A summer rebuild and tactical rethink had seen Ruprecht Prusseit transform 1. FC Lok Stendal’s fortunes, leading the former relegation favourites to sit sixth in German Division North East – South.
Just over halfway through the season, Prusseit’s side had already matched last season’s points tally. So he was hopeful that maintaining that form and his newly acquired National B Licence would start to attract clubs higher up the German footballing pyramid.
Stendal Rely On Free-Scoring Zokpa
2027 began at home to 14th-place Sandhausen and a rare clean sheet was coupled with centre-back Djuma Nshimirimana heading home his first goal for the club. Then a more exciting game at Grimma saw the hosts lead 2-0 at half-time but Prusseit’s angry half-time words inspired a three-goal turnaround led by a brace by the league’s top scorer Gisbert Zokpa and midfielder Adrian Horner’s first goal of the season.
But their good form of nine games unbeaten was unsurprisingly ended with a 3-1 defeat at home to leaders Wismut Gera. The defence stepped up again to earn a 0-0 at Nordhausen then a 2-0 win over Oberlausitz thanks to Zokpa and a trademark screamer by Alija Grubesic. Zakpo continued to score for fun, including a brace in a wild 4-4 draw at Martinroda and a hat-trick as Stendal thumped Erfurt-Nord 4-0 away.
Zokpa scored in three successive games to break the league goalscoring record, bagging his 45th of the season in a 1-1 draw at home to Eilenburg. He further extended that record with both goals at Halle and two more in a 5-3 win at home to Heiligenstadt. A strong conclusion to the season was stopped suddenly with a 4-0 thumping at Hohenstein and 2-1 defeat at home to Zorbau, but that final game saw Zokpa notch his 50th goal of the campaign.
And that saw Prusseit’s team finish in 7th place on 61 points, 20 points back from champions Plauen. They scored 70 goals, which was only bettered by Plauen, but conceded 52. And Zokpa was obviously the league’s top scorer with 50 league goals, as well as the top average rating of 7.62. While Nikola Duric broke the league’s assist record with 19 followed by Zakaria Asante with 16.
Reflecting On A Successful Campaign
Stendal’s summer transfer business helped them surge up the table this season, escaping any risk of relegation. Zokpa obviously led the way with 50 goals, which not only smashed the club record for a season but also made him the all-time leading scored in club history.
Behind him, the attacking midfield duo of Duric and Asante top-scored with five each, but they excelled in creating goals for Zokpa as Duric set a new club record 19 assists with Asante getting 16. An unsung hero was centre-back Niclas Burghard, who impressed with a 7.04 average rating and has made massive improvement throughout the season.
Away from the positives, the issue of club finances has rapidly reared its ugly head, with Stendal finishing the season with £33,000 in the bank. That’s a loss of £200,000 over the season, despite Prusseit spending under half of his wage budget. So football clubs at this level are basically unmanageable.
However, Prusseit hoped his overachievement with Stendal this season may just pique the interest of an East German club at a higher level, allowing him to push forward with his career.
Bayern maintained their dominance of Bundesliga, winning a 15th successive title by seven points from Leipzig, who’d been way back in 7th going into the winter break. Union Berlin again just avoided relegation, this time by one point. Energie Cottbus played a relegation playoff and Magdeburg were promoted from 3. Liga while Prauen won Stendal’s division to reach the fourth tier.
Would Prusseit stay at Stendal to continue managing the exciting team he was building? Or would an East German rival come calling? Join us on Friday to find out!
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