Comeback of Essen's Eisfeld is on the horizon

Things are going well for Rot-Weiss Essen. In sporting terms, the West Germans have experienced an upswing in 2025, and there are also positive signs off the pitch: Thomas Eisfeld's comeback is imminent.

The creative center player has not been able to play a competitive game for RWE since mid-December. Before Christmas he was sidelined by a flu infection, and then in the winter training camp in Antalya the 32-year-old suffered a torn muscle fiber in his thigh. The veteran suffered the injury in the very last training session on the Turkish Riviera.

His recovery took longer than the originally estimated two to three weeks. But now his comeback is expected to take place on March 1st, when Essen faces Borussia Dortmund's second team on Matchday 26 on Saturday afternoon (2 p.m.).

Eisfeld was able to play for half of Essen's secret test match against top division side TuS Koblenz on Sunday. The veteran was substituted at halftime and then played until the final whistle. "He immediately gave the game a direction," RWE head coach Uwe Koschinat is quoted as saying by Reviersport . "So I'm glad that he will be an alternative again in the future. We were aiming for 30 minutes, it's nice that he managed a whole half, I left that up to him."

Eisfeld moved from VfL Bochum to Hafenstrasse in the winter of 2021/22 and has since played 61 third division games (seven goals) for Essen. He has played twelve times so far this season. Bad luck with injuries prevented him from playing more games; Eisfeld was already out for around a month last autumn due to a torn muscle fiber.

Essen has moved out of the relegation zone in the new year and is currently in 14th place in the table. RWE is two points ahead in 17th place and thus the first non-relegation place.