.
Frankfurt
Just before the end of the summer transfer window, Eintracht Frankfurt made several changes to their squad. Most of the transfers were on loan: This includes new goalkeeper Noah Atubolu (24), who arrives from SC Freiburg. However, they signed 26-year-old defender Lilian Brassier permanently from Stade Rennes.
Initially on loan, the club saw the departures of midfielder Hugo Larsson (Fulham), defenders Niels Nkounkou (Nice) and Arthur Theate (Bologna), and attacking midfielder Jean-Matteo Bahoya (Leeds United, with an obligation to buy after the loan ends). Goalkeeper Michael Zetterer made a permanent move to Leeds United.
Eintracht Frankfurt advanced to the second round of the DFB Cup with an 11-0 victory against fifth-tier side SC St. Tönis. It was the biggest cup win in the club's history.
Mainz
Mainz also saw some recent squad changes: Hyun-seok Hong has joined Danish first division club FC Midtjylland on loan. Center-back Andreas Hanche-Olsen has moved to Chicago Fire FC in Major League Soccer (MLS). 23-year-old Dane William Bøving has joined 1. FC Nürnberg on loan. Marco Richter's contract (most recently on loan at Darmstadt 98) was terminated at the end of the transfer window, meaning he is now free to join a new club on a free transfer.
Stefan Posch, who was on loan from Italian Serie A club Como last season, will continue to play for 1. FSV Mainz 05. The 29-year-old central defender and Austrian international has now been signed permanently.
Mainz 05 cruised into the second round of the DFB Cup with a record-breaking 9-0 victory against Brandenburg's Oberliga side VfB Krieschow. Phillip Tietz was the top scorer with four goals.
Midfielder Dominik Kohr injured the syndesmosis ligament in his right ankle during the league opener in the home game against SC Paderborn and will be out for an extended period.
Wehen Wiesbaden
SVWW got off to a bumpy start in the new third-division season, managing just one point from their first three matches. To make matters worse, new signing Sinan Karweina (27, who arrived from Swiss first-division club FC Luzern) suffered a serious thigh muscle injury in training, ruling the striker out for the next few months.
The team has also been eliminated from the cup competition. They lost their first-round match against Bundesliga side Bayer Leverkusen 0-4.
In response to the poor start, the club made further signings, bringing in center-back and former Rot-Weiss Essen captain Michael Schultz and midfielder Raul Paula from NAC Breda. However, striker Nikolas Agrafiotis left the club, joining Scottish Premiership side FC St. Mirren.
Offenbach
Offenbach Kickers, on the other hand, have made a strong start to the new Regionalliga season. They have won all four of their first four matches – including victories against third-division relegated side Ulm and against the reserve teams of Mainz and Kaiserslautern.
New to the Bieberer Berg stadium is center-back Jakob Lewald (27), who prematurely terminated his contract with SV Wehen Wiesbaden because he hoped for more playing time in the future. Valdrin Mustafa, on the other hand, has left OFC. The 28-year-old striker joined from Jahn Regensburg in 2024 and scored 14 goals in 51 Regionalliga matches.
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.
