Last game of the season

I haven't written much about Alemannia lately, because there hasn't been much to write about. Our latest coach Juergen Seeburger has taken this bull by the horns and has produced a winning team. Alemannia has won 6 of the last 7 games, but that hasn't gotten them out of 7th place on the table. They've been there for several weeks now.

Today will still be an interesting day for soccer fans. Three teams will be promoted to the first division, and only two of those places are decided. TSG Hoffenheim, Mainz 05, and SC Freiburg are fighting it out for the last position. Fighting it out, right to the last game of the season. Like I said, it should be interesting. It will be astounding if Hoffenheim can push their way into the firsts division. This year was their first year ever in the second division.

At the bottom end of the table, 4 teams will drop down to the regional leagues, where the paydays for players are few and far between. The regional leagues aren't considered the "professional leagues". It's almost a career death sentence for an older player to be playing for a demoted team. The younger guys will find new positions. Players these days almost always have a contract clause that lets them out of their contract if their team is demoted.

Of the 4 to go, 3 have been decided. But that last demotion position is up for grabs and it's a fight between 5 different teams today. There are combinations of "who wins, and who loses" that has 5 different teams in danger. And none of them are playing each other today. There will be a lot of well chewed fingernails in the fan boxes today.

Update, after all the games: Hoffenheim did it. Within 3 years they went from the regional leagues, to the 2nd division, to the Bundesliga. It's not the first time this has been done. 1860 Munich did the same in the early 1990's, but 1860 Munich had previously been in the Bundesliga. As I said earlier, this year was the first time ever that Hoffenheim was in the professional leagues. Now they're going to the big show.

On the down side of the 2nd division table, Kaiserslautern avoided being sent down but only because Kickers Offenbach couldn't win their last game. Good thing too. The city of Kaiserslautern just built that team a new stadium that could be described as a palace.

As for Alemannia? Well, they ended in 7th place in the table, a sold 2nd division traditional sports club that fields a professional soccer team. We shouldn't forget that. Alemannia is a sports club, not just a soccer team.