Viktoria Berlin wants to establish itself as the third force in the capital. Since the promotion to the 3rd division, everything has been going according to plan.
No, nobody at Viktoria Berlin is looking for a comparison with their big neighbors. European Cup appearances like at Union? Not in sight for years. Million transfers like at Hertha BSC? For the time being completely illusory. The Himmelblauen from the bourgeois district of Lichterfelde are pursuing their very own and smaller goals – and as the sovereign leader of the third division, they are fully on course.
“We are happy about the hype, it can’t be big enough,” said sporting director Rocco Teichmann. Three games, three wins, 10: 1 goals – the newcomer is convincing all along the line and is establishing himself as the third force in football in the sports metropolis of Berlin.
The former Bundesliga team TeBe, GDR record champions BFC Dynamo or, most recently, VSG Altglienicke had repeatedly failed in this task. At Viktoria – as BFC Viktoria 1889 twice German champions (1908, 1911) – there are currently many indications that the project will be a sustainable success.
Sporting success and attractive offensive football are intended to attract fans to the Friedrich-Ludwig-Jahn-Sportpark in hip Prenzlauer Berg, where Viktoria plays its home games because its own stadium in the south-west of the capital does not meet the requirements of the league. “People should come into the stadium and say: ‘Have fun watching you'”, said coach Benedetto Muzzicato.
So far it works out. The safe 4-0 win against 1. FC Kaiserslautern was watched by 4221 spectators in the stadium at the weekend. Many are likely to come back. “We also made sure that third division football arrived in Berlin with all the trimmings,” said Teichmann: “I’m almost more happy about that than about the victory.”
Viktoria Berlin: Investor Zeljko Karajica also active in Austria
Viktoria had already attracted attention in the Regionalliga Nordost. When the Corona season was canceled, the club was the leader of the table with eleven wins in eleven games and was then designated as a promoted team. The winning streak continues one league higher.
The economic framework for the further upswing is given by investor Zeljko Karajica. The entrepreneur is also involved with the Austrian first division club Austria Klagenfurt and the Berlin Thunder football club and saved Viktoria from bankruptcy.
Another investor, the Advantage Sports Union (ASU) from Hong Kong with chairman Alex Zheng, had put Viktoria in financial trouble at all. Thanks to Karajica, the bankruptcy proceedings were lifted and the club stabilized. Since then, the success has set in.
You want to be careful with the resources available. Against Kaiserslautern, there were only three newcomers in the starting line-up.
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