WÜRZBURG FACT FILE
Friday, 04. November 2016, 16:27 Uhr
The first ever meeting with Kickers Würzburg on Monday evening is also a reunion with Bernd Hollerbach, who wore the brown-and-white shirt from 1991 to 1995 and is now in charge of the home side. As always, we've put together a few facts about our forthcoming opponents.
Premiere
Monday will be the first meeting of the two sides, as St. Pauli were in the top flight in the 1977-78 season when the Red Shorts had their one and only outing in Bundesliga 2 before now. Though the Boys in Brown were condemned to relegation that year after just one win in the second half of the season, Würzburg went down as well, so this fixture has yet to see the light of day.
March through the divisions
Kickers Würzburg have worked their way up from the sixth-tier Landesliga to the second division in just five years, though it can be mentioned in passing that a reform of the regional leagues in Germany allowed them to jump two divisions at once on promotion in 2012. In their next two campaigns they had no difficulty acclimatising to the higher level, achieving promotion to the third division in the 2014-15 season before defeating MSV Duisburg in a promotion-relegation play-off 12 months later to go up to Bundesliga 2.
Second-tier experience
The second division is virtually unknown territory for our Monday night hosts, then. In addition, the current squad has relatively little experience at this level, with just 620 second-tier appearances and 41,805 minutes of playing time between them. The Boys in Brown, in contrast, have clocked up 1,590 appearances and 119,257 minutes. Würzburg coach Bernd Hollerbach can point to a wealth of professional experience, however, having made 133 appearances in the top two divisions for HSV, Kaiserslautern and St. Pauli for a total playing time of 27,247 minutes.
Economical but effective
No other team has registered as few shots on goal as the Kickers this term. Of their 112 attempts, 31 were on target. Würzburg may be playing economical football but 15 goals thus far are an indication of their finishing prowess. By comparison, Ewald Lienen's men have managed 141 shots on goal, of which 38 were on target and eight produced a goal.
'Veteran' Wulnikowski
Würzburg keeper Robert Wulnikowski is the league's oldest player. At 39 years of age he is well ahead of golden oldies such as Raphael Schäfer and Ivica Olic (both 37) in second and third place respectively. Wulnikowski is also proof that age is no barrier to quality, having kept four clean sheets already this season.
Photo: Witters
