Opposition Check: SC Paderborn

A goal just before half-time. A goal shortly after the break. And the victory belonged to SC Paderborn, who started the new season with a 2-1 opening win at Hertha. Were the points hinted at at the start? Yes, if Lukas Kwasniok has his way. At the press conference before the game, the East Westphalia head coach confirmed that his team had completed “perfect preparation” in the summer. “Now it’s about delivering in the first game,” Kwasniok continued.

No sooner said than done – even if, despite the victory at Hertha, not everything went smoothly and the head coach said his men still had “room for improvement”. But what are the strengths of Paderborn? What kind of guy is the man on the sidelines? And which player should you particularly have on your list when the duel between Ostwestfalen and SV Darmstadt 98 comes up on the second second division matchday? We took a closer look at the Lilies‘ upcoming opponent.

A realist who loves order and faces facts. This is Lukas Kwasniok. At the age of 19, he gave up his dream of paid football and started training to become a middle-level civil servant. But the early end of his playing career later made the Polish-born coach an experienced and hardened coach. Having worked in the Karlsruher SC youth team for many years, Kwasniok developed his own approach. He developed his vision and followed his principles. Then he reaped the fruits of his work: In the 2019/20 season he was promoted to the 3rd league as head coach with 1. FC Saarbrücken and also became the first fourth division team ever to reach the semi-finals of the DFB Cup with the Saarland team .

In the summer of 2021, he moved from Baden-Württemberg to North Rhine-Westphalia, where he took over the second division team SC Paderborn in East Westphalia. Today, the 43-year-old trainer is characterised by security and confidence in himself. For him, defeats are sometimes necessary stages for further success. Since 2021, the SCP has had a trainer in the dugout who once described his work to the Weser-Kurier as follows: “I want to develop a game idea that is authentic and not artificial. A gait that suits my nature.”

The away strength of SC Paderborn!? It was like that last season. Will this trend continue into the new season with the 2-1 win at Hertha BSC? From the 17 away duels last year, the East Westphalia team got a total of 27 points, which put them in a strong fourth place in the away table. The first three points on a foreign pitch are already in the account because the Paderborn team were both efficient and, above all, stable in defense in Berlin. Only Magdeburg and Cologne (both 9) had to accept fewer shots from their opponents than the SCP (10), with Paderborn not allowing Hertha to have any big chances at all.

This cheering in the Olympic Stadium in Berlin. His competitive debut for SC Paderborn. His first game in the 2nd Bundesliga. His first goal and three points in the bag. “If I dreamed of something, then it was exactly that,” reported an overjoyed SC Paderborn 07 central defender Felix Götze. Dream debut.

Review. Born in Dortmund, he was trained at the black and yellow Borussia and later at FC Bayern Munich. His path to becoming a footballer? Signed. “The first thing I saw when I was a child was the ball. When you have two older brothers who both played football, you have no choice,” he jokes with a smile on his face. Felix the youngest. Brother Fabian the eldest. And Mario is probably the best-known member of the Götze family. “I wouldn’t be here without him – without his tips,” Felix once said about his brother Mario. He previously celebrated his Bundesliga debut for FC Augsburg in the 2018/19 season and later scored his first professional goal against FC Bayern Munich – a goal that he dedicated to Mario. The breakthrough in his career?

Not quite. Always plagued by bad luck with injuries, the now 26-year-old only went to the third division once. There he played for both 1. FC Kaiserslautern and, most recently, Rot-Weiß Essen. Everything needs it’s time. Since this summer, Götze has wanted to attack in the 2nd Bundesliga. His debut was already promising. He now wants to continue on his path for SC Paderborn. And yet he still has a dream, as he once revealed: to stand on the pitch in the same jersey as his brother Mario.