After six years as a Football Manager, Ruprecht Prusseit had his fair share of struggles but 2027/28 was a season he would remember forever. The Dresden-born manager overcame his hometown club to lead Hansa Rostock II to his first-ever title then defeated professional rivals Hannover II to gain promotion to 3. Liga for the first time.
Prusseit was widely heralded as the hero of this success, and his board immediately agreed to his request to study for the Continental C coaching license. The club also turned professional in July 2028 but Prusseit was unconvinced about the idea of staying at the B team in a league they apparently had zero chance of staying in.
He held off signing a new contract in the hope that a fellow East German side would part with their manager over the summer. However, no clubs changed their managers, so Prusseit showed some loyalty to Rostock II and nearly doubled his wage to £1.6k per week until the end of the 2028/29 campaign.
Prusseit’s task wasn’t helped by the first team promoting wingers Melvin Kaminski and Jan-Lucas Franke, who was actually starting for them in 2. Bundesliga, and defender Julian Niehoff. However, the step up allowed him to actually sign some players on free transfers, so he strengthened a little with giant holding midfielder Dembel Rassoul, midfielder Grace Kabeya (who the first-team manager foolishly then loaned out to Hallescher) and backup defender Paul Lehmann.
He was also aided by promoting promising 17-year-old striker David Abeling, midfielder Karl-Heinz Fogel and centre-back Meik Müller. While the first-team demoted several players through the season, including Philippines international John-Patrick Strauß, which further helped Prusseit strengthen his squad.
Bearing in mind the challenge ahead, Prusseit created a couple more conservative tactics in addition to the 4-4-2 that had been so successful last season. And he was initially leaning towards the 3-5-2 approach given his lack of recognised wingers.
Facing A Tough 3. Liga Challenge
Prusseit’s show of loyalty meant he faced a tough challenge to keep Rostock II in 3. Liga, but luckily the board only expected him to attempt to avoid the four relegation spots. They were up against big sides like 1860 München, Holstein Kiel and OstDeutsch options Energie Cottbus and FSV Zwickau. Plus there was the challenge of facing Bayern II and Dortmund II. And unsurprisingly, Rostock II were widely tipped as relegation favourites, while Holstein Kiel, Osnabrück, 1860 München, Unterhaching and Zwickau were the favourites to fill the two promotion spots and one promotion playoff place.
Life in the third tier began away to fellow OstDeutsch side Energie Cottbus. Against all the odds, Rostock dominated the game with 16 shots to five but relied on a penalty by Abeling for a 1-0 win. And Prusseit had his first professional victory! They again relied on a penalty in their first home game as Rassoul fired home to save a point against Holstein Kiel, in which they broke the club’s record attendance as 3,071 fans turned up.
Another tough challenge followed as they went to Zwickau but again bossed the game and Schumacher’s first goal of the season sealed another 1-0 away success. So after seven points from three games against teams expected to finish in the top six, Prusseit was feeling much more confident. But the strong start ended with a 2-0 defeat at home to Hertha II then a 4-1 thumping at Osnabrück and 3-0 loss at home to 1860 München. And the honeymoon period was very much over!
That convinced Prusseit to switch from the 5-3-2 to 4-2-3-1, which delivered a point in a feisty 0-0 at home to Stuttgart II, in which both teams finished with 10 men. It also worked well in a 3-0 win over Schweinfurt with goals by midfielder Niklas Dehmel, Schumacher and centre-back Tim Hannak.
Building On A Solid Start
Rostock II’s home form was proving solid in the early stages as Schumacher nicked a 1-0 win over Hoffenheim II then a 4-2 win over Mainz II 4-2 led by Fogel’s first two senior goals. That saw them sitting in a solid mid-table 11th position after 13 matches.
That position was improved as Schumacher scored the only goal in another feisty match at Duisburg, which saw both teams down to 10 again. Arguably their biggest test so far saw Bayern II come to town and the exact same result followed as Schumacher again scored the only goal. But that little run ended with a 2-1 loss at Unterhaching then a 3-1 defeat at home to 3rd-place Aalen.
An all-OstDeutsch clash saw Rostock II claim a credible 1-1 draw at Carl Zeiss Jena. But they reached the halfway mark of the campaign by getting well and truly dominated and losing 2-0 at home to Dortmund II.
That suddenly had Prusseit looking over his shoulder as they were just five points above the drop zone despite being in mid-table. So that pressure on a visit from 17th-place Energie Cottbus, who’d twice rejected Prusseit’s applications to their vacant managerial roles. But Prusseit’s team delivered, limiting Cottbus to just five shots and scoring two of their 10 with a quickfire double from winger Hendrik Melfsen and Schumacher.
So Rostock II headed into the winter break in an impressive 11th place with a seven-point gap to the relegation places. That had been built on a solid base, considering they’d only scored 20 and conceded 27 in 20 games. However, half of those goals had come from Schumacher, who was excelling with 10 goals in 18 games.
Could Prusseit continue Rostock II’s form and avoid being dragged into the relegation battle? And would his achievements attract interest from elsewhere? Join us on Monday to find out!
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