Eintracht Braunschweig came very close to a return to the Bundesliga, falling at the final hurdle in the playoff against Wolfsburg. Braunschweig did not begin as one of the favourites for promotion, but Thorsten Lieberknecht and his staff moulded the team into genuine promotion candidates. The first step was making some prudent purchases last summer including Gustav Valsik and especially Christoffer Nyman who turned into one of the team’s best players this season. However the core of the team was built around players who have played together for a few seasons and that helped the team top the table at Christmas. At home Lieberknecht’s side were almost unbeatable, dropping a total of seven points throughout the season. Ultimately Braunschweig were not to fulfil the potential of the early part of the campaign. With the pressure on, Lieberknecht’s side inexplicably lost to Arminia Bielefeld 0 – 6 away from home, sending Eintracht into the playoff which they ultimately lost.
Lieberknecht will hope to keep as much of the current squad together as possible for next season as the club will surely have a chance of getting promotion if they can do that. Perhaps what was missing was a consistent goalscorer as Domi Kumbela had long cold periods during the season and is now 33. On a positive note a number of new signings settled in very quickly including Valksik and Nyman. Quirin Moll and Onel Hernandez will also continue to grow and develop in the squad and showed potential this season. The stand out performer was left back Ken Reichel who led the side for more than half their league matches due to a long injury to club captain Marcel Correia. Reichel scored seven and assisted four goals but remained consistent throughout and was the only outfield player to start more than 30 games.
