Michael Schiele is back where he says he belongs, and on Thursday night he takes Würzburger Kickers into the first leg of their promotion round at 1. FC Lok Leipzig. The match kicks off at 19.00, with the return leg set for Monday at 18.30, and Schiele’s message has been plain: he came to Würzburg to go up.
"Ich bin gekommen, um aufzusteigen. Das ist mein Ziel," Schiele said ahead of the two-match duel, adding that "Die Würzburger Kickers gehören in die 3. Liga und die 3. Liga gehört auch nach Würzburg." He also said, "Die Jungs wollen, die sind heiß" and "Die geben alles für das Ziel Aufstieg."
The timing matters because Würzburg did not arrive here by the straightforward route. The club spent four years in the Regionalliga before reaching this playoff, and it entered the promotion matches only after the withdrawal of Unterhaching’s license and the later promotion renunciation by 1. FC Nürnberg II, which left Würzburg as the Bavarian representative and runners-up. Schiele himself had to leave Würzburg in September 2020, after he had led the side from the third division, and he returned in March after replacing Marc Reitmaier after 23 matchdays.
That background gives these two games extra weight. Würzburger Kickers had already lifted the Bavarian state cup by beating TSV 1860 München on penalties before turning to the promotion round, and Schiele now wants that momentum to carry over against a club that knows this stage all too well. Lok Leipzig were champions of the Regionalliga Nordost, but they have already lost two playoff duels, to SC Verl in 2020 and to TSV Havelse last year.
Lok coach Jochen Seitz was blunt about the pressure on the visitors. "Klar haben die den Druck, jetzt unbedingt aufsteigen zu müssen," he said. "Die wollen nicht zweimal scheitern. Andererseits kann daraus auch ein Gefühl des 'Jetzt erst recht' entstehen." He said Lok want to answer with their own strengths: "Wir bringen eine große Intensität auf den Platz und hatten in den letzten beiden Jahren die beste Defensive der Liga. Das sind die Dinge, mit denen wir den Kickers das Leben schwer machen wollen".
That is the tension in this tie: Würzburg arrives carrying the burden of expectation, while Lok Leipzig brings the weight of recent disappointments and the memory of two playoff exits that still hang over the club. The side that handles that pressure better over 180 minutes is likely to keep the season alive.
For Schiele, the task is also personal. He is back at a club he once lifted into the 2. Fußball-Bundesliga, and he now has two matches to try to send Würzburg back toward the 3. Liga. For Lok Leipzig, the chance is to finally turn all that history into a result the club has not managed in the knockout duels before.
