Wuppertal bankruptcy makes Aachen happy
Traditional club surprisingly rises to the 3rd league on the sofa
April 26, 2024, 10:52 p.m
Four game days before the end it is clear: Alemannia Aachen is leaving the Regionalliga West. The traditional club with the huge average attendance benefits from a defeat by Wuppertaler SV. It is the next chapter in the eventful history of Alemannia.
The traditional club Alemannia Aachen has returned to professional football after eleven years prematurely and without any involvement of its own. The championship can no longer be taken away from the leaders of the Regionalliga West after a mistake by their pursuers Wuppertaler SV. Wuppertal lost 1:2 (0:1) to third-placed Fortuna Cologne on the fourth-to-last matchday of the season and can no longer push Alemannia, who have been unbeaten since November, out of first place.
Given the unassailable 14-point lead, a big promotion party can take place at Aachen’s Tivoli on Saturday (2 p.m.) in the game against 1. FC Bocholt. The attendance record for a regional league game could also fall. The record so far is 30,313 fans, also set in Aachen in February 2015 against Rot-Weiss Essen (1-0).
Coach Heiner Backhaus took over the Aachen team in tenth place in September and has since celebrated 20 wins in 24 games with just one defeat with Alemannia. Alemannia was runner-up in FC Bayern’s first Bundesliga championship in 1969, but was relegated the following season and became a permanent guest in the second division.
In 2004, Aachen caused a sensation by reaching the cup final (2:3 against Werder Bremen), was allowed to take part in the UEFA Cup as a second division team and even survived the preliminary round. In 2006, the West Germans were promoted to the Bundesliga, but had to go down again after a year. In 2012, the traditional club, which had meanwhile been plagued by financial problems, was relegated from the 2nd Bundesliga, and the following year it was relegated from the 3rd league. Since 2013, Alemannia has only played in the fourth league. The low point was 14th place in the 2020/21 season.
This season the euphoria returned to the Tivoli. On average, around 18,500 spectators came to the games. The 17 league rivals together have an average of 20,500 fans.