Into the Bundesliga with a touch of "Hoffe" power

The number 58 has had great significance for Kiel this summer. Holstein Kiel are set to become the 58th club to play in the Bundesliga. Surprisingly for many, the “Storks” prevailed against big-name competitors such as Hamburger SV, Hertha BSC and Fortuna Düsseldorf to finish second and gain promotion to the Bundesliga. Marcel Rapp had a big part to play in this. The coach is regarded as the mastermind behind the success. The former youth and interim coach of TSG Hoffenheim has guided Kiel to continuous improvement and celebrated 21 wins last season.

Without any big stars in the team, the native of Pforzheim formed a real team that will start the new season as underdogs. According to the portal transfermarkt.de, the entire Kiel squad has a market value of just over 30 million euros. To put this in perspective: on the same page, twelve individual Bayern players have a higher market value than the entire Kiel team put together.

And yet the visitors should not be underestimated. In the Bundesliga 2, they showed that they can be successful while playing good football. The team was strengthened in the summer with the addition of two former TSG players. Max Geschwill and Andu Kelati, both of whom were educated in the TSG academy, signed for the club from the north of Germany. 

On the other hand, Kiel have had to absorb two painful departures, as captain Philipp Sander and left-back Tom Rothe left the club. In addition, Steven Skrzybski is likely to miss Saturday's game with an injury.

“We are already aware that it will be a historic game for the club and that we are part of this history. We want to make this chapter a success,” said head coach Rapp. TSG, on the other hand, will want to be the party crashers on opening day.

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