Opposition Check: SV Elversberg

In their first second division season, Elversberg finished in a solid eleventh place in the table. With 43 points collected, the Saarlanders had a total of twelve points ahead of a direct relegation zone after 34 match days – strong numbers for an absolute newcomer to the league. And this season? The SVE started the season with two draws – first a 0-0 at 1. FC Magdeburg, then a 2-2 against Bundesliga relegated 1. FC Köln. This means that the Elversberg team started the season better than in their first year in the second division, when they only had one point after four match days. Meanwhile, the team from Saarland showed no weakness in the DFB Cup and moved into the second round of the cup with a confident 7-0 win against upper division team VfV 06 Hildesheim. The first defeat of the season followed on the third matchday. The SVE lost 2-3 away to Karlsruher SC.

We’ll take a closer look at SV Darmstadt 98’s upcoming opponent before the duel on Saturday (August 31st). SV Elversberg in the opponent check.

Horst Steffen is an experienced football coach who has experienced a number of ups and downs in his coaching career. Before he started working at SV Elversberg in October 2018, his previous jobs didn’t exactly go according to plan. He was relieved of his duties at both Preußen Münster and Chemnitzer FC due to a lack of success after 28 and 23 games respectively. But on the SVE sidelines, things are going well for Steffen. The 55-year-old has been in the saddle there for 223 competitive games. „In my first season in Elversberg in the regional league there were a few defeats at the beginning that weren’t great,“ Steffen once recalled in a kicker interview: „But from the winter break onwards I had the feeling that it was okay.“

And it fits. With SV Elversberg, Steffen was only promoted to the 3rd league in 2022 and in the summer of 2023 to the 2nd Bundesliga as third division champions. But that’s not enough. The second division newcomer managed to stay in the league immediately under the direction of his head coach. Father of success? Horst Steffen. The native of North Rhine-Westphalia is the son of Bernhard Steffen, who once played successfully for Fortuna Düsseldorf. As a defensive midfielder, Horst Steffen played over 200 Bundesliga games for Uerdingen, Duisburg and Mönchengladbach. In 2003 he ended his active career to move to the coaching bench. From then on, Steffen worked at MSV Duisburg II as well as in the Zebras youth team and Borussia Mönchengladbach’s youth team. Before his positions in Chemnitz and Münster, he was also head coach at the Stuttgarter Kickers.

That has been SV Elversberg’s running strength to date. The men from Saarland covered a distance of 356.2 kilometers on the first matchdays – that’s an average of 118.7 kilometers per game. Only 1. FC Köln exceeds the Elversberg values ​​– 360.7km in total and 120.24km on average per game. The many sprints by the Saarlanders during the 90 minutes are also noticeable. The SVE sprinted a total of 672 times – only FC Schalke 04 (677) five times more.

…Robin Fellhauer. The defensive midfielder, who was once trained at 1. FC Saarbrücken and SC Freiburg, has had an impressive journey with SV Elversberg: from the Regionalliga Südwest through Liga 3. to staying in 2. Bundesliga. The current Saarland captain has been wearing the SVE jersey since 2019. Before Fellhauer took to the pitch in the URSAPHARM Arena at Kaiserlinde, he played for five years in both the youth and second teams of SC Freiburg. In any case, the Fellhauer family is welcome at the club from Breisgau: twin sister Kim, who ended her career in February of this year, played for the SCF women’s team for ten years.

The 26-year-old Fellhauer has now become a long-running favorite for the SVE. In total, he played 154 competitive games in the Elversberger jersey and enjoyed his most successful seasons with the team. The Mannheim native is now much more than just a clearer in the defensive midfield. In addition to eleven goals, there are also 35 assists in his Elversberg resume. A captain who leads the way on the pitch with passion and commitment. By the way: In the first four competitive games of the current season he scored one goal in the DFB Cup and prepared two goals in the league.