SV MEPPEN (Hansch-Arena)

3.LIGA, SV MEPPEN 2-1 SPORTFREUNDE LOTTE, ATTENDANCE: 7,448

After spending a few days in The Netherlands, visiting Enschede and Alkmaar,  I crossed the border into Germany for a weekend of Groundhopping across four leagues.

Hungover but with a free
t-shirt!

First port of call was the town of Meppen. After forsaking a revisit to Ajax, I decided to spend a day 'sightseeing' in Amsterdam so it was with a slight hangover I boarded a train for the 5 hour train journey into Germany.

Meppen is about 20 miles from the Dutch border and the football ground is about a 20 minute walk from the train station.

SV Meppen were formed in 1912 as Amisia Meppen. The club then joined gymnastic club Meppen in 1920 to form TuS Meppen. The football branch then left TuS Meppen in 1921 to form a separate club called Sport Club Meppen 1912.

The Hansch-Arena, as it is currently known, has been home to SV Meppen since 1924. It was renamed the Hindenburgstadion three years later to commemorate the 80th birthday of Reich President Paul von Hindenburg. The ground was renamed Emslandstadion in 1992, Emsland being the district in which Meppen is located, before sponsorship deals took over over in 2009.

The club has spent most of it's history in the lower leagues of German football but they did have an 11 year spell in 2.Bundesliga from 1987 to 1998. They dropped as low as the Niedersachsenliga (level 5) but returned to the third tier for this season after being crowned Regionalliga Nord champions in 2017.

The there was nothing riding on this mid-table derby, apart from local pride, and it was a hard fought game. Luka Tankulic headed Meppen into the lead after 5 minutes. Five minutes later Andre Dej missed a glorious opportunity to level things after being sent clear through on goal.

Tankulic and Thilo Leugers missed further chances for Meppen and Lotte could consider themselves fortunate to be just 1-0 down at the break.


Meppen came out firing for the second half but, as is usually the case after missing chances, they conceded in the 56th minute when Alexander Langlitz fired home for Lotte. Cue the pyro! Lotte nearly took the lead moments later but Maximilian Oesterhelweg fired over.

Meppen were not to be denied through and it was a goal worthy of winning any game. In the 68th minutes a cross came over from the left and an unmarked Max Kremer volleyed the ball into the bottom corner. A sublime strike.

The win sent the home crowd into raptures but unfortunately I couldn't hang around to join in the celebrations. I had to get back to the station in order to catch the last train back to my hotel in Osnabruck. A good game and a very good ground!