SG Unterrath (Germany)

Ground: HR-Schrott-Arena
Capacity: 2,000
Club Founded: 1912/1924 - Merged in 1993
League: Landesliga Niederrhein, Gruppe 1 - 6th Tier (current level)

SG Unterrath may not be one of Germany's famous football names, but this Düsseldorf club boasts a proud history stretching back to 1912. Competing in the Landesliga Niederrhein, the club is renowned for its strong community roots and excellent youth development programme.

A Potted History of SG Unterrath

The current club in the northern suburbs of Düsseldorf was formed in 1993, but its roots go back many decades. While this page concentrates on football, Unterrath also has sections for tennis, judo, gymnastics, handball, badminton and swimming.

Unterrather Fußball Club was founded in 1912, while Rheinwacht Unterrath was founded in 1924. They competed in local and regional leagues before deciding to pool their resources to form a stronger club to represent the local community, also in partnership with 1. FC Köln.

Rheinwacht were formerly based at the Sportplatz Herdecker Straße in Rath, while Utterrath FC established the current base at the Franz-Rennefeld-Weg district sports facility. 

Amin Younes, who would go on to play for Borussia Mönchengladbach, Ajax and Napoli as well as the German national team, started his career at the flourishing SGU youth section between 1997 and 2000.

Ten years after the merger, Unterrath lifted the Düsseldorf Gruppe 1 Kreisliga A title, to reach the seventh-tier Bezirksliga. The team comfortably consolidated in its new surroundings, lifting its league title in 2019-20, when Khalid Al-Bazaz and Carlos Penan led the scoring charts for the side trained by Suat Tokat.

Deniz Top was in charge of the team for the 2021-22 season, before he was replaced by Christian Schmitz. Deniz Aktag was the next head coach, as Oliver Dessau led the scoring. Daniel Beine led his side to a credible finish in 2025-26, with Antonio Munoz-Bonilla playing a starring role.

My visit

SG Unterrath 1 Duisburger SV 3

Friendly - Sunday 8th August 2021

👨‍👨‍👧‍👧 50 🎟️ Free

Football Weekend

My latest weekend in North Rhine-Westphalia for football and socialising was going tremendously well. Public transport had behaved impeccably, allowing me to attend three matches on both Saturday and again on Sunday.

I’d already attended a youth match at Viktoria Buchholz and then the 3. Liga game between MSV Duisburg and TSV Havelse. I’d thoroughly enjoyed the experience of being among vocal fans, with three points at stake, as most of my other fixtures were friendlies.

Dodging out when the linesman put up the board for stoppage time allowed me to get a move on back to Duisburg Schlenk station to allow me to catch the train a few stops south to Düsseldorf-Unterrath, where my arrival was greeted with a heavy downpour.

Venue Location

Fortunately, perhaps with thought to the 1pm kick-off at MSV, Unterrath put their start back to 3.30pm. This allowed me to take shelter while the rain abated before walking along Theodorstraße and then into Franz-Rennefeld-Weg, which took around ten minutes.

The football ground was on the right-hand side of the complex, past the clubhouse, tennis courts and indoor sports hall. Once again, admission was free. The teams were having their final huddle before kick-off as I entered.

Landmark Feature

I was immediately impressed with the ground. It had a pathway behind either goal with high fencing preventing stray shots from leaving the ground, but both sides had terracing with benches at regular intervals. The near side had a cover over the halfway line.

The dominant feature was actually just outside the ground. A huge sign atop a tower advertising the OBI Garden Centre. Past the far side was more terracing leading down to the second pitch, which would allow me some bonus action.

Pitch Needing an Upgrade

In the meantime, I concentrated on my main match, which had official linesmen. Some of my other games had just the referee controlling affairs, or, as at Werden-Heidhausen the previous evening, club volunteers just giving throw-ins.

The 3G pitch was of the darker green variety, which often indicated it was getting on in years. It was crowned towards the centre spot. The players all looked fit and physical. They weren’t my favourite type of games, as it made it appear that the pitch wasn’t big enough.

The Action

Duisburger came close to opening the scoring when Bünyamin Burak Sari got through, but put his shot against the top of the crossbar as he collided with home keeper Kaido Ikeda, injuring himself in the process. The visitors looked the better side to me in the initial stages of a good technical match, with few chances materialising. 

Unterrath’s Japanese forward, Yukichi Sasaki, went on a decent run but saw his shot saved by Duisburger custodian Rene Bloch. I’d moved across to the far side to position myself in such a way on the terracing so that I could keep an eye on both pitches. The under-19 A Junioren match, grappling for attention, was into its second half with SV Eilendorf the away team.

Double Vision

Back on the main pitch, DSV’s substitute George Wiedemann pounced on a bad back pass but couldn’t finish before referee Thorsten Lechtenberg blew for half-time. This allowed me to concentrate fully on the age-group encounter for fifteen minutes. The weather was windy with showers, which wasn’t great for the 45 or so people watching the game without any cover. 

I maintained my position of balance as play got underway on the main arena. Unterrath had obviously had a good talking to by coach Deniz Top at the break as they came flying out of the traps to take the lead two minutes after the restart. A low cross from skipper Mustafa Kalkan was tucked away by Sasaki. The match needed a goal.

Competitive Friendly

My secondary entertainment had a grandstand finish when Said Tchacoura of Eilendorf scored a late equaliser to make it 2-2, celebrating by putting his finger to his lips as though he had been receiving some feedback throughout. With that game done, I moved to the shelter, where the visiting coach Dennis Jerusalem was most vocal. 

His team drew level on fifty-three minutes through a fine individual goal from Deniz Hotoglu. Ten minutes later, the same player put his side ahead when he nipped in to finish. Duisburger looked on top again despite the best efforts of the impressive Sasaki for SGU. I’d say the game was about a non-league step 3 or 4 standard back home in England.

Sunday Night in the Altstadt 

With a couple of minutes remaining, I decided to call it a day rather than waiting an extra half an hour for a train back to the city. I missed Hotoglu complete his hat-trick. I couldn’t complain about the amount of action I’d crammed in. Back at Düsseldorf, I had a siesta that put me in a good mood for an evening of reflection down the Altstadt. 

It was far quieter than the previous evening, but that suited me fine. A couple of brewery stops and ending the evening in Fatty’s Irish Bar was a perfect way to finish off what had been an excellent day. And I had no rush the next morning. That was really perfect!