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OstDeutscher Sieg | Part 20 | Prusseit's Huge Opportunity Energie Cottbus was very much an East German football team on the up as Ruprecht Prusseit and his team of freebies and loanees achieved back-to-back promotions to 2. Bundesliga. However, the Dresden-born manager had plenty of work ahead of him as he prepared for his first taste of the German second tier. Another cause for concern was the club's finances, which stood at minus £1.2m heading into the new season, but had dropped as low as minus £3m the previous campaign. More concerningly, the club had a net debt of over £11m. However, the summer saw a massive opportunity come Prusseit's away as, fresh from Bundesliga relegation, Union Berlin sacked Dan Putrescu and soon approached him for an interview. The interview went very well and Union quickly asked for his staff changes and, a few days later, came in with a huge offer. And Prusseit signed a deal that nearly tripled his wages on £7k per week. Ruprecht Prusseit joined club number five as he took charge of Union Berlin! Who Are Union Berlin? 1. Fußballclub Union Berlin e. V., or 1. FC Union Berlin, is a professional club based in the Köpenik region of East Berlin. The club's roots go back to original club FC Olympia Oberschöneweide, which went through numerous name changes before 1. FC Union Berlin was founded during the reorganization of German football in 1966. The club nearly collapsed due to financial issues after German reunification in 1990 and was twice denied a licence to play in 2. Bundesliga in 1993 and 1994. They finally made it into the second tier in 2001, and reached the German Cup Final the same season. More tough times followed as they found themselves down in the fourth tier in 2006, but a swift rise saw them win the inaugural 3. Liga in 2009. Union stayed in tier two until 2019, when they won their first-ever promotion to Bundesliga by beating Stuttgart in the relegation playoff. That made the club the first team from the former East Berlin to play in Bundesliga and only the fifth from the OstDeutscher region after Dresden, Rostock, Leipzig and Cottbus. Union have struggled through this save, finishing in the bottom half in every season bar a 9th-place in 2024. They won a relegation playoff in 2028, improved to 12th in 2030 only to finally succumb to relegation 12 months later. But this move represents a massive step up in club for Prusseit. The club has a bank balance of £36m, a wage budget of £673,000 and a whopping transfer budget of £15m. And, considering Prusseit had only ever spent £3,900 on players, that was a massive step up! Union play at the 22,012-capacity Stadion an der Alten Föresteri, which was built back in 1920. Promotion is an absolute imperative this season, so the pressure will very much be on Prusseit to swiftly deliver. But he started out by selling some of the deadwood that had gotten Union relegated in the first place, bringing in £7m for 12 players. However, he also lost star striker José Egueras, who wanted to leave after relegation, to Athletic for his £7.75m minimum fee clause then winger Alberto Segura to Köln for a new club record £14.25m. The best player remaining at the club is midfielder András Schäfer, who's racked up over 300 league games for the club, followed centre-back Philipp Schulz and goalkeeper Mads Hermansen. They also had a site favourite on the books in versatile full-back Josha Vagnoman. Prusseit wasted no time in strengthening the squad, starting with a few loans including familiar faces Phil Meyer and his teammate Gino Mauckner then Red Bull Salzburg midfielder Gerhard Seibert and Wolfsburg winger Achim Jungehülsing. Prusseit made his first proper cash signing as he paid £3m for rapid Barcelona winger Antonio Villalonga, who became the best player at the club. More exciting youngsters followed in winger Grga Picak for up to £4m from Dinamo, striker Ahmed Ramadan for up to £3m from Odds, right-back Nico Korte for up to £5m from Hansa Rostock and striker Dominic Frerking for £1m from Frankfurt. He also snapped up left-back Jan Hosek for £60k and powerful former Spurs centre-back Younes Dias on a free. Then, on his first-ever transfer deadline day, Prusseit snapped up exciting Czech striker Matej Lnenicka for £4.1m from Viktoria Plzen. That saw Prusseit break the Union record for high spending, investing £16.3m over the summer. With the squad rebuilt, Prusseit initially decided to go with a standard 4-3-3 approach, but the arrival of Lnenicka persuaded him to go with the 4-2-4 he'd used successfully at Rostock II. Flying Start To 2. Bundesliga Prusseit's new club was huge favourite to win 2. Bundesliga with odds of Even followed by Augsburg (7/4), Nürnberg (11/4), Bochum (3/1) and Darmstadt (6/1). His first game in the German second tier was at home to promoted Ingolstadt and his new side put on a show. Segura opened the scoring before a debut brace by Ramadan, both assisted by Villalonga, and a late fourth from winger Jahkeele Marshall-Rutty. Ramadan impressed again at Holstein Kiel, going one better with a hat-trick inside 20 minutes before Schäfer added a fourth. Meyer scored his first Union goal in a 1-0 win over another promoted side Jahn Regensburg, Picak got his first 20 seconds into a trip to Paderborn before Ramadan sealed a 2-0 victory then Picak and Ramadan made it five from five at home to Hannover. An international break followed deadline day and Lnenicka wasted no time in getting his first Union goal, scoring inside 80 seconds on his debut at Greuter Fürth. Ramadan and Picak sealed a 3-0 win but Prusseit was most impressed with his backline repelling Greuter's 18 shots. First Clashes With OstDeutsch Sides Two all-OstDeutsche class in Prusseit's first meeting with his former employers' senior team Hansa Rostock. Loanee Jungehülsing became the youngest scorer in Union history aged 17 years and 277 days but a first defeat of the season followed as Rostock twice came from behind to win 3-2 through two Oliver Batista Meier penalties. Prusseit then faced his first clash with fellow OstDeutsche side Magdeburg. And Cottbus time they came out on top as late Schäer and Scholz strikes earned a 3-1 victory. Their away form proved a little shaky, losing their next two at Karlsruhe and Heidenheim, but Ramadan hit a new club- and league-record four-goal haul to inspire a 5-3 thumping of fellow relegated side Bochum. Back on home ground, there was a huge game for Prusseit as his former club Energie Cottbus came to town. And his team clearly understood how much their manager was up for it as Picak scored the opener after 29 seconds, which set up an absolutely dominant first half in which they racked up 23 shots and scored five, including a Ramadan hat-trick. Picak wrapped up his hat trick after the break as Union inflicted a 7-1 battering. Prusseit tested out a more conservative 4-3-3 at St. Pauli, which stopped the losses with a 0-0. He used it again to take on 4th-place Nürnberg at home and it worked nicely in a 3-1 win before a 1-0 defeat at Augsburg. But he returned to the 4-4-2 for the final game of 2031 as they recovered to hammer Darmstadt 4-1 led by a Lnenicka brace, in which Union set a new low club-record attendance of 15,098. That left Union in second heading into the month-long winter break, trailing in-form Heidenheim by three points. Ramadan was the top scorer in the league with 16 in 16, while he and Lnenicka were second and third in the average ratings (7.68 and 7.49), and Lnenicka is second in the assists chart with seven, plus five goals in 11 games. Could Prusseit lead Union Berlin to the promotion and title that his board and supporters were expecting?

OstDeutscher Sieg | Part 19 | Surprise Title Challenge Ruprecht Prusseit had cobbled together a squad of freebies and loanees in the summer of 2030 but somehow put together a team potentially capable of mounting a 3. Liga title challenge. Indeed, his Energie Cottbus sat top of 3. Liga heading into 2031. That early season success prompted the Cottbus board to offer Prusseit a new contract, which he gladly accepted to stay at the club until the end of the 2031/32 season. Not only that, they also agreed to fund Prusseit's final coaching course, the Continental Pro Licence. Prusseit's squad was looking threadbare as several backup players requested to leave on loan. So he tapped back into his new senior affiliate partnership with RB Leipzig to loan in centre-back Gino Mauckner, holding midfielder Daniel Schmidt and 5ft 6in striker Korbinian Austermann for free. Key Injury Threatens Cottbus' Progress Cottbus began 2031 well as Arnel Kujovic scored twice to nick a 2-1 win at Freiburg then got injured. The midfielder only scored three times all of last season but has already trebled that figure, which has seen him force his way into the Montenegro team. Without him, the goalscoring responsibility fell to the front two and they didn't disappoint as Tiago Sousa bagged a hat-trick inside half an hour, which moved him to 20 goals for the season, and Eric Hottmann added two in a 5-2 thumping of Frankfurt II. However, their plans were hit hard as star man Sousa, who won player of the month in December and January, suffered a torn hamstring in training, which would rule him out for a few months. And his absence was felt massively as Cottbus fell to a 3-0 defeat at Stuttgart II then drew 1-1 at home to Duisburg. Luckily, Ingolstadt hadn't taken advantage of those slip-ups and the top two went head-to-head next in Bavaria. The hosts started the game better but Cottbus nicked the opener courtesy of Leipzig loanee Phil Meyer slamming home just before the break. They defended superbly and looked to be nicking all three points only for Ingolstadt to equalise from a corner in the last minute. Another tough game followed as Cottbus hosted Jahn Regensburg, who were gradually closing on the top two. But Cottbus put them in their place through two unlikely sources as midfielder Kimmo Eskelinen and utility man Onur Kurtulus scored their first goals for the club in a narrow 2-1 victory. Ingolstadt lost at Nürnberg II to four games without a win, which saw Cottbus open up a five-point gap at the top. A tricky challenge was overcome as Austermann's first senior goal edged a 1-0 win at home to Nürnberg II before a slightly unlucky 3-2 loss at Eintracht Braunschweig. 10 Games From A Dream Promotion That left Cottbus still top of 3. Liga with 10 games remaining, and still with a five-point lead over Monchengladbach II, Bayern II and Jahn Regensburg with Ingolstadt a further three points back. They began the run-in at home to Hoffenheim and got off to a flyer as Meyer scored inside 30 seconds and a strong defensive effort held the visitors off before Hottmann's double sealed a 3-0 win. But they continued their inability to beat Dortmund II as, despite 15 shots to four, they came away with a 0-0 away draw. They also dominated Hertha II by 22 shots to three and looked to be heading for the same result but substitute Kortulus rescued them with an 85th-minute winner. A trip to Aalen seemed an easier proposition, but the home team were excellent, bossed the game by 20 shots to 14 and took an early lead. But Hottmann's strike earned Cottbus a hard-fought point and, luckily, none of their rivals won so their lead was only cut to four points. Top scorer Tiago Sousa, who was also still the league's top scorer, returned after nearly three months out with a torn hamstring as relegation-threatened Stuttgart Kickers came to town. And the striker claimed an assist on his comeback, creating the second of midfielder Dennis Carsten's brace, which trebled his league tally for the season, in a 2-0 victory. A huge game followed as a potential title decider took them to 2nd-place Mönchengladbach. Cottbus got a horrible start and the hosts made them pay with two goals. Prusseit switched to a 4-2-3-1 and that at least got Sousa his goal only for Mönchengladbach's striker with 8 finishing and 9 composure to complete his hat-trick. Another Local Cup Final Amid the league excitement, Cottbus had also reached their third-successive Verbandspokal Brandenburg Final. Prusseit used a fully rotated 11 throughout the competition and they eased past several lower-tier sides to face fifth-tier Fürstenwalde in the Final. Annoyingly, the under-19s had a game the same day, but Prusseit stuck with his rotated side and only named three subs to rest players for vital league games. The minnows looked to be set for a shock win as they scored after an hour only for Busche to equalise in the last minute. That took it to injury time and Cottbus finally made their quality pay as Busche added another before holding midfielder Daniel Yéo sealed a 3-1 win in the 115th minute. Energie Cottbus won a 3rd-successive Verbandspokal Brandenburg and Prusseit's 2nd! Four Games From Glory The defeat to Gladbach II cut Cottbus' lead to just one point with four games remaining. However, Gladbach II and Bayern II can't get promoted, so they effectively had a seven-point lead. And the good news was that Cottbus had a fairly easy run-in. Game 1 - Zwickau (16th, home): Cottbus' bid for glory began with the televised Friday evening weekend opener in an all-OstDeutsche clash with Zwickau. And they put in a confident display at their relegation-threatened rivals as Carstens and Sousa made it 2-0 before half-time then left-back Jeremias Koblowsky and Kurtulus wrapped up a 4-0 victory. Later that weekend, Gladbach II drew at Nünberg II, which extended the lead to three points, and Jahn Regensburg won but Ingolstadt drew, so Cottbus just needed one point to secure promotion. Game 2 - Rot Weiß Ahlen (17th, away): Another relegation risk was up next and Cottbus started well without finishing their chances. Predictably, Ahlen were given a ridiculous penalty just before half-time but Rezart Zeqiri saved it to go in 0-0 at the break. Sousa won a penalty after the break, which Carstens tucked home, but a terrible clearance by Zeqiri gifted Ahlen an undeserved equaliser. But despite dropping points, Energie Cottbus were promoted to 2. Bundesliga! Game 3 - Hansa Rostock II (18th, home): The next task was to try and win 3. Liga and their first chance to potentially do that came at home to Prusseit's former club and already-relegated Hansa Rostock II. A terrible first half came to life as a great team move was rounded off by Sousa crossing for Kujovic to tap home. They looked to be cruising but out of nowhere Prusseit's former striker Alexander Schumacher scored from basically Rostock II's only attack. Prusseit threw the players forward and got his result as Kujovic doubled his tally. Elsewhere, Bayern II drew 0-0 at Ingolstadt, prompting a mad pitch invasion as the Cottbus fans fled onto the field to celebrate with their heroes. Energie Cottbus were 3. Liga Champions!! Despite the beautiful poetic nature of Prusseit lifting the trophy against his former club, it did rob 3. Liga fans of an epic final day title showdown as Cottbus visited Bayern II. But Cottbus signed off in style as Sousa and Kujovic strikes earned a 2-1 win. That saw Cottbus win the title pretty comfortably, finishing seven points clear of Bayern II and 10 clear of the nearest actual promotion challengers Jahn Regensburg. Only Bayern II scored more than their 73 goals and they had the joint-best defence with just 35 conceded. Sousa was the league's top scorer despite missing 12 games, scoring 23 in 26, and topped the average rating chart with 7.53. But surprisingly, he didn't win player of the year. Hottmann got the most player of the match awards, with eight, and came third in player of the year, with some kid from Bayern winning it, and Zeqiri topped the clean sheets chart with 15, conceding just 28 in 33 games. Prusseit was honoured as the 3. Liga Manager of the Year, which was his first-ever award as a Football Manager! Reflecting On An Unexpected Success Prusseit certainly wasn't expecting a promotion push way back in July when he didn't have enough players for a matchday squad. But his team of cobbled-together freebies and loanees had worked miracles to step up to 3. Liga and win it. The star man was undoubtedly Sousa, who scored 23 and got four assists in 29 games and flourished after moving to his natural striker position. His strike partner Hottmann also did well, scoring 18 and getting six assists in 39 games, and surprisingly won fans' player of the year. But a surprise hero was Kujovic, who massively stepped up with 15 goals and 11 assists in 38 games from midfield. Prior to this season, the Montenegro international had only scored nine goals in 268 appearances for the club! Carstens popped up with eight goals and six assists and Kurtulus scored six and got three assists despite only starting three games. Prusseit was fairly sure this squad needed a pretty serious rebuild to survive in 2. Bundesliga but he was also really happy with life at Cottbus. So it would take a very good offer for him to leave and, realistically, he was now looking at the likes of Union Berlin and RB Leipzig as the only realistic next moves in his career. Up in Bundesliga, Bayern maintained their dominance by winning a 19th successive title by 11 points from Leipzig. But Union's luck finally ran out as they were relegated in 17th place. Two more OstDeutscher sides Magdeburg and Hansa Rostock remain in mid-table solidarity in 2. Bundesliga but Zwickau and Hansa Rostock II were relegated from 3. Liga. Dynamo Dresden had a chance to replace them as they reached the Regionalliga playoff and did so, defeating Werder II on away goals. Down in tier six, Dessau were back in Verbandsliga Saxonia-Anhalt after a year in non-league and survived in 17th place. Could Prusseit build a squad capable of competing in 2. Bundesliga with very limited finances? Or would another opportunity arise elsewhere in Eastern Germany?

Yeah, this season has gone way better than expected! Timely question - there's a little update at the bottom of the next post (which I'm about to add), but briefly: Union Berlin just got relegated and will join us and Magdeburg and Hansa Rostock, who are in 2. Bundesliga mid-table. Zwickau and our former team Hansa Rostock II got relegated from 3. Liga, where Dynamo Dresden will join them as they beat Werder II in the Regionalliga playoff. Down in tier six, our former club Dessau just about survived in Verbandsliga Saxonia-Anhalt this season, after having a year down in the unplayable tier 7.

OstDeutscher Sieg | Part 18 | The Great Rebuild Of 2030 Ruprecht Prusseit's decision to drop back down to Regionalliga Nordost paid off as he led Energie Cottbus to a league and cup double in 2030. He now faced a stiff challenge to rebuild a threadbare squad and keep Cottbus safe in 3. Liga. Even more exciting news was that Prusseit passed his Continental A Licence over the summer, which suddenly had him looking like a half-decent Football Manager. However, it wasn't all good news as Cottbus were suddenly struggling financially, heading into the new season with minus £800k in the bank. That was largely due to a fairly significant outstanding debt, but could have some effect on Prusseit's plans to rebuild his squad. Cottbus released 23 players, including one of their star men Stefen Tigges, as the new season ticked around on 1 July 2030, which slashed £20k off their weekly wage spending. That left Prusseit with 10 players and one week before the season kicked off he had just 16! But he gradually rebuilt the squad after a raft of trialists and disappointment at missing out on targets. Prusseit was most excited about signing midfielder Christoph Geppert on a free transfer. And frees were the name of the game as he also drafted in Porto striker Tiago Sousa, who he planned to convert into a right-winger, and Hamburg's versatile striker/midfielder Onur Kurtulus. He then turned to loans, starting with a familiar face in his former Rostock II defender Michele Venturi, then exciting midfielder/winger Joao Soares, holding midfielder Kimmo Eskelinen and left-back Jeremias Keblowsky. Earlier in the summer, Prusseit's board agreed to his request for a senior affiliate club and eventually offered him four options, of which the most appropriate was fellow OstDeutscher club RB Leipzig. And Prusseit immediately took advantage by loaning in promising midfielder Phil Meyer. With a new squad rebuilt, Prusseit had settled on changing to a more conservative 4-3-3 that he'd used in his days at Stendal and Rostock. And that was largely because last season's top scorer Eric Hottmann was the only striker he trusted whereas he had a solid selection of midfielders. Into The Unknown In 3. Liga In truth, Prusseit wasn't really sure how good the team of freebies and loanees he'd cobbled together was. However, he'd done enough to satisfy the bookies, who had Cottbus down to finish 6th in 3. Liga at 6/1 to win the league. Relegated Jahn Regensburg are favourites at 1/3 followed by Eintracht Braunschweig (8/13), Ingolstadt (11/4) and Aalen (9/2). The season began with Prusseit's 300th match in management as Cottbus made the trip to Victoria Köln, where the more conservative formation earned them a solid 0-0. The first game at Eduard Geyer Arena saw another solid defensive effort and a much more impressive attacking effort. Arnel Kujovic opened the scoring early on before Sousa bagged his first two goals for the club late on. There was more of the same at Frankfurt II, as Hottmann got his first goal of the season alongside a Daniel Klug penalty and a late strike by Micael Sanhá sealed a 3-1 win. The new approach was working a treat as they conceded just once in their first three games. And that was extended as Hottmann hit top form with all four goals against Stuttgart II. A first defeat followed at Duisburg as Hottmann picked up a month-long injury. The two league favourites followed but his replacement Richard Busche scored as Meyer got his first for the club in a wild 3-3 with Ingolstadt before a narrow 1-0 loss at Jahn Regensburg, which gave Prusseit plenty of optimism about their chances. Prusseit's Highest Profile Cup Game After a good DFB-Pokal cup run last year, Prusseit and his board were hopeful of another to bring in some much-needed money. They began in the first round at home to 2. Bundesliga side 1860 München and Kujovic hit a beauty in the 76th minute to nick a 1-0 win. However, they were unlikely to go much further as they drew the highest-profile game of Prusseit's career so far at home to Bayer Leverkusen in round two. They performed admirably against a substantially better team but fell to a narrow defeat through a goal just after the break. An Enforced Tactical Rethink Cottbus’ solid start to the season was disrupted by some odd shenanigans. Venturi and Soares suddenly had their loans cancelled by their parent clubs because they were “unhappy with the position they were playing in” despite giving Prusseit zero warning! Luckily, he managed to agree a deal to bring Venturi back but Soares kicked off two days after the transfer deadline. That forced Prusseit into a tactical rethink, using a strange narrow 4-2-2-2 that maximised his side’s midfield strength. The enforced formation change worked out fairly well with a draw at Nürnberg and a five-game winless streak continued with a fairly impressive 3-3 at Braunschweig. But they soon kicked into life with new strikeforce Sousa and Hottmann both scoring in a 3-1 win at Hertha II and Kujovic bagging a brace that took him past his goal tally of last season in a 4-0 thumping of Aalen. Sousa then scored both in a 2-1 win at Stuttgarter Kickers. And that little flurry of wins lifted Cottbus all the way up to 2nd place, just one point behind leaders Ingolstadt. They maintained that run as Sousa scored the only goal at home to Mönchengladbach II then scored again in a 2-0 win at Zwickau, which sent Cottbus top of 3. Liga for the first time. Sousa was really excelling in his natural role, as he bagged a hat-trick to down Ahlen 4-0 and came 2nd in the November player of the month award. December began with a big game for Prusseit as he returned to former employers Hansa Rostock II, who were deep in relegation trouble, for the first time. And he gave them a taste of what they were missing out on as Sousa scored two more before a late Busche strike sealed a dominant 3-0 win. His side passed a big test of their credentials as Bayern II come to town and were brushed aside as Hottmann slide Sousa in to score the only goal after 34 minutes. And 2030 was wrapped up with a 1-1 draw at home to Victoria Köln, which left Cottbus’ two games short of the all-time 3. Liga record for most successive wins of 10 set by Karlsruhe in 2013. But it kept Prusseit’s side top of 3. Liga going into the winter break. They topped the table on goal difference tied with Ingolstadt on 42 points after 20 games with a five-point gap back to 3rd-place Jahn Regensburg. Sousa is flourishing up front, leading the league with 17 goals, a 7.52 average rating and six player of the match awards. And goalkeeper Rezart Zeqiri leads the way with nine clean sheets in 15 appearances. Prusseit was a little taken aback by his team's impressive performance given how much of a struggle it had been just to get a squad together. But the team was looking good in the new formation and he was optimistic about taking a title fight to Ingolstadt. Could Cottbus push for unlikely back-to-back promotions? Join us on Monday to find out!

OstDeutscher Sieg | Part 17 | Hottmann Hits New Heights The unusual decision to join a club in the division below your current club was seemingly working out well for Ruprecht Prusseit, who'd led Energie Cottbus to 18 wins in his first 19 league games in charge. That immediate success saw the Cottbus board move quickly to lock down their prized asset, handing Prusseit a £500 weekly wage increase until the end of the next season. Prusseit's big challenge now was keeping hold of his better players and leading Cottbus to the immediate promotion they deserved. Some players did leave, including left-back Mateus Brunetti who'd scored four penalties this season. But the key factor was keeping hold of his deadly strikeforce. Targeting Another Regionalliga Title The 2030s began with an OstDeutscher clash as Cottbus travelled to Berlin FC Dynamo. And they made a solid start to the decade as striker Eric Hottmann maintained his goal-per-game record to nick a 1-0 win. He scored again as his strike partner Stefen Tigges bagged a hat-trick in a 4-0 win over struggling Wilmersdorf then Hottmann bagged four in a 5-2 thrashing of Rathenow to move to 20 league goals for the season. That took the striker past Cottbus' record for most goals in a season, beating the previous record of 28 set by Nils Petersen in 2010/11. He also now had the league's record tally of 28, set by Alexander Schumacher in Prusseit's previous season at this level, well within his striker. He scored two more as they dominated Carl Zeiss Jena 4-2, one as they defeated Viktoria 1889 2-0 and another brace in a 3-1 win at another East German rival Hallescher. Hottmann equalled the record with the opener at home to Halberstadt before Tigges sealed a 3-1 win then broke it with two goals in a 3-1 win at Erzgebirge Aue. He'd now scored in 11 successive games, scoring 19 goals in the process! As for Cottbus, they'd still only failed to win one game all season, were now on a 14-game winning streak, and had a 14-point lead over Dynamo Dresden with eight games remaining. The winning streak ended with their first draw of the season, a 0-0 at home to Rot-Weiß Erfurt in which Tigges picked up a serious hip injury. That meant he'd probably played his final game for the club. Potential Title Bottle Job? With seven games remaining, Cottbus had a 12-point lead over Dresden, meaning they needed three wins to claim the Regionalliga Nordost title. Without Tigges, Prusseit decided to tweak the formation to drop an attacking midfielder in behind Hottmann. That worked nicely as they went to local rivals Chemnitzer and won 3-0 with goals from Hottmann, loanee Rasmus Jørgensen in the attacking midfield role and midfielder Dennis Carstens. But they suffered a surprise 1-1 draw at home to bottom-side TeBe Berlin. That teed up a potential title decider as Cottbus made the trip to Prusseit's hometown club Dresden, who are the only team to Cottbus and have beaten Prusseit in all three of his previous clashes with them. And that trend continued as Dresden came out flying and scored early as Cottbus played terribly, then held them off after the break to inflict a second defeat on their rivals. That cut the lead to seven points with four games remaining, and Prusseit was worried the loss of Tigges was really hurting them. But they got back on track as a Hottmann brace inspired a 3-0 win over Berliner AK. Cottbus' first chance to win the title came at Lokomotive Leipzig and they made a good start as a brilliant team move was finished off by loanee left-back Karl-Heinz Hesse then Hottmann bagged a brace before half time. Leipzig got a goal back with their only shot on target but Carstens finished it off. Energie Cottbus were Regionalliga Nordost Champions!! Prusseit rested the entire first 11 for the final home game, a fan day that saw over 13,000 people turn up and a young side still got a 1-1 with Plauen, then Hoffmann bagged two more in a 3-3 at Meuselwitz. They finished the season with new league records for the most wins (30) and most points (94) and won the league by six points from Dresden. Hottmann was the league's top scorer with 38 goals in 31 games and Tigges was third with 22. Winger Micael Sanhá also broke the league's assists record with 24 followed by loaned winger Phil Hennig's 13. Hoffmann also broke the league's average rating record with 7.98 followed by Tigges' 7.75. Prusseit had rested players because he presumed that, like last time he was in the league, they would face a promotion playoff against the Nord division winner. But, strangely, they didn't have to play one. Energie Cottbus were promoted to 3. Liga!! Local Cup Run Having been knocked out of DFB-Pokal, Cottbus had a second cup opportunity in Verbandspokal Brandenburg, which they also won last season. They eased through to the last eight by hammering FSV Eintracht 6-1 then beating Hennigsdorf 2-0, but went up a level by thrashing FSV Luckenwalde 8-2 led by a Hottmann hat-trick. Cottbus won 10 successive league games for the second time this season as Hottmann and Tigges edged a 2-0 win at Chemie Leipzig. A semi-final at home to Rathenow and Cottbus dominated with 19 shots to zero... but only scored one as Hottmann tapped home in first-half injury-time to reach the Final. Three days after winning the league, Cottbus faced off against Oberliga Nordost winners Babelsburg. They got off to a flyer as Hottmann's low cross helped Busche score just his third of the season. Hottmann was gifted a goal before curling home a brilliant second from 25 yards to make it 3-0 at the break before Babelsburg had even had a shot. They added a fourth after the break through centre-back Daniel Klug and wrapped up a 4-0 victory. Energie Cottbus defended Verbandspokal Brandenburg and won Ruprecht Prusseit's first cup tournament!! Prusseit Celebrates More Success This season had been a huge success that Prusseit believed validated his decision to quit Hansa Rostock II and drop down a league. He won his second league title and lifted his first cup as Cottbus dominated Regionalliga Nordost - but he would be playing his old club next season as Rostock II easily avoided relegation. This season's star man was obviously Hottmann, who scored a new club-record 48 goals plus six assists and an 8.08 average rating in 38 games. Tigges also impressed with 25 goals and 11 assists in 35 games, while Sanhá set a new club-record 28 assists and four goals in 42 games and Hennig scored eight and got 16 assists. Up in Bundesliga, Bayern extended their streak to 18 successive titles. However, it was a lot closer this time as they only won the league by two points from Leipzig. Union Berlin improved to a mid-table finish but Hansa Rostock were relegated. Magdeburg finished 5th in 2. Bundesliga and Zwickau and Hansa Rostock II finished mid-table in 3. Liga. Could Prusseit keep Energie Cottbus in 3. Liga? Or would his achievements see other OstDeutscher Sieg prospects take note of the manager's ability?

OstDeutscher Sieg | Part 16 | A Step Back To Move Forwards Ruprecht Prusseit was a Football Manager with a growing reputation, having led Hansa Rostock II to safety in his first season in professional football. The Rostock II board yet again agreed to allow Prusseit to go on another coaching course, which means he'll now spend 12 months studying for the Continental A Licence. However, Prusseit felt his career would be best off at a club that wasn't a B Team, which didn't give him any control over actual club management and offered limited opportunities. No jobs were available at the start of the summer, so he was settled on staying in Rostock. But he soon received an invitation to an interview from Energie Cottbus, who'd just been relegated from 3. Liga, after having to reject an interview offer from Bundesliga side Augsburg. A few days later, Cottbus asked for his staff changes and swiftly offered him the job on a one-year contract increasing his wage to £2k per week. So Prusseit was moving on to club four of his OstDeutscher Sieg adventure! It may sound odd to move from a third-tier side to one in tier four, but Prusseit firmly believed this was a great opportunity to strengthen his reputation. Who Are Energie Cottbus? Energie Cottbus is a professional club based in the city of Cottbus in the Brandenburg region in northeast Germany. Cottbus' roots trace back to FSV Glückauf Brieske-Senftenberg, a club founded by coalminers in 1919 in the town of Marga that was banned by the Nazis in 1933. It reemerged in 1949 and went through various name changes before becoming the SC Energie Cottbus sports club in 1963. Reunification saw Cottbus emerge as one of the better East German sides, reaching Bundesliga in 2000 and staying there for three years before returning in 2006. In this save, Cottbus spent the first three seasons in tier four before two consecutive promotions up to 2. Bundesliga then back-to-back relegations take them back into Regionalliga Nordost for the 2029/2030 campaign. Prusseit's new club play at the 14,929-capacity Eduard Geyer Arena, which was only built in 2026, and has fairly basic facilities. Cottbus have a bank balance of £1.4m but is spending well over its wage budget and has limited transfer budget. Cottbus had players that Prusseit had actually heard of, including former Dortmund left-back/striker Stefen Tigges. However, most of them wanted out as a result of the club's relegation, so Prusseit had to farm out a few and keep hold of some to try and achieve immediate promotion. The best player remaining at the club was Tigges, who's considered a good 3. Liga player. Other key players include winger Micael Sanhá, midfielder Arnel Kujovic, Prusseit's first Brazilian player left-back Mateus Brunetti and centre-back Malte Karbstein. There was also plenty of potential as six players had at least 4.5-star potential led by centre-back Daniel Klug, midfielder Daniel Yéo and midfielder/striker Dennis Carstens. And the quality in the squad was boosted by loaning in winger Phil Hennig and free transfers of right-back Emmanuel Ntsiakoh and promising striker Richard Busche. Having assessed the squad available to him, Prusseit decided to plug in the 4-4-2 system that led his Rostock II side to promotion from Regionalliga. And he was hpoepful the strikeforce of Tigges and Eric Hottmann would blow the league away. Heading Back To Regionalliga Nordost After a year up in the professional leagues, Prusseit found himself back in the fourth tier. His Cottbus side were third-favourites for Regionalliga Nordost at 9/4 behind old rivals Dynamo Dresden (1/16) and Chemnitzer (15/8). Life back in tier four began at Reinickendorf and the strikeforce dominated as Hottmann scored inside seven minutes then a Tigges brace sealed a 3-0 victory. Both scored again in Prusseit's first game at Eduard Geyer Arena then Hottmann and centre-back Jonas Böhmert secured another 2-0 win at Wilmersdorf. And Cottbus hit top gear with a 4-1 thumping of Rathenow with four different scorers, including Sanhá scoring one and creating two. A 2-1 win at Berlin FC Dynamo before Hottmann and Tigges strikes earned a 2-0 win at home to Chemie Leipzig, which took Cottbus top of the league for the first time. And they didn't let up there, going on to win their first nine league games which, combined with two cup victories, broke the club record for most consecutive victories. The winning run continued against two local rivals as Tigges hit a hat-trick in a 4-1 thumping of Erzgebirge Aue then a Brunetti penalty was the only goal at Rot-Weiß Erfurt. That teed up a top-of-the-table local clash as 100% Cottbus took on undefeated Chemnitzer. Both teams hit the bar early on but Cottbus seized control as a great Tigges run teed Hottmann up with a tap-in then a brilliant Kujovic 25-yarder doubled the lead just before half-time. They shut the game down after the break to move seven points clear and win 12 out of 12. They backed that up by hammering strugglers TeBe Berlin 5-1 away led by a Hottmann hat-trick. But the outrageous start to the season ended with a 4-2 defeat at home to Prusseit's old foes Dynamo Dresden. They got back on track with an easy 2-0 win at Berliner AK, in which they lost star man Hottmann for seven weeks with knee ligament damage. But his replacement Busche took his opportunity by scoring his first senior goal in a 2-0 win at home to Lokomotive Leipzig. Another OstDeutsche side Plauen was seen off 3-0 away before yet another clean sheet in a 2-0 win at home to Meuselwitz with goals from Hennig and Tigges. And the same two players scored again in the final game of the year to seal a 3-1 win at home to Reinickendorf. That took Cottbus into the winter break with an impressive nine-point lead over Chemnitzer and 11-point lead over Dresden with a game in hand. They'd still only dropped points once, scored a league-high 50 and conceded 12. Hottmann and Tigges lead the way with 15 goals each, Sanhá tops the assists with 12 and Tigges has the best average rating of 7.84 followed by Hottmann's 7.73. Prusseit's First Taste Of DFB-Pokal Prusseit's first game in arguably the cup competition with the prettiest trophy, the DFB-Pokal (German Cup), also saw his first-ever clash with a Bundesliga team as Cottbus entertained Greuter Fürth in the first round. And their strong start to the season continued as a Brunetti penalty and injury-time goal by winger David Hofbauer sealed a famous 2-0 win. Cottbus then took down a 2. Bundesliga side in round two as a Hottmann hat-trick down Heidenheim 3-2. Another 2. Bundesliga side followed as they hosted Augsburg in the "Eighth Final," or last 16 to normal people. And they again gave it a really good go, even after Tigges was very harshly sent off after just six minutes. Augsburg raced into a 2-0 lead through a penalty that was as dodgy as the sending-off, but Prusseit rallied his troops and they fought back to earn a 2-2 through Busche and Bonetti's late penalty. But their luck ran out in a penalty shootout, losing it 4-3 on spot kicks with Kujovic missing their sixth. Could Prusseit maintain Cottbus' exceptional form and win Regionalliga for the second time in three years?

Yep! We're on the move!

OstDeutscher Sieg | Part 15 | Avoiding 3. Liga Relegation Battle Hansa Rostock II made a strong start to their first-ever season as a professional club, sitting safely in 3. Liga mid-table heading into the winter break. But manager Ruprecht Prusseit was acutely aware that a slip in form could quickly drag them into danger. Having signed his first 'professional' contract this season, Prusseit took another vital step on his path to the top of German football by completing his Continental C Licence. As a result, his profile, reputation and coaching attributes had seen a marked improvement. Furthermore, the Rostock II board was so delighted with his contributions that they agreed to send him on his Continental B Licence coach a month later. Looking To Avoid A Relegation Battle Rostock II resumed their 3. Liga campaign with a tricky trip to still undefeated Holstein Kiel and offered no shocks with a 2-0 defeat. That was followed by a big OstDeutscher clash as they entertained fellow mid-table side Zwickau, which was a dreadful game with 10 shots in total and one on target and deserved the 0-0 it got. But a 3-2 loss at Hertha II saw Rostock II drop to 14th and just four points above the drop zone. A worrying winless streak extended with a 0-0 at home to Osnabrück, a 2-0 defeat at 1860 München and a 1-1 draw with Stuttgart II. But a first-half brace by top scorer Alexander Schumacher saw them finally get back to winning ways 2-1 at bottom side Schweinfurt. The struggles continued as they lost at home to Frankfurt II but gained a credible 0-0 at Hoffenheim II. Then a huge victory at 10th-place Victoria Köln thanks to goals from Schumacher and midfielder Fritz Fuchs moved them eight points clear of danger with eight games remaining. Prusseit's side virtually confirmed survival as the brilliant Schumacher bagged a four-goal haul to down relegation-threatened Mainz II 4-2. That moved them to the 40-point mark and nine points clear of the relegation zone. 3. Liga Safety Confirmed Rostock II were already more or less confirmed to retain their place in 3. Liga, but they made sure of it as a Karl-Heinz Fogel penalty edged a 1-0 win over 15th-place Duisburg. Prusseit's young team impressed despite losing 2-1 at Bayern II then lost 2-0 at Unterhaching, but confirmed survival mathematically with three games remaining. They celebrated that survival by going to 3rd-place Aalen and winning 3-2 with goals from Schumacher, Fuchs and full-back John-Patrick Strauß. And the season was rounded off with a 0-0 draw against Jena then a solid 1-0 defeat at Dortmund II. That wrapped up an impressive 13th-place finish, 12 points clear of relegation. And they remained a solid outfit, only scoring 36 but also conceding a respectable 47. Another Season Of Overachievement Having been widely expected to return straight to the fourth tier, Prusseit led his Rostock II side to relatively comfortable survival. The team's star man was undoubtedly Schumacher, who scored 20 goals in 35 games taking him to 48 in 67 in two seasons under Prusseit. The next top scorer was Fogel with just three then Fuchs with two and 10 other players scored one each. Horst Nusshall led the assists chart with just four then Strauß with three, but nine players got two each. But Fogel was arguably their most valuable player, topping the average rating with 6.96 in 32 games. Prusseit's development continued as he bagged his Continental B Licence in April, which he hoped would set him up for the next role on his OstDeutsch Sieg adventure as and when an appropriate opportunity presented itself. Elsewhere in Germany, Bayern retained their iron grip on the Bundesliga title with a ridiculous 17th in a row. Hertha finished 2nd with Leipzig down in 5th and Union climbed to 13th. Prusseit's parent club Hansa Rostock won 2. Bundesliga but two OstDeutsch sides Energie Cottbus and Jena were relegated to 3. Liga. Dynamo Dresden reached the Regionalliga playoff but lost 2-1 to Augsburg II. Could Prusseit further build Rostock II? Or was it time to move on for the manager?

No interest just yet... But I'm hoping that's going to change come the summer, as managing a II team isn't the most enjoyable experience!

OstDeutscher Sieg | Part 14 | Going Professional After six years as a Football Manager, Ruprecht Prusseit had his fair share of struggles but 2027/28 was a season he would remember forever. The Dresden-born manager overcame his hometown club to lead Hansa Rostock II to his first-ever title then defeated professional rivals Hannover II to gain promotion to 3. Liga for the first time. Prusseit was widely heralded as the hero of this success, and his board immediately agreed to his request to study for the Continental C coaching license. The club also turned professional in July 2028 but Prusseit was unconvinced about the idea of staying at the B team in a league they apparently had zero chance of staying in. He held off signing a new contract in the hope that a fellow East German side would part with their manager over the summer. However, no clubs changed their managers, so Prusseit showed some loyalty to Rostock II and nearly doubled his wage to £1.6k per week until the end of the 2028/29 campaign. Prusseit's task wasn't helped by the first team promoting wingers Melvin Kaminski and Jan-Lucas Franke, who was actually starting for them in 2. Bundesliga, and defender Julian Niehoff. However, the step up allowed him to actually sign some players on free transfers, so he strengthened a little with giant holding midfielder Dembel Rassoul, midfielder Grace Kabeya (who the first-team manager foolishly then loaned out to Hallescher) and backup defender Paul Lehmann. He was also aided by promoting promising 17-year-old striker David Abeling, midfielder Karl-Heinz Fogel and centre-back Meik Müller. While the first-team demoted several players through the season, including Philippines international John-Patrick Strauß, which further helped Prusseit strengthen his squad. Bearing in mind the challenge ahead, Prusseit created a couple more conservative tactics in addition to the 4-4-2 that had been so successful last season. And he was initially leaning towards the 3-5-2 approach given his lack of recognised wingers. Facing A Tough 3. Liga Challenge Prusseit's show of loyalty meant he faced a tough challenge to keep Rostock II in 3. Liga, but luckily the board only expected him to attempt to avoid the four relegation spots. They were up against big sides like 1860 München, Holstein Kiel and OstDeutsch options Energie Cottbus and FSV Zwickau. Plus there was the challenge of facing Bayern II and Dortmund II. And unsurprisingly, Rostock II were widely tipped as relegation favourites, while Holstein Kiel, Osnabrück, 1860 München, Unterhaching and Zwickau were the favourites to fill the two promotion spots and one promotion playoff place. Life in the third tier began away to fellow OstDeutsch side Energie Cottbus. Against all the odds, Rostock dominated the game with 16 shots to five but relied on a penalty by Abeling for a 1-0 win. And Prusseit had his first professional victory! They again relied on a penalty in their first home game as Rassoul fired home to save a point against Holstein Kiel, in which they broke the club's record attendance as 3,071 fans turned up. Another tough challenge followed as they went to Zwickau but again bossed the game and Schumacher's first goal of the season sealed another 1-0 away success. So after seven points from three games against teams expected to finish in the top six, Prusseit was feeling much more confident. But the strong start ended with a 2-0 defeat at home to Hertha II then a 4-1 thumping at Osnabrück and 3-0 loss at home to 1860 München. And the honeymoon period was very much over! That convinced Prusseit to switch from the 5-3-2 to 4-2-3-1, which delivered a point in a feisty 0-0 at home to Stuttgart II, in which both teams finished with 10 men. It also worked well in a 3-0 win over Schweinfurt with goals by midfielder Niklas Dehmel, Schumacher and centre-back Tim Hannak. Building On A Solid Start Rostock II's home form was proving solid in the early stages as Schumacher nicked a 1-0 win over Hoffenheim II then a 4-2 win over Mainz II 4-2 led by Fogel's first two senior goals. That saw them sitting in a solid mid-table 11th position after 13 matches. That position was improved as Schumacher scored the only goal in another feisty match at Duisburg, which saw both teams down to 10 again. Arguably their biggest test so far saw Bayern II come to town and the exact same result followed as Schumacher again scored the only goal. But that little run ended with a 2-1 loss at Unterhaching then a 3-1 defeat at home to 3rd-place Aalen. An all-OstDeutsch clash saw Rostock II claim a credible 1-1 draw at Carl Zeiss Jena. But they reached the halfway mark of the campaign by getting well and truly dominated and losing 2-0 at home to Dortmund II. That suddenly had Prusseit looking over his shoulder as they were just five points above the drop zone despite being in mid-table. So that pressure on a visit from 17th-place Energie Cottbus, who'd twice rejected Prusseit's applications to their vacant managerial roles. But Prusseit's team delivered, limiting Cottbus to just five shots and scoring two of their 10 with a quickfire double from winger Hendrik Melfsen and Schumacher. So Rostock II headed into the winter break in an impressive 11th place with a seven-point gap to the relegation places. That had been built on a solid base, considering they'd only scored 20 and conceded 27 in 20 games. However, half of those goals had come from Schumacher, who was excelling with 10 goals in 18 games. Could Prusseit continue Rostock II's form and avoid being dragged into the relegation battle? And would his achievements attract interest from elsewhere?

OstDeutscher Sieg | Part 13 | Battling Dresden For The Title Life in tier four was off to a flying start for Ruprecht Prusseit with his free-scoring Hansa Rostock II side sitting top of Regionalliga Nordost at the halfway point of the campaign. Prusseit was proving any doubters wrong, in particular the powers that be at his hometown club Dynamo Dresden, who had refused to entertain his applications three times and now trailed him in the league. However, there was plenty of hard work ahead if he wanted to secure the first piece of silverware on his OstDeutscher Sieg adventure. Crunch OstDeutsch Clash The second half of the season began with a trip to Chemie Leipzig and two goals either side of half-time by 18-year-old striker Alexander Schumacher nicked a 2-1 victory. That also took them to a new club-record nine successive victories. But next up was a huge game against another fellow OstDeutscher Sieg compatriot as Rostock II hosted the only team to have beaten them so far, Dynamo Dresden. Prusseit's side performed well, especially defensively, only to be denied by a goal from a corner in injury time, which ended a 15-game unbeaten streak. The game also saw Rostock II break their attendance record as 2,410 people flocked to the game, smashing the previous record of 1,314. They recovered well to defeat Reinickendorf 3-0 led by a Schumacher brace, which took Rostock into a 49-day winter break in 2nd place, three points behind Dynamo. Taking The Fight To Dynamo Prusseit celebrated passing his National A Licence over the winter break. And his Rostock II gave him more to celebrate as they returned at home to Meuselwitz, dominated them by 20 shots to six and a second-half strike by winger Kevin Stark earned a 1-0 win. In that game, midfielder Nico Geppert became the youngest-ever Rostock II player aged 16 years and 35 days. Striker Chilohem Onuoha earned another 1-0 win at Bischofswerda and things were looking good. However, the curse of being a B team struck as Prusseit's best winger Stark was sold to Hannover then goalkeeper Fabien Eutringer was loaned to FSV Frankfurt. Prusseit took the unusual step of moving his defensive midfielder Horst Nusshall forward to replace Stark, with Damien Roßbach coming into the holding role. The 1-0 victories continued as an Andreas Fehling penalty defeated 14th-place Rathenow, winger Jan-Lucas Franke downed Babelsberg and centre-back Tim Hannak headed the only goal at home to Hallescher after two minutes. And that set a new club record of six consecutive games without conceding. They finally let a goal in at Lokomotive Leipzig but their attackers also found their shooting boots as Schumacher and Onuoha both scored braces in a 5-1 victory. Dynamo had also been winning relentlessly but eventually dropped points with a 0-0 at Plauen, which moved Rostock II four points back with a game in hand. The excellent form continued as Schumacher scored both at home to Viktoria 1889, in which they also hit the woodwork four times, then Schumacher and Onuoha sealed the same result at Prauen. Dynamo Hand Rostock A Lifeline Dresden had only dropped points in three games and led the way by four points having played a game more. But they imploded in a 5-2 home defeat against rivals Chemnitzer, which suddenly shifted the momentum in Rostock II's favour. And, bizarrely, their game in hand would be played one week after Dynamo's final game of the season! Game 1 - Berliner AK (8th, away): Prusseit's side capitalised on that advantage as first-half goals by 17-year-old midfielder Fritz Fuchs and Schumacher downed Berliner AK 2-0. That moved them one point behind Dynamo with a game in hand. Game 2 - Berlin FC Dynamo (12th, away): Relegation-threatened BFC were up next and a Fehling penalty gave them a first-half lead. Just before the hour mark, a brilliant run and finish by Schumacher strike saw him equal the Regionalliga Nordost goalscoring record and sealed another 2-0 win. The day before, Dynamo won 3-0 at TeBe Berlin. Game 3 - Chemnitzer (3rd, home): The biggest test in the run-in was at home to another OstDeutsch side Chemnitzer. But the strikeforce of Schumacher and Onuoha had too much for them as both scored twice in a dominant 4-0 victory. The next day, Dynamo hosted Rot-Weiß Erfurt and dropped more points as Erfurt scored a 96th-minute equaliser to nick a 2-2 draw, which kept Rostock II top of the league by a point. Game 4 - Tennis Borussia Berlin (12th, away): A win at home to TeBe Belin would seal the title with a game remaining, given Dynamo played their final game at the same time. However, Prusseit's time suffered stage fright and lost 1-0 to a very dubious first-half penalty. Elsewhere, Dynamo were winning 1-0 to move two points clear but conceded a 91st-minute equaliser at Chemie Leipzig. That kept Rostock top on goal difference going into their game in hand. Game 5 - Rot-Weiß Erfurt (5th, home): That meant Rostock would be Champions as long as they didn't lose 6-0 at home to Erfurt. This time they started much better as Schumacher tucked home a low cross at the near post then Hannak fired home from 20 yards. Erfurt got one back with their first attack but Fuchs curled home a delicious free-kick to remove any doubt. Hansa Rostock II won Regionalliga Nordost and Rupecht Prusseit had his first piece of silverware!! Rostock II won the title by three points, only drawing once and losing three times all season. They also scored a league-high 77 goals and conceded the fewest with just 17. Schumacher topped the goalscoring chart with a new league record 28 followed by Onuoah on 21. While Stark has the most assists with 12 and the second-highest average rating of 7.68. Unexpected Playoff Phase Having secured the Nordost title, Prusseit's side now progressed into the Regionalliga Promotion Stage. They now faced a tricky two-legged clash with professional side Hannover II, who dominated Regionalliga Nord. The home leg was up first and centre-back Justin Niehoff scored his first career goal with a towering back post head before Hannover equalised eight minutes later. But Rostock II had the best of the game, had 21 shots to seven and made one count as Onuoha raced in behind the defence and chipped the keeper to seal a 2-1 victory. The game again broke the club's record attendance as 2,993 people flocked to Volksstadion. Hannover scored early in the first half from a near-post corner, but a half-time telling-off saw Rostock II dominate the second half. They pulled level nine minutes after the break as Franke hit a screamer from the edge of the box. Ten minutes later, the winger created a second as his low cross allowed Schumacher to score from close range. Prusseit took a more cautious approach and his side eased to a famous 4-2 aggregate win. Hansa Rostock were Promoted to 3. Liga!! Exciting Times At Rostock II As far as Prusseit could tell, Rostock II were heading into 3. Liga for the first time in their history. Prusseit was delighted to have won his first-ever piece of silverware six years into his career, and his board responded by instantly putting plans in place to turn professional. Rostock II's star man this Schumacher, who scored 29 goals in 34 games with a 7.50 average rating. He was pushed close by Onuoha's 22 goals and 7.45 average rating, but no other player scored more than five. Winger Franke topped the assists chart with 10 followed by right-winger Matthiäs Kohler's seven, while centre-back Hannak got an impressive 7.44 average rating. Prusseit now had a tricky decision to make. On the one hand, he was excited about the opportunity to manage in the German third tier and at a professional level for the first time. However, the Rostock II squad was nowhere good enough to play in 3. Liga and he wasn't able to strengthen it. Up in Bundesliga, Bayern trailed Dortmund by seven points going into the winter break. But they were top by mid-February and eventually won their 16th successive title by 17 points from Leipzig as Dortmund slipped to third. Union Berlin again flirted with relegation, going into the relegation playoff and defeating the Hansa Rostock first team. Another OstDeutsche side Energie Cottbus was relegated from 2. Bundesliga and another Erzgebirge Aue were relegated from 3. Liga. Further down the leagues, there was sad news as Prusseit's first club Dessau finished bottom of Verbandsliga Saxonia-Anhalt into German non-league. Would Ruprecht Prusseit stick with Hansa Rostock II in 3. Liga? Or would another East German side come in for him in the summer?

Cheers! Yep, it's interesting, but there are definitely challenges to managing a B team.. largely, the total lack of power and responsibility haha

Good question! Dessau actually just got relegated out of the 6th tier into German non-league Lok Stendal remain very much in 5th-tier mid-table

OstDeutscher Sieg | Part 12 | An Opportunity To Develop Five years into his OstDeutscher Sieg challenge to lead an East German club to Bundesliga glory, Ruprecht Prusseit had just enjoyed his second-best season as a Football Manager. A successful summer rebuild had transformed the fortunes of 1. FC Lok Stendal from relegation favourites to a solid top-half finish. But finances at the club weren't great, so Prusseit was hopeful his efforts would catch the attention of a more established East German side in the summer of 2027. To further that cause, he submitted applications for vacant roles at third-tier Dynamo Dresden and fourth-tier Hansa Rostock II but wasn't holding his breath based on previous experiences. But this time, Rostock II did respond positively, offering the Dresden-born manager an interview and swiftly offering him the job. Prusseit had some reservations about managing a B team, so delayed for a week for any potential interest from his hometown club. But, for a third time in a year, Dynamo turned him down without even offering an interview so Prusseit accepted the Rostock offer. Ruprecht Prusseit was the new Manager of Hansa Rostock II! Who Are Hansa Rostock II? Hansa Rostock II is the semi-professional second team of second-tier side Hansa Rostock, one of the most successful teams from East Germany. The first team has won five East German titles and won 2. Bundesliga in 1995 but, of course, the second team can't compete in the same league. So Rostock II compete in the fourth tier Regionalliga Nordost. Given he was managing a B team, Prusseit had less control over the club than he'd enjoyed with Dessau and Stendal. For example, he wasn't able to sell players he didn't want and had no transfer budget to buy players. But there was no doubt it offered a significant step up in player quality and standard of club. So Prusseit saw this as an opportunity to further increase his stock and raise awareness of his managerial skills, which was immediately boosted by his new board accepting his request to study for his National A Licence. Prusseit's new club play at the 5,000-capacity Volksstadion and has good training facilities courtesy of the first team. And the new board have lofty expectations, looking for him to finish in the top four of Regionalliga Nordost. An example of the challenges facing Prusseit in his new role was his best player Blaz Jelic-Balta, who was considered the fourth-best player in the division, being called up to the first team. While his two best midfielders and his best left-back were loaned out to other clubs. Of the players remaining, the pick of the bunch are attacking midfielders Kevin Stark, Melvin Kaminski, Jan-Lukas Franke and Chilohem Onuoha, 16-year-old right-back Christian Jänicke and 18-year-old Alexander Schumacher, who needs to work on his 4 finishing. But another player keeping an eye on in the future is exciting 15-year-old midfielder Nico Geppert. Having assessed the players available to him, Prusseit initially settled on a fairly standard 4-3-3 formation, but that would later evolve as he took a more offensive approach. Prusseit's First Taste Of Tier Four Rostock II are well-fancied to perform in Regionalliga, predicted to finish 3rd with odds of 12/1 to win the division. Only the league winners get promoted and recently relegated Dynamo Dresden are favorites at 3/10 with another East German side Chemnitzer at 11/1. And the league is packed with OstDeutscher Sieg sides, with nine of the 17 teams located in the region. Prusseit's first match in the German tier four was one of many East German rival clashes as they welcomed Chemie Leipzig in the Friday night curtain raiser. And they started well with a Schumacher brace and a late third by Onuoah. A big game followed as they went to title favourites Dynamo, to whom Prusseit felt he had a point to prove after multiple rejections. And he came close to it with a narrow 3-2 defeat thanks to Onuoah scoring a late brace off the bench. That inspired Prusseit to switch to a 4-2-4 to shoehorn Onuoah into the team as a deep-lying forward, which worked excellently in a 4-0 win at home to Reinickendorf led by a Schumacher hat-trick. A run of five successive wins followed before a 2-2 at fellow East German side Hallescher. That was part of a 10-game undefeated streak, including another Schumacher hat-trick in a 4-1 home thumping of Plauen, who won the division Prusseit managed in last season. They backed that up with another 4-1 win at Berliner AK with braces by Schumacher and Stark, which moved them just three points behind Dynamo with a game in hand. But they kicked on a level as Onuoha bagged a new club record four-goal haul and Stark got an assist hat-trick in a 6-2 hammering of managerless Berlin FC Dynamo. Rostock II maintained their stellar form as they went to Chemnitzer and late goals by midfielder Fritz Fuchs and Onuoah nicked a 2-0 win. Then a trip to Rot-Weiß Erfurt in their game in hand saw them ease to a 3-0 victory. That took Rostock II to the top of Regionalliga Nordorst for the first time at the halfway mark of the campaign, having only dropped points in two games. The strikeforce of Onuoah and Schumacher have taken the league by storm with a shared 29 goals, with Onuoah leading the way with 15. While Stark tops the assists chart with 10 followed by Kaminski with seven and goalkeeper Fabian Eutinger has kept the most clean sheets (9). Could Prusseit maintain Rostock II's form and win the first piece of silverware in his career?

OstDeutscher Sieg | Part 11 | Zopka Smashes Goals Records A summer rebuild and tactical rethink had seen Ruprecht Prusseit transform 1. FC Lok Stendal's fortunes, leading the former relegation favourites to sit sixth in German Division North East - South. Just over halfway through the season, Prusseit's side had already matched last season's points tally. So he was hopeful that maintaining that form and his newly acquired National B Licence would start to attract clubs higher up the German footballing pyramid. Stendal Rely On Free-Scoring Zokpa 2027 began at home to 14th-place Sandhausen and a rare clean sheet was coupled with centre-back Djuma Nshimirimana heading home his first goal for the club. Then a more exciting game at Grimma saw the hosts lead 2-0 at half-time but Prusseit's angry half-time words inspired a three-goal turnaround led by a brace by the league's top scorer Gisbert Zokpa and midfielder Adrian Horner's first goal of the season. But their good form of nine games unbeaten was unsurprisingly ended with a 3-1 defeat at home to leaders Wismut Gera. The defence stepped up again to earn a 0-0 at Nordhausen then a 2-0 win over Oberlausitz thanks to Zokpa and a trademark screamer by Alija Grubesic. Zakpo continued to score for fun, including a brace in a wild 4-4 draw at Martinroda and a hat-trick as Stendal thumped Erfurt-Nord 4-0 away. Zokpa scored in three successive games to break the league goalscoring record, bagging his 45th of the season in a 1-1 draw at home to Eilenburg. He further extended that record with both goals at Halle and two more in a 5-3 win at home to Heiligenstadt. A strong conclusion to the season was stopped suddenly with a 4-0 thumping at Hohenstein and 2-1 defeat at home to Zorbau, but that final game saw Zokpa notch his 50th goal of the campaign. And that saw Prusseit's team finish in 7th place on 61 points, 20 points back from champions Plauen. They scored 70 goals, which was only bettered by Plauen, but conceded 52. And Zokpa was obviously the league's top scorer with 50 league goals, as well as the top average rating of 7.62. While Nikola Duric broke the league's assist record with 19 followed by Zakaria Asante with 16. Reflecting On A Successful Campaign Stendal's summer transfer business helped them surge up the table this season, escaping any risk of relegation. Zokpa obviously led the way with 50 goals, which not only smashed the club record for a season but also made him the all-time leading scored in club history. Behind him, the attacking midfield duo of Duric and Asante top-scored with five each, but they excelled in creating goals for Zokpa as Duric set a new club record 19 assists with Asante getting 16. An unsung hero was centre-back Niclas Burghard, who impressed with a 7.04 average rating and has made massive improvement throughout the season. Away from the positives, the issue of club finances has rapidly reared its ugly head, with Stendal finishing the season with £33,000 in the bank. That's a loss of £200,000 over the season, despite Prusseit spending under half of his wage budget. So football clubs at this level are basically unmanageable. However, Prusseit hoped his overachievement with Stendal this season may just pique the interest of an East German club at a higher level, allowing him to push forward with his career. Bayern maintained their dominance of Bundesliga, winning a 15th successive title by seven points from Leipzig, who'd been way back in 7th going into the winter break. Union Berlin again just avoided relegation, this time by one point. Energie Cottbus played a relegation playoff and Magdeburg were promoted from 3. Liga while Prauen won Stendal's division to reach the fourth tier. Would Prusseit stay at Stendal to continue managing the exciting team he was building? Or would an East German rival come calling?

Definitely! And hopefully job prospects in the summer, we'll see

OstDeutscher Sieg | Part 10 | Summer Rebuild Inspires Improvement A second successive relegation from the German tier five was narrowly avoided as Ruprecht Prusseit led 1. FC Lok Stendal to a solid run of form at the end of the 2025/26 campaign. After four years as a Football Manager, Prusseit was finally able to begin studying for his second coaching badge and his ability was gradually increasing. With that in mind, he submitted speculative applications for vacant roles at higher-tier East German sides Erzgebirge Aue, Dynamo Dresden and FSV Zwickau. But, unsurprisingly, none of them even considered his applications, so he eventually agreed a new one-year deal to stay at Stendal. With his short-term future sorted, Prusseit set about strengthening in key areas. First priority was left-back, where he'd had to rely on the dreadful Kevin Keller all of last season, which he filled with Riccardo Coda and Faraj Saad. Further defensive reinforcements arrived in centre-back Yannick Itoua and versatile full-back Markellos Koumourias. He also added attacking depth with striker Gisbert Zokpa before his DoF snapped up goalkeeper Robert Kampa, attacking midfielder Nikola Duric, holding midfielder Salih Aktürk and promising centre-backs Djuma Nshimiramana and Nicolas Burghard. And with those players recruited, Prusseit decided on a tweak in formation that played to their strength in central positions and utilised star player Adrian Horner in his natural position while retaining defensive strength. Seeking Stendal Improvement Prusseit's additions certainly struck the right note with the media as his side had gone from relegation favourites 12 months ago to being predicted a 15th-place finish at 33/1 to win German Division North East - South. Magdeburg II remain favourites but their odds have significantly dropped to 1/10 followed by Plausen (9/2), Nordhausen (5/1) and Wismut Gera (11/2). The new tactic began well as Zakaria Asante and debutant Zokpa gave them a 2-0 lead inside half an hour at home to Bautzen. But last year's draw kings got another as the opponents dominated by 26 shots to 10 and found two second half responses. They conceded twice again in their first away day at Inter Leipzig but new boy Zokpa ensured they took all three points as he scored a new club-record four goals to inspire a 4-2 victory. The defence finally showed up at home to Dresdner as Kampa kept his first clean sheet and a Sumaila Carvalho penalty sealed a 1-0 victory. Then a Zokpa brace earned a 2-2 draw at Sandhausen, which showed how much the team has improved considering they lost 4-0 there six months ago. Abd Zokpa's excellent start continued with two more goals after holding midfielder Marvin Bokemeyer's opener to lead a 3-1 victory at home to Grimma. That took Stendal to 11 points from five games, which it took them 14 games to achieve last season! The strong start continued as Zokpa scored after five minutes at early leaders Wismut Gera and they held on for a point, which equalled a club-record as they went 13 games unbeaten going back to last season. They broke that record as a late Zokpa brace earned a 2-2 draw at home to Nordhausen then extended it with a 0-0 at Oberlausitz. Zokpa continued his excellent start with a hat-trick to defeat last season's relegation rivals Martinroda 3-0. He added a brace and two assists in a thrilling 5-2 win at newly-promoted Bitterfeld, in which Duric scored his first goal for the club, and another hat-trick to down Erfurt-Nord 3-1. That took him to 20 goals in just 11 games, breaking the club record for most goals in a season, surpassing Carvalho's 18 in 2022/23. A 0-0 draw at Plauen took Standal an incredible 19 games unbeaten heading into a big test at home to Magdeburg II, to whom Prusseit had lost in every previous meeting. That continued with a 3-1 defeat to end their impressive form before another loss at Eilenburg despite Zokpa scoring two more. Prusseit's team didn't let that blip get them down and recovered with two draws before Zokpa hat-trick inspired a 3-1 defeat of Hohenstein then his brace led a 2-1 win at Zorbau. Consecutive 2-2 draws and a Carvalho penalty nicking a 1-0 win at Dresdner took them into a winter break sitting in an impressive 6th place, nine points behind leaders Wismut Gera. They'd already equalled last season's points tally of 37, so any relegation concerns were well and truly forgotten. Stendal were second top scorers in the division with 42 goals, of which they'd been totally reliant on Zokpa scoring a ridiculous league-leading 32! Asante leads the assist chart with 14 with Duric third with 11, while Zokpa and Asante top the average ratings on 7.81 and 7.64 respectively.

Love a relegation scrap! Nothing yet... we tried for a few in the summer, but got flatly rejected. So we'll stick with Stendal for now..

OstDeutscher Sieg | Part 9 | Another Relegation Scrap Ruprecht Prusseit's second role in football management had been packed with entertainment as his 1. FC Lok Stendal 21 games saw 81 goals. That resulted in a familiar position, with Stendal sitting four points above the relegation zone with 15 games remaining. Better results had come as Prusseit switched to a more solid-looking 4-2-3-1 having initially gone with a 4-3-3 - basically caving in to the AI's love of 6-man defences. But he'd later push Sumaila Carvalho back into a central midfield position for even further solidity. Typically, the club was now beginning to lose money, partly because there's no prize money at this level of football, which makes it effectively impossible to compete. Tricky League Resumption 2026 began with a difficult set of fixtures, starting by hosting league favorites Magdeburg II and unsurprisingly losing 3-0. That took Stendal to five games without a win, which unsurprisingly had the fans very unfairly on Prusseit's back for "negative tactics." As if they expect him to go out and attack teams they "face the impossible" against. And it didn't get better as they travelled to another East German side and lost 2-0 at 3rd-place Wismut Gera. Another top-half side followed as they welcomed Bautzen to town and gave up an amazing 12 shots in the first 20 minutes! The visitors eventually made one count but Stendal held on to stay 1-0 down at half-time. Prusseit decided to go for it in the second half and they eventually stemmed the tide, grew into the game, and got their reward as young midfielder Alija Grubesic curled home a beauty from 25 yards. A massive game followed as Stendal visited 17th-place Merseburg. They again started terribly, giving up 10 shots before going behind on 34 minutes. But an own goal gifted them a route back into the game before a special moment saw 16-year-old striker Malte Beste score his first senior goal off the bench to nick a 2-1 win in the 93rd minute. That vital goal, which made Beste the youngest goalscorer in Stendal history aged 16 years and 86 days, restored his side's four-point gap to the drop zone. They looked to be capitalising on the momentum as striker Zakaria Asante gave them the lead after 14 minutes at home to 7th-place Halle. But their shaky defence predictably threw away that advantage to lose 2-1. And they lost 2-1 again at Meuselwitz, which took their opponents top of the league and saw Stendal just one point outside the relegation zone. Another poor start saw them fall behind at home to Grimma, but tactical tweaks saw them actually dominate a top-half side for the first time and Asante nicked them a much-deserved point. Any specks of optimism were forgotten as they got thumped 4-0 at 10th-place Sandersdorf, but they pulled off arguably their best result yet as a rare resolute defensive effort earned a 0-0 at home to 2nd-place Oberlausitz. Another Tight Relegation Battle Stendal came into the final six games of the season with a two-point gap between them and 17th-place Martinroda, who had a game in hand, and a three-point gap to 18th-place Martinroda. The run-in began at overperforming Hohenstein and started well as Asante opened the scoring after 18 minutes. They let the hosts back into it just before half-time but Asante restored the lead five minutes after the break. But the dodgy defence predictably allowed the hosts to equalise eight minutes later, yet again thanks to their dreadful left-back Kevin Keller's inability to mark his winger, and Prusseit feared the worst. However, they held on for a vital point. That was followed by a massive game as Stendal hosted Martinroda. They started well as Asante took advantage of a poor goalkeeper clearance and teed up winger Tshelo Gaolaolwe for his first goal in months. But they predictably conceded to Martinroda's real attack just before the break then offered nothing after half-time and the sides played out a tame 1-1. The same result followed as Gaolaolwe scored again after 15 minutes at Zorbau, who scored a deserved 75th-minute equaliser. However, Martinroada managed to beat Plauen to climb out of the relegation zone on goal difference ahead of both Stendal and Auerbach. But Martinroda, Auerbach and Merselburg all had a game in hand on Stendal. The final three games saw Stendal face two absolutely must-win matches. Firstly, they welcomed Auerbach and started superbly as Grubesic rifled a 25-yarder into the top corner. And it got better 10 minutes later as the Auerbach keeper kicked the ball straight to Asante and he did brilliantly to round two defenders and curled the ball into the bottom corner. Auerbach got back into it early in the second half but Gaolaolwe killed the game off 10 minutes later. Next up, Stendal visited bottom side Rudolstadt who had just 17 points. They started the game on top but couldn't take their chances in the first half. But Asante eventually did as the keeper parried winger Adrian Horner's header straight to him. However, the hosts came back into it and Stendal predictably conceded a 25-yard screamer to draw 1-1. That left Stendal four points clear of relegation a week before the three teams below them played their games in hand. Auerbach drew 1-1 at Dresdner and Martinroda drew 0-0 at Eilenburg, which meant Stendal were safe bar a goal difference swing of 12 on the final day. Stendal had a local rival clash against Plauen while Auerbach welcomed Nordhausen and Martinroda hosted Magdeburg II. But Stendal put in a great defensive performance to see off Stendal's 28 shots before Asante nicked an injury-time winner. And a new record crowd witnessed that victory as 830 people turned up to see Prusseit's survive, smashing the previous record of 740. That saw Stendal defy the odds to secure survival in 15th place, six points clear of relegated Auerbach. They scored 51 and conceded 67, while they tied the league record with 16 draws. Reflecting On A Successful Campaign Having been massively tipped for relegation, Prusseit certainly believed a 15th-place finish was a significant success. He'd seen signs of positivity from his Stendal side, especially Asante, who scored eight in his last 11 games to finish the campaign with a club-high 14 goals and was the only player with above a 7.00 average rating. As a result, he won the fans' player and young player of the year. Gaolaolwe also impressed as he finished the season with 10 goals and a club-high 10 assists. Midfielder Carvalho also did well, scoring 10 goals, but Prusseit was a little disappointed with the lack of contribution from supposed star player Horner, who only scored three and got five assists but did get the goal of the season. Prusseit's contract was up at the end of the season, so he was in two minds about whether to accept Stendal's contract offer or explore new options. So he gave himself a little time over the summer to assess his options and see if his efforts this season had increased his stock with other East German sides. Bayern Munich retained their stranglehold on Bundesliga, winning their 14th successive title but only by four points from the increasingly impressive RB Leipzig. While Union Berlin flirted with relegation but finished 14th, two points above the drop zone. Down a league, two East German sides dropped out of 2. Bundesliga as Dynamo Dresden and FSV Zwickau were relegated. But one replaced them as Energie Cottbus were promoted from 3. Liga. Would Prusseit stay in Stendal for a second season? Or could he secure a job higher up the German ladder?

Thanks! Yeah, I'm definitely keen to do something similar for FM24. Any ideas welcome! I'm thinking of doing another Americas save, where I try to win every title in North and South America - ideally with a custom database for every league across the continents as FM only offers a very limited selection.

OstDeutscher Sieg | Part 8 | Jumping From A Sinking Ship Cash-strapped SV Dessau 05 suffered relegation back into the German sixth tier on goal difference in 2024/25. And manager Ruprecht Prusseit needed a bit of time away from football to gather his thoughts and consider his options. Three years into the save, Prusseit's profile has increased slightly. His attacking coaching has increased from 5 to 8, defending from 1 to 3, mental from 6 to 8, determination from 4 to 6, level of discipline from 5 to 8, people management from 6 to 9 and, potentially most crucially, motivating skills from 16 to 20. But realistically, he wasn't going to improve as a manager at Dessau, as they couldn't even fund his second coaching course. However, Dessau did have an exciting pool of talent that should be good enough to compete in the sixth tier and potentially earn another promotion to add to his CV. The Dessau board was desperate to keep their manager, offering him a new contract four times between the end of the season and his contract expiring on 30 June. But the issue of players being on non-contract basis saw star man Tom Berg depart on a free transfer, which proved the final straw for Prusseit. So when the Lok Stendal job became available at the end of June, he jumped at the opportunity to apply and was swiftly asked for his staff changes on 8 July. Nine days later, they finally came in with a one-year contract to double Prusseit's wage to £500 per week. Ruprecht Prusseit was the new Manager of 1. Lok Stendal! Who are 1. FC Lok Stendal? 1. Lok Stendal are also a semi-professional club located in Stendal, a town of 38,000 people in the Saxony-Anhalt region. The club was originally known as Viktoria Stendal, which was founded in 1909, but went through numerous name changes before becoming Lok Stendal in 1949. Stendal play at the 6,000-capacity Stadion Am Hölzchen. In this save, Standal spent three seasons in Verbandsliga Saxonia-Anholt but gained promotion last season, which means Prusseit is heading back up to German Division North East - South. Prusseit's new board expects him to play defensively solid, direct and counter-attacking football with the aim of avoiding relegation. Financially, they seem in a much better position than Dessau with £400k in the balance and only a loss of around £9k last season. It looked to Prusseit as if the Stendal team had more about it than his former side. That was led by exciting midfielder Adrian Horner, fellow midfielders captain Sumaila Carvalho and Marvin Bokemeyer, winger Tshepo Gaoloalwe, goalkeeper Stephen Jäckel and centre-back Rene Schumacher. There was also plenty of potential in winger Malte Beste, midfielder Alija Grubesic, winger David Nurudeen and full-back Éden Traoré. Another Season Of Struggle? Having just failed to prevent the relegation favourites from going down, Prusseit again finds himself at the helm of the relegation favourites in the now 19-league division! Stendal are 150/1 to win the league with Magdeburg (1/91) again overwhelming favourites followed by Nordhausen and relegated Meuselwitz (11/2). Prusseit only had three days to prepare for his first match as manager of Stendal at home to Dresdner SC, another East German side that had been promoted from German non-league. And they started well as young striker Mamadou Keïta scored thanks to some dreadful goalkeeping and diminutive midfielder Henry Friday made it 2-1 just after the hour mark. The visitors had a man sent off before Prusseit's men added two more in injury time. And the game saw Stendal break their attendance record as 735 people flocked to see their new manager, beating the previous record by 16, and setting a new gate receipts record of £4k as a result. By comparison, Dessau's highest attendance all of last season was just 337. However, they then faced four of the top five promotion favourites. Keïta scored again in an unsurprising 3-1 defeat at Nordhausen before Nurudeen scored twice in a 5-3 loss to Eilenburg, a 3-0 thumping at Magdeburg II and a cruel 2-1 defeat at home to leaders Wilmut Gera, who scored a last-minute winner. They snapped the losing streak with a 0-0 at 2nd-place Bautzen thanks to Jäckel making 13 saves. That was followed by another point in an absolutely wild game at home to Merseburg, in which they fell behind and equalised twice inside 18 minutes, conceded again in injury time, equalised nine minutes after the break and went behind again a minute later. Merseburg scored again late on and it seemed all over but Schumacher got one back in the 94th minute then Carvalho scored a 96th-minute penalty to seal a 5-5! And it became three successive draws with a 2-2 at 6th-place Halle thanks to goals by Carvalho and Gaolaolwe. But Stendal's winless streak extended to 11 games with a 4-2 defeat at home to leaders Meuselwitz, 3-0 losses at Grimma and Oberlausitz, then a Gaolaolwe brace nicked a 3-3 at home to Sandhausen. Vital Games Against Fellow Strugglers Stendal finally faced a run of games against teams not in the top half of the table at the end of 2025. Their winless streak continued with a 2-2 at home to 12-place Hohenstein as striker Zakaria Asante finally scored his first Stendal goal after 16 hours of trying. A big game took them to 16th-place Martinroda but they still couldn't win as Horner's goal secured a 1-1 draw. But they finally snapped their painful 13-game winless streak as Prusseit switched to a 4-2-3-1 formation with two holding midfielders at Zorbau. And that worked well as first-half Carvalho and Asante strikes downed the 9th-place side 2-1 despite being thoroughly dominated. They backed that up by going to 18th-place Auerbach and nicking a 3-1 victory thanks to Gaolaolwe's 89th-minute strike and Carvalho's injury-time penalty. They took the confidence from those victories into a must-win game at home to bottom-of-the-league Rudolstadt. The impressive Gaolaolwe curled home a delicious 25-yarder inside 18 minutes then created the second for the in-form Asante, who sealed another 3-1 victory late on. That much-needed change in fortunes lifted Stendal out of the relegation zone and four points clear of the drop zone. But that was cut to three even as they gained a hard-earned 1-1 at fellow East German side Plauen. Another East German team followed as they travelled to Dresdner SC and Asante's early goal was enough for another 1-1 again against the run of play. The young striker Matthias Lindrath sealed a third consecutive 1-1 and an eighth game unbeaten at home to 9th-place Nordhausen. But that ended in the final game of 2025 in a 2-1 defeat at 4th-place Eilenburg, who nicked it in the 92nd minute. That took Stendal into the winter break in 15th and with a four-point gap to the relegation zone. However, the Stendal fans certainly got entertainment as their 36 goals scored was more than leaders Oberlausitz and the joint-second highest in the league and only 16th-place Merseburg had conceded more than their 45! First Return To Dessau Prusseit faced his first trip back to Dessau as his Stendal side took on his former employers in the first round of Verbandspokal Sachsen-Anhalt. His new team eased to a 2-0 success with second-half goals by Carvalho and Asante. Speaking of Dessau, they currently sit 10th in the 18-team Verbandsliga Saxonia-Anhalt and 18 points off promotion. The manager had enjoyed an interesting time in his first five months in Stendal. His team had been on a club-record-breaking winless streak then recovered impressively, all while delivering goals aplenty for their fans. But could Prusseit avoid a repeat of last season and avoid dropping into a relegation battle?

OstDeutscher Sieg | Part 7 | Financial Issues And Relegation Scrap Relegation favourites SV Dessau 05 were performing above expectations to sit outside the drop zone of German Division North East - South. But Ruprecht Prusseit's young side were far from secure in the fifth tier, especially considering an increasingly concerning financial situation. Dessau began 2025 by taking an unlikely lead at Plauen, only to deservedly lose 2-1 after the hosts battered them by 22 shots to two, then got battered 3-0 at home to Magdeburg II. And results elsewhere swiftly reduced their gap to just two points. They maintained that gap with a much-needed 2-1 win over Grimma thanks to two goals in a minute from striker Tom Berg, as Halle and Inter Leipzig behind them were showing signs of resurgence. Unlike last season, the teams in the bottom three were picking up results, inlcuding Martinroda beating 3rd-place Bautzen. That sent Dessau into the relegation zone for the first time since September as they lost 4-1 loss at Nordhausen and they stayed there with unsurprising defeats against top half teams. That meant they absolutely had to get three points against bottom side Eisenberg, who only had four points from 25 games. And they delivered as 16-year-old midfielder Mohamed Seidemann scored his first senior goal before another Berg brace sealed a pretty lucky 3-0 victory. Financial Situation Heaps Pressure On Prusseit Dressau's dwindling financial situation was becoming almost untenable to the point where it was significantly impacting Prusseit's role. Firstly, the board decided to cease non-contract player bonuses. A few days later, the unsustainable position meant the club announced it would likely enter administration if Prusseit failed to avoid relegation. Then the board agreed a £725k loan to help the club's running costs, which it immediately began paying off in £3k monthly repayments. In other words, the club is screwed financially! Prusseit reached 100 games in charge of Dessau with a dreadful game at home to Zorbau, but his defence performed well to earn a 0-0. But they were terrible next time out at Martinroda, who won 2-0 to climb above Dressau, before a 3-1 loss at home to Wismut Gera. That left Dessau in a perilous position, just one point clear of relegation with four games remaining and with a pretty tricky run-in that, most likely, would hang on a big trip to Inter Leipzig. Game 1 - Hohenstein (9th, away): The strive for survival started terribly as Dessau got thumped 4-1 at Hohenstein. Elsewhere, Halle won at Inter Leipzig to climb out of the drop zone and send Dessau into it. Game 2 - Bautzen (6th, home): They played slightly better at home to Bautzen but fell behind to the visitors' first shot on target and conceded again after an hour. Beck got a goal back but it wasn't enough. Inter and Martinroda also lost while Halle somehow drew 0-0 at home to leaders Rot-Weiß Erfurt. So Dessau remained two points from safety with two games remaining. Game 3 - Inter Leipzig (17th, away): The crunch game of the run-in took Dessau to Leipzig and Prusseit took a tactical gamble with an asymmetric 4-5-1 approach. The home team absolutely dominated, racking up 28 shots to eight. But Berg scored inside three minutes to give his team something to hold onto before midfielder Marc Kauffmann smashed home a 30-yarder then, four minutes later, converted a penalty to seal a huge 3-1 win. However, Martinroda scored a 90th-minute winner to defeat Oberlausitz 1-0, which kept Dessau in the relegation zone on goal difference. Game 4 - Rot-Weiß Erfurt (2nd, away): A final-day clash with East German rivals Erfurt meant relegation was virtually guaranteed, considering the visitors needed to win to get promoted. They seemed to have a lifeline as Erfurt were down to 10 men after 36 minutes. But, typically of this team, they allowed Erfurt to go down the other end and score the opener. And as Prusseit pushed for an equaliser they allowed Erfurt in for a second. They suffered the ignominy of relegation while their opponents Erfurt celebrated the league title. SV Dessau 05 were relegated from German Division North East - South. Dessau were relegated by the merest of margins, finishing level on points with Halle and only going down on goal difference. They only scored 34 and conceded 69, and only won twice in their final 12 games of the season. What Will Become Of Prusseit After Relegation? Dessau's relegation seemed almost inevitable at the start of the season but they fought relatively hard in a bid to survive. But truth be told, they didn't have anywhere near the quality to stay up. One positive from the season was Berg top-scoring with a relatively impressive 22 goals in 34 games, but the rest of the squad only mustered 12 goals between them. However, there is significant potential in this young squad, if the club can get over its major financial issues. Another positive was Dessau enjoying another strong youth intake led by midfielder Fynn Fiedel, who came in with 4-star potential. Other players worth keeping an eye on include wingers Florian Osmanovic and Leonard Helmstedt, midfielder Jörg Jürgen and left-backs Robert Seidemann and Ben Feuser. Up in Bundesliga, there were seismic waves as Bayern Munich lost their first league match of the save. And not only did they lose once, they lost five times. Indeed, with five games remaining, Leipzig were actually top on goal difference. But they blew it and Bayern won their 13th consecutive title by seven points. Would Lazaró stick with Dessau as they drop back into the sixth tier of German football? Or would another East German side come calling over the summer? Join us on Friday to find out!

OstDeutscher Sieg | Part 6 | Massive Relegation Favourites Ruprecht Prusseit came into the summer of 2024 unsure of whether to continue the work he'd started at SV Dessau 05 or seek pastures new. He'd worked wonders to keep Dessau in the fifth tier with a bunch of high-potential but low-current-ability teenagers and the club's finances were a huge concern. Indeed, the board had already slashed Prusseit's wage budget and he'd somehow managed to overspend it, even though only nine players were being paid a wage! The poor finances meant it was also virtually impossible to bolster his squad, which gave him no option but to rely on a growing batch of exciting youngsters. Prusseit considered his options and, given a lack of available East German managerial roles, eventually agreed to a new one-year deal at Dessau. But crucially, he dropped his wage to address the club's finances and removed the high compensation his board were demanding from rival clubs to give him a better chance of a future move. With that contract in the bag, Prusseit cooked up a tactical switch to try and get the best out of his players. The last couple of youth intakes had produced some solid players but, crucially, no natural goalscorer, so Prusseit devised a strikerless approach that absolutely didn't work. However, a few days into the season, the perils of non-contract players arose again as midfielders Wael Salhi and Koffi Laba were poached by teams from the league below. So luckily he'd kept a modified 4-3-3 in his pocket. Second Season In Tier 5 The media certainly didn't fancy Dessau's chances, predicting them to come last in the extended 18-team German Division North East - South. They were 200/1 to win the league and, realistically, they were doomed to relegation. Magdeburg II remain favourites at 1/4 followed by relegated Rot-Weiß Erfurt (15/8), Nordhausen (13/2), Wismut Gera (7/1) and Plauen (15/2), so four of the top five favourites are fellow East German sides. The new tactic got its first outing at home to Eilenburg. Recent academy graduate Kevin von der Weth scored on his debut but his side was a little unlucky to lose 2-1. Next was a big game at newly promoted Halle 96, which was probably a must-win if they had any chance of survival. Prusseit switched to 4-3-3 and his team delivered thanks largely to the referee awarding two penalties converted by midfielder Marc Kauffmann plus a Tom Berg strike, which ended his 15-hour goal drought and sealed a 3-2 victory. A tougher test followed at home to Plauen, who won 2-0 with two goals from last season's league top scorer Christopher Bibaku, who scored a hat-trick in the corresponding fixture last year and, for context, earns more than Dessau's entire squad combined. Then they went to Magdeburg II and got thumped 4-1 and a 1-0 loss at Grimma dropped them into the relegation zone. But a 1-1 at home to Nordhausen thanks to Berg's equaliser lifted them to the heady heights of 14th. But that couldn't stop the rot as they went six without a win before a huge game at 17th-place Eisenberg. And they again delivered against a relegation rival thanks, again, to a Hoffmann penalty before Berg scored two direct free-kicks after Eisenberg had also scored a direct free-kick! They were nowhere near good enough to get anything from games against teams not struggling at the bottom. But crucially when they did take on the strugglers Prusseit's team just about had enough about them, as was proven again with a 1-0 win at home to Martinroda thanks to a delicious Berg finish. However, they finally beat a non-terrible team as midfielder Luka Böhmermann scored a 30-yard screamer for his first senior goal then a late Berg winner earned a 2-1 win over 10th-place Hohenstein. But they had goalkeeper Frank Sander to thank for making eight saves. Two away defeats before an absolutely dreadful game at home to 15th-place Inter Leipzig that absolutely deserved a 0-0. But in the third minute of injury time, Berg latched onto a long hoof clear and took advantage of some terrible goalkeeping to tap into an empty net to secure a massive win. The final game of 2024 saw Dessau host 17th-place Halle, who'd just sacked their manager, making this a vital game. But they played poorly as managerless Halle dominated them only for Berg to score both their shots on target to nick a 2-2. That sent Dessau into the 50-day winter break in 14th place and five points above the drop zone, which was a reflection on how bad the teams at the bottom of the league are. Over halfway into the campaign, only five Dessau players have scored a goal and Berg has scored 63% of their league goals and only Aluong Yaak has more than two assists. But Berg has excelled with an impressive 12 goals in 19 league games. Could Prusseit perform another miracle and keep his young Dessau squad in the fifth tier for a third season? We'll find out on Monday!

OstDeutscher Sieg | Part 5 | Dismal End Of Season Form Newly promoted SV Dessau 05 found themselves locked in a tough battle to survive in tier five of German football. Manager Ruprecht Prusseit had been given no choice but to put faith in youth, and that was being rewarded as his prospects were showing signs of improvement. However, survival was still a tough ask with just a three-point gap to the bottom three. And, not to look like he was trying to jump ship, Prusseit did throw his hat in the ring for the vacant role at Rot-Weiß Erfurt, who offered him his first interview at another club but ultimately went with former MTK Budapest boss Michael Boris. Prusseit wasn't too disappointed, as Erfurt were cut adrift in Regionalliga and suffering significant financial issues, so he swiftly switched his attention to all matters Dessau related. However, the financial issues at his own club made that somewhat difficult, as the board dramatically slashed his wage budget from £3,530 to just £603 in January 2024. Tricky Run Of Form Dessau's semi-success had been built on relatively solid defensive performances. But the second half of the campaign began with successive 3-1 defeats at fellow East German side Plauen and at home to Bautzen then a 1-0 defeat at 2nd-place Eilenburg in which they mustered just one shot to the hosts' 19. But they put an end to that poor run as hot prospect wingers Koffi Laba and Aluong Yaak sealed a 2-0 home victory over 15th-place Rudolstadt. That win was vital as it sent Dessau into a 50-day winter break with a five-point gap to the relegation zone. The winter break saw the non-contract status problem hit Dessau again as they lost Prusseit's only two signings goalkeeper Ralf Wölk and holding midfielder Tobias Falk to teams in the league below them. Not ideal. Dessau returned to action with an unusually high-scoring game as they lost 4-3 to Sandhausen. But they stepped up with a vital 2-0 win at home to bottom side Wernigerode thanks to a Marc Kauffmann penalty and 16-year-old winger Oliver Büscher scoring on his debut. And crucially, that opened up an eight-point gap to the bottom three. Relegation Scrap Heats Up A tough run of games against five top-half teams followed and Dessau caused no surprises, conceding 16 goals in the process. The good news was that their run-in was slightly easier and they still had a five-point buffer as the teams below them were in equally dismal form. First up was 9th-place Nordhausen, who strolled to an easy 3-1 away win. But luckily Rudolstadt also lost at home to Wismut Gera. After six defeats on the bounce, Prusseit took a radically new 5-4-1 tactical approach to Fahner Höhe and it got the desired result as they bored the hosts to death and nicked all three points through a Kauffmann penalty. That secured Dessau's place in German Division North East-South and, according to Football Manager, it also secured the highest position in Dessau history! It was lucky they did seal survival in that game as they were hammered 4-1 at home by Oberlausitz and then lost 2-0 at home to Inter Leipzig. That confirmed a 13th-place finish and Dessau somehow stayed up despite losing eight of their last nine games and amassing just 26 points. Tough Season But A Bright Future? There weren't too many positives to take away from this season, other than a bunch of kids somehow managing to avoid relegation. Tom Berg, a striker with 5 finishing and Prusseit really wasn't convinced should be playing up front, led the way with eight goals in 25 games but, like most of his teammates, finished the season in abysmal form. Kauffmann was one bright spark with six goals and four assists in 30 appearances from midfield while Yaak got five goals and seven assists from the right. However, there was some optimism as Prusseit's second youth intake delivered again. It offered nine players with 5-star potential, but you obviously have to take intakes at this level with a hefty pinch of salt. The star of the 2024 crop is attacking midfielder Kevin von der Weth, who comes in with 3.5-star ability, along with fellow midfielder Mohamed Seidemann, who has 3-star ability, which immediately makes them the best two midfielders at the club! Also worth keeping an eye on are striker Lukas Böhmermann, wingers Tommy Eggert, Leander Stephan and Maik Altenschmidt, midfielder Niclas Senger, right-back Jan Heidel, left-back Jörg Flückiger, centre-backs Gabriel Kastenhofer and Kevin Pistol and goalkeeper Stefan Meier. Elsewhere in Germany, there was still no threat to Bayern's dominance as they won the league in March, completed another invincible season (so they still haven't lost a league game in this save) and finished 18 points clear of Dortmund. Leipzig and Union finished in 8th and 9th. Prusseit's contract was expiring in the summer of 2024 and he held off signing the latest offer from the Dessau board. The club's finances were an absolute nightmare as they ended the campaign over £500,000 in the red, with no viable income to address the ongoing losses. So Prusseit would keep his options open in the summer, in the hope that another East German club came calling.

Great points re Italy, Scotland and Austria. Could we also throw England into the mix? No London side has won the EPL in 6 years now, and it's also 1 title in 8 years and only 3 (all Chelsea) since 2006.