Shortly after the turn of the year, the judo Bundesliga clubs from the Ruhr area began planning for the upcoming season. There are now also plans for the first and second leagues. An innovation also affects this JC 66 Bottrop and the Sport-Union Other from Witten: A men’s Bundesliga team withdrew its team from competition at short notice.
Last season, the first year after promotion to the Bundesliga, was not a particularly rosy one for the 1st Berlin Judo Club. The capital city lost all seven fights, some of them quite clearly. The Bottrop and Annen judoka also had no trouble with the newcomer from the Spree. It is now clear: the Berliners will no longer face the challenge and will not compete in the second Bundesliga. For JC Bottrop and SU Annen this means an additional free weekend in the 2026 season.
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JC 66 Bottrop starts on March 14th against Spremberg
The Bottrop judoka, who finished the previous competition in sixth place in the northern relay, will start on March 14th with a home fight in the Dieter-Renz-Halle against KSC Asahi Spremberg from Brandenburg. The other fights for Markus Wallerich’s team: April 11th at TSV Aachen-Walheim, May 9th at SU Annen, May 30th against the Hamburg judo team, August 29th at Remscheider TV and September 5th at the German champions UJKC Potsdam.
The Witten Bundesliga judoka, led by the coaching team Marcel Haupt and Stefan Oldenburg, also have home advantage at the start: on March 14th they will face the former German champion Hamburg judo team on Kälberweg. On fight day number two, the SUA team, which has strengthened with ex-Mönchengladbacher Kirill Gau, among others, can do something different because of the Berlin withdrawal. The other dates: May 9th against JC 66 Bottrop, May 30th against defending champions UJKC Potsdam, June 13th at Remscheider TV, August 29th against KSC Asahi Spremberg and September 5th against TSV Hertha Walheim.
The preliminary round of the women’s Bundesliga ends with SU Annen against JC Bottrop
The second representation of Sport-Union Annen in the 2nd Bundesliga has six days of fighting. Coach Manuel Neumann’s fighters start at home on March 14th against the Holten judo team, then continue on March 28th at 1. JC Mönchengladbach, on May 9th against TSV Bayer 04 Leverkusen, on May 30th against SSF Bonn, on June 13th at JC Koriouchi in Gelsenkirchen and finally at PSV Duisburg on September 5th.
One of the biggest assets in the JC 66 Bottrop women’s team: Helen Habib.
© FUNKE Photo Services | Socrates Tassos
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There are still only five teams in the South-West group of the women’s Bundesliga (eleven more in the remaining two seasons). Last year’s third-placed JC 66 Bottrop will start there on March 14th against runner-up JSV Speyer. Further dates: April 25th against JC Wiesbaden, June 13th against TSV Hertha Walheim and July 4th at Sport-Union Annen.
According to the DJB fight plan, the Witten judo women from coach Hannah Schorlemmer have the following pairings ahead of them: March 14th at JC Wiesbaden, April 25th at TSV Hertha Walheim, May 9th against runner-up JSV Speyer and finally, as mentioned, against district rival Bottrop (July 4th).
