Eastern Comeback

It went down to the last day of the second-division season, but in the end Hansa Rostock got the job done. A 3-1 win over Unterhachingen sent them back to the Bundesliga's top flight after a two-year absence.

Rostock's revival may signal a minor renaissance in eastern German soccer. But the club's president, Dirk Grabow realizes that, for eastern and western German clubs alike, success is not always easy to consolidate.

"That's the fate of all small clubs: you're always confronted with the possibility of going down," Grabow said. "You simply have to live with the idea that you can always be one that gets hit."

Size isn't everything

With only 200,000 inhabitants, the northern city of Rostock is less than half as big as Dresden or Leipzig, yet Hansa has outperformed clubs from those two cities in the Bundesliga, having stayed in the first division from 1995 to 2005. That makes Rostock the most successful Eastern German club since the country's reunification in 1990.

The keys to that success include an emphasis on team chemistry over individual stars, youth development and financial discipline. And Hansa's management maintained a cool head even after being relegated.

"We didn't feel like we had to be afraid of spending the rest of eternity in the second division," Grabow said. "We simply wanted to get promoted back up to the top flight, and we did it."

But Rostock also enjoyed a bit of a head start. In 1991, Hansa won an East German title for the first time in club history, which meant they started in the lucrative first division, when the Bundesliga absorbed the Eastern German league the following season.

Rostock have since established themselves, together with Energie Cottbus, as the face of Eastern German soccer. They are proud of that legacy -- and the responsibility that comes with it.

"We're very conscious that we're something of a flagship for eastern German soccer because of our decade in the first division," Grabow said. "Maybe we're also something of a role model, showing other clubs that it is possible."

Down but not out

The last day of the season was bitter for third-division Magdeburg, who fell one goal short of moving up a class. Still, 2006-7 was fine year for the former GDR powerhouse, which has suffered from many of the problems that plague Eastern German sides.

After German reunification, Magdeburg kept dropping divisions as eastern German clubs were forced to play qualifying rounds for the various levels of the Bundesliga.

"We always say that Magdeburg never got relegated," said commercial manager Bernd Hofmann. "But we still dropped down to soccer's nether regions."

The nadir came in 2002, when the club had to file for bankruptcy.

"After reunification, a lot of Eastern German clubs didn't really know how a market economy worked," Hofmann said. "The West German clubs bought a lot of our players, and because we lacked management experience, a lot of clubs couldn't recover."

A near miss as a positive sign

But the future is looking brighter. Magdeburg got promoted to the third division two seasons ago and came within a shade of the second division this year. That's down to better finances and local talent.

"We succeed calming things down in the course of the bankruptcy arrangement," Hofmann said. "And our coach Dirk Heyne did an excellent job forming a team with eight young players from Magdeburg. I believe we can say with pride that that's unique in professional German soccer."

At this point it would be premature to speak of a full-fledged comeback for Magdeburg and similar eastern German clubs. But things, as Rostock's Dirk Grabow said, are looking up.

"I think that clubs in other cities will succeed in joining the top flight in the long term," he said.