Marked for Immanuel Pherai
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad16 Nov 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at SV Elversberg this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Francesco Folino falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Jacob Labovitz, and the manager let it.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
Market16 Nov 2026
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Maximilian Rohr has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at SV Elversberg.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at SV Elversberg, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Looking ahead16 Nov 2026
SC Paderborn next, and one man in the SV Elversberg dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match7 Nov 2026
10 matches without a win for SV Elversberg
The run now stands at 10, and the questions being asked around SV Elversberg are no longer polite ones.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Lukas Petkov beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 32. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” SV Elversberg have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Nicolas Höfler was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
One scored and one made, which is a different afternoon from scoring twice and an easier one to overlook. Marked 7.98, and involved in 2 of his side's goals.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Immanuel Pherai was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad9 Nov 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Felix Keidel and SV Elversberg agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Match7 Nov 2026
The board was up, the win was priced in, and then Arminia Bielefeld scored. There is no worse minute to concede in and the ground emptied in the silence that follows one.
Match7 Nov 2026
It finished 3‑3, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
In brief
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The dugout
A promise honoured at SV Elversberg
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The dugout
The manager makes an example of Jan Gyamerah
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The dugout
The manager’s verdict
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match31 Oct 2026
9 matches without a win for SV Elversberg
The run now stands at 9, and the questions being asked around SV Elversberg are no longer polite ones.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” SV Elversberg have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 25. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Nicolas Höfler and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Match31 Oct 2026
Dynamo Dresden left with the points after a 1‑3 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
The manager makes an example of Lukas Pinckert
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Words at SV Elversberg training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Łukasz Poręba is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 1‑3, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
Market2 Nov 2026
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Frederik Schmahl has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at SV Elversberg.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match24 Oct 2026
8 matches without a win for SV Elversberg
The run now stands at 8, and the questions being asked around SV Elversberg are no longer polite ones.
Squad26 Oct 2026
18 days out for Oliver Simon after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. SV Elversberg will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Nicolas Höfler and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Words at SV Elversberg training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Francesco Folino is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 17. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad26 Oct 2026
10 new faces, and SV Elversberg are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Marked 7.72 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, SV Elversberg had the best player on the pitch.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
The manager makes an example of Nicolas Kristof
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Match24 Oct 2026
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad21 Sep 2026
Lukas Pinckert and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Words at SV Elversberg training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Łukasz Poręba is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Match19 Sep 2026
0‑2 to Hertha BSC, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
The manager makes an example of Braian Vargas
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 16. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑2 defeat, delivered by Alexander Zimmermann to a room that had heard them before.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
Lukas Pinckert asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
The shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
SV Elversberg asked and DAC Dunajska Streda said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Market24 Aug 2026
Altach come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and SV Elversberg did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Hellas Verona is saying, and nobody at SV Elversberg is enjoying the guessing.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Braian Vargas was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Words at SV Elversberg training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Immanuel Pherai is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
VVV-Venlo have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
Boardroom24 Aug 2026
SV Elversberg say no to the training-ground money
The plan went upstairs and came back down. Nothing about that will make a headline anywhere else, and everybody who works at the training ground will remember it for years.
Looking ahead24 Aug 2026
SV Elversberg take on the side everybody is chasing
Nürnberg arrive as leaders. A side at the top is beaten roughly once a month, and the club that does it gets a week it remembers for a year.
The dugout24 Aug 2026
The manager makes an example of Amara Condé
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. VfL Wolfsburg have kept their man, and SV Elversberg go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad17 Aug 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at SV Elversberg this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Immanuel Pherai falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Market17 Aug 2026
The interest is real enough to have reached print. SV Elversberg have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Squad17 Aug 2026
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
Hellas Verona have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Too much change too quickly at SV Elversberg
6 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
Market17 Aug 2026
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
The dugout17 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Maximilian Rohr, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
Door shut on Gênio
SV Elversberg asked and Cortulua said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Immanuel Pherai falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Nicolas Kristof and SV Elversberg agree another 5 years.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Lukas Pinckert was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
A loan enquiry to FC Copenhagen: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
A loan move for Lio Rothenhagen is in the works
SV Elversberg have made the call to Holstein Kiel. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Market3 Aug 2026
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
Market3 Aug 2026
61 months left and silence from upstairs — no offer, no talks, nothing for his people to answer. Clubs that let a calendar do their negotiating usually end up negotiating with the calendar.