The odyssey of the Hamburg regional league club Teutonia Ottensen is now occupying football minds nationwide: RB Leipzig coach Domenico Tedesco has now criticized the way cup opponents FC Teutonia 05 Ottensen were dealing with the search for a stadium. “We can play at home now, but that’s not the point. We would have liked to play away from home, as it should be in the first round of the cup,” said the 36-year-old on Monday. Defending champion Leipzig welcomes the fourth division soccer club Ottensen on Tuesday (8.45 p.m. / Sky and ZDF) in their own stadium after the home right was exchanged at short notice with one exception of the DFB.
The Hamburg regional league team does not have a suitable stadium and had only received rejections in their own city and the surrounding area. Last week, the space in the alternative stadium in Dessau was sabotaged. “You got the wrong guy with Teutonia. You didn’t get a place in Hamburg. Of course you can now go through the individual clubs, who said, no, not on principle,” said Tedesco.
FC St. Pauli and Hamburger SV canceled Ottensen, Eintracht Norderstedt and VfB Lübeck cannot meet the requirements of the German Football Association (DFB) regarding the floodlights. A week before the game, the lawn in Dessau was destroyed by unknown persons with a poisonous substance. “A small club books a hotel in Dessau and is left with the money. It’s actually a crazy story,” said Tedesco.
FC St. Pauli recently pointed out that the turf shouldn’t suffer from the stress of an additional game and expressed doubts that over 10,000 spectators wanted to see this game in Hamburg.
Ottensen does not find the current solution of the exchange of home rights inconvenient. “It’s the best solution for the club,” said coach David Bergner, who has an RB past. “It’s a great experience for the boys to play in such a big stadium.”
At home, the regional league advertises with “Tradition from Ottensen” – and thus offends. Until the middle of the last decade, Teutonia was considered a cult club that oscillated between the district and state leagues and gave a talent like Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting a jump start into the big football world. Then the ambitions rose and the popularity fell.
Suddenly, a sponsor (Lukoil) got involved, who created new dimensions. Thanks to Russian oil funds, the rise was targeted. After the invasion of Ukraine, the club distanced itself from the sponsor. In 2016, a manager was installed who replaced the entire squad, and in 2017 it went from the state to the premier league. The promotion round to the regional league was reached in 2018, and promotion was achieved in 2020.
The switchover to Profitum has been complete since the summer. The players who still had a job or were studying and were therefore unable to train in the morning had to look for new clubs. 18 new people were brought in for this – many with experience in the third division. Even a player from the RB offspring was committed.
In addition to the reservations, there is one more thing that connects Ottensen and Leipzig. Both advertise an energy drink on the shirt. “This cooperation is an important energy boost for us,” said President Liborio Mazzagatti with a wink. The sponsor was also appropriately presented shortly before the cup hit against Leipzig.
But there is also a sporting story for Coach Bergner. “I was happy about the draw because I have a personal relationship with the club,” says the 48-year-old. “And it’s a great experience for the boys to play in such a big stadium.” During his playing days, the former defender made eleven second division appearances for 1. FC Nürnberg and 1. FC Schweinfurt, and also played for 1. FC Union Berlin and Hallesche FC.
After the end of his career, he was hired as coach of the second team at RB Leipzig in 2010. “I got an offer from the youth manager at RB Leipzig at short notice to join the second team,” he says. The association had only been founded a year earlier. The first team played in the regional league, the second team in the national league.
The infrastructure of that time was not comparable to today’s. “Back then we changed in containers. A lot had to be improvised,” he reports. Bergner is all the more pleased with how RB has developed since then: “I think it’s just sensational that such a great team has settled in the former World Cup stadium from 2006, which gives the city a lot. Leipzig deserves a Bundesliga club.” Bergner left the club after two years and took over the U19s from Dynamo Dresden.
Since the beginning of this season he has been a coach at the regional league club Teutonia 05 Ottensen and commutes between Hamburg and Leipzig. With the club, which introduced professional structures, he wants to “perhaps eventually become the third force in Hamburg” behind HSV and FC St. Pauli.
On the way there, a sensation in the DFB Cup would help. But how realistic is this scenario? There are three leagues between the clubs. “We also have a newly assembled team with 17 newcomers. So we should have a sensational day,” says Bergner. The coach has particular respect for the RB storm: “Timo Werner is a sensational footballer with his speed. He showed at Chelsea that he can also be important at a top European club.”
It was all the more important for his team to “defend sensationally”, as Bergner emphasised. But he doesn’t want to leave it at the defensive bar, “but also use one or the other opportunity that we get”. But he knows there won’t be many.
