Ascend like a flight into a new dimension

Sascha Mockenhaupt ended the last trip of the season, which was crowned by promotion to the second division, differently than he had started. Professionally and visually. In the ultimately convincing 2-1 victory on the Bielefeld field, the defensive player was still committed and strong and with long hair. After successfully completing relegation, he can now adorn himself again with the job title second division professional. As far as his hair was concerned, Mockenhaupt knew what was in store for him. But it caused him no distress to see these fall as once announced. In the team circle, the hasty head shave down to just under two millimeters hair length was another visible sign that she had achieved something big.

The leap into the second division is like a flight into a new dimension for third division clubs, the income from television money alone increases almost tenfold. It is a special milestone for a club like the SVWW, which has played third-class football throughout the past 14 years – apart from the short second division game in 2019/20. Alongside Sebastian Mrowca, Mockenhaupt is the only professional who experienced the last year in the second division in Wiesbaden. In the disappointment of the descent after a mostly unpleasant year, which was characterized by the arena as a big construction site that was not very homely and the onset of the corona pandemic, Mockenhaupt had announced that he would let his hair grow and then shave it off when the footballing damage had been repaired and the SVWW has risen again. “Back then we said that we wanted to get back up and establish ourselves in the second division,” said Mockenhaupt. “We have now reached a partial stage of this.”

Great opponents and new players will come

In the well-known second division, big opponents like Schalke, Hertha and HSV will now be guests in Wiesbaden. “We had to arouse emotions in the environment. We managed to do that,” said managing director Nico Schäfer, looking at the recent increase in spectator numbers and the sold-out stadium in the relegation first leg against Arminia. “But we’re not in the second division to be slaughtered, we want to score points.” The second division experience we still have in 2019/20 will also help us to learn from the mistakes we made back then. One of them: The SVWW not only had its squad together very early on, which robbed them of scope for readjustments, but also shied away from financial investments that would have been necessary afterwards. Most recently, the Hessians have signed two professionals with Antonio Jonjic (Aue) and Amar Catic (ADO Den Haag), who are specifically suitable for the second and third divisions in the eyes of those responsible.

The third division team was characterized by a “great community on the pitch” (Schäfer) and a “special team spirit” (sports director Paul Fernie). On this basis and the core of the well-established promotion team, led by the experienced, calm-handed trainer Markus Kauczinski, Wiesbaden seems well positioned. Mockenhaupt regards the squad as “good enough at the top for the second division”. Across the board, however, they were already “walking on their gums” in the past season, when some regulars were injured at the same time. Newcomers with second division skills can now be committed for the departures. In addition to Dennis Kempe’s career end, which has already been announced, Mrowca, Lucas Brumme, Lucas Becker and Dominik Bauer will also leave the club. Captain Johannes Wurtz and Ahmet Gürleyen have not accepted offers to extend their contracts.

No illusions at Hollerbach

It is important to Managing Director Schäfer that all players are informed about the club’s plans by the end of March at the latest and know what they are up to. That’s how it was in this promotion season. The SVWW expressed its interest in Benedict Hollerbach to continue working together without harboring any illusions about the whereabouts of the attacker, who had exploded in performance in his third SVWW year. After all, the 22-year-old, whose move to the first division club 1. FC Köln is imminent, will still bring in a reasonable transfer fee for the Wiesbadeners. Hollerbach’s contract was automatically extended by one year with the promotion. The gifted player with the conspicuous curly hair had scored 14 league goals in the season and in the relegation – one in the first leg and two in the second leg – scored three more goals. They could have been valuable parting gifts.

After a merry bus ride from Bielefeld through the night with various stopovers at petrol stations and rest areas, the players let the party end in a Wiesbaden bar as dawn broke. On Wednesday, the celebrations with fans continued first at the Wehen market and then on the Wiesbaden town hall balcony. Mockenhaupt was already holding his bald head in the bright sun. “It’s something very special for me,” he said, “that my club has been promoted to the second division for the second time in a short space of time.”