# 2020–21 Holstein Kiel season

The 2020–21 Holstein Kiel season was the club's 121st season in existence and the club's fourth consecutive season in the second flight of German football. In addition to the domestic league, Holstein Kiel participated in this season's edition of the DFB-Pokal. The season covered the period from 1 July 2020 to 30 June 2021.

## Players
### First-team squad

    As of 2 February 2021
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 1 | GK | GRE | Ioannis Gelios |
| 2 | DF | DEN | Mikkel Kirkeskov |
| 3 | DF | GER | Marco Komenda |
| 5 | DF | GER | Stefan Thesker |
| 6 | MF | GER | Ahmet Arslan |
| 7 | MF | KOR | Lee Jae-sung |
| 8 | MF | GER | Alexander Mühling |
| 11 | FW | GER | Fabian Reese |
| 15 | DF | GER | Johannes van den Bergh |
| 19 | DF | GER | Simon Lorenz |
| 20 | DF | GER | Jannik Dehm |
| 21 | GK | GER | Thomas Dähne |
| 22 | DF | SRB | Aleksandar Ignjovski |
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 23 | FW | GER | Janni Serra |
| 24 | DF | GER | Hauke Wahl (captain) |
| 25 | DF | GER | Phil Neumann |
| 26 | MF | GER | Jonas Meffert |
| 27 | FW | GER | Finn Porath |
| 28 | FW | GER | Noah Awuku |
| 29 | MF | GER | Joshua Mees |
| 31 | FW | GER | Fin Bartels |
| 32 | MF | GER | Jonas Sterner |
| 33 | FW | GER | Benjamin Girth |
| 35 | GK | GER | Dominik Reimann |
| 36 | MF | GER | Niklas Hauptmann (on loan from 1. FC Köln) |

### Out on loan

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| — | MF | GHA | David Atanga |
| — | FW | GER | Makana Baku (at Warta Poznan) |
| — | FW | GER | Daniel Hanslik (at 1. FC Kaiserslautern) |
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| — | FW | GER | Lion Lauberbach |
| — | MF | GER | Philipp Sander (at SC Verl) |
| — | GK | GER | Timon Weiner (at 1. FC Magdeburg) |

## Transfers
### In

| Date | Pos | Player | From | Fee |
| 15 June 2020 | MF | Ahmet Arslan | VfB Lübeck | Free |
| 23 June 2020 | DF | Simon Lorenz | VfL Bochum | Free |
| 26 June 2020 | DF | Marco Komenda | SV Meppen | Free |
| 30 June 2020 | GK | Thomas Dähne | Wisła Płock | Free |

### Loans in

| Date from | Pos | Player | From | Date until | Source |
| 1 July 2020 | MF | Niklas Hauptmann | 1. FC Köln | 1 July 2021 | |

### Out

| Date | Pos | Player | To | Fee |
| 24 April 2020 | DF | Dominik Schmidt | | Released |
| 26 June 2020 | DF | Seo Young-jae | Daejeon Hana Citizen | Released |
| 29 June 2020 | FW | Salih Özcan | 1. FC Köln | Loan return |
| 29 June 2020 | FW | Emmanuel Iyoha | Fortuna Düsseldorf | Loan return |
| 29 June 2020 | DF | Darko Todorović | Red Bull Salzburg | Loan return |
| 29 June 2020 | FW | Salim Khelifi | FC Zürich | Loan return |

### Loans out

| Date from | Pos | Player | Transferred to | Date until | Source |
| 17 July 2020 | GK | Timon Weiner | 1. FC Magdeburg | 1 July 2022 | |

## Pre-season and friendlies

Win  Draw  Loss  Fixtures

## Competitions
### Overview

| Competition | First match | Last match | Starting round | Final position | Record | Record | Record | Record | Record | Record | Record | Record |
| Competition | First match | Last match | Starting round | Final position | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Win % |
| 2. Bundesliga | 18 September 2020 | 23 May 2021 | Matchday 1 | 3rd | 34 | 18 | 8 | 8 | 57 | 35 | +22 | 052.94 |
| Bundesliga promotion play-offs | 26 May 2021 | 29 May 2021 | First leg | Runners-up | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 5 | −3 | 050.00 |
| DFB-Pokal | 11 September 2020 | 1 May 2021 | First round | Semi-finals | 5 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 13 | 9 | +4 | 040.00 |
| Total | Total | Total | Total | Total | 41 | 21 | 10 | 10 | 72 | 49 | +23 | 051.22 |
Last updated: 29 May 2021 Source: Soccerway

### 2. Bundesliga
#### League table

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
| 1 | VfL Bochum (C, P) | 34 | 21 | 4 | 9 | 66 | 39 | +27 | 67 | Promotion to Bundesliga |
| 2 | Greuther Fürth (P) | 34 | 18 | 10 | 6 | 69 | 44 | +25 | 64 | Promotion to Bundesliga |
| 3 | Holstein Kiel | 34 | 18 | 8 | 8 | 57 | 35 | +22 | 62 | Qualification for promotion play-offs |
| 4 | Hamburger SV | 34 | 16 | 10 | 8 | 71 | 44 | +27 | 58 | |
| 5 | Fortuna Düsseldorf | 34 | 16 | 8 | 10 | 55 | 46 | +9 | 56 | |

#### Results summary

| Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Home | Home | Home | Home | Home | Home | Away | Away | Away | Away | Away | Away |
Last updated: 23 May 2021. Source:

#### Results by round

| Round | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 |
| Ground | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | A | A | A | A | H | H | H | H | A | H |
| Result | W | D | W | W | L | D | D | D | W | W | W | W | W | L | D | L | W | D | W | W | W | L | W | D | L | L | W | D | W | W | W | W | L | L |
| Position | 6 | 7 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 |

#### Matches

The league fixtures were announced on 7 August 2020.

#### Promotion play-offs

As a result of their third place finish in the regular season, the club qualified for the play-off match with the 16th-place team in the 2020–21 Bundesliga to determine whether the club would be promoted to the 2021–22 Bundesliga.

### DFB-Pokal
## Statistics
### Appearances and goals

| No. | Pos | Nat | Player | Total | Total | 2. Bundesliga | 2. Bundesliga | DFB-Pokal | DFB-Pokal | Promotion play-offs | Promotion play-offs |
| No. | Pos | Nat | Player | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals |
| Goalkeepers ||||||||||||
| 1 | GK | GRE | Ioannis Gelios | 29 | 0 | 24 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| 21 | GK | GER | Thomas Dähne | 12 | 0 | 10 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 35 | GK | GER | Dominik Reimann | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Defenders ||||||||||||
| 2 | DF | DEN | Mikkel Kirkeskov | 9 | 0 | 5+1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 |
| 3 | DF | GER | Marco Komenda | 19 | 1 | 9+4 | 1 | 2+2 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| 5 | DF | GER | Stefan Thesker | 14 | 0 | 12+1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 15 | DF | GER | Johannes van den Bergh | 28 | 0 | 25 | 0 | 1+1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 19 | DF | GER | Simon Lorenz | 23 | 2 | 13+4 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 1+1 | 1 |
| 20 | DF | GER | Jannik Dehm | 24 | 1 | 12+7 | 1 | 4+1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 22 | DF | SRB | Aleksandar Ignjovski | 12 | 0 | 5+5 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 24 | DF | GER | Hauke Wahl | 41 | 2 | 34 | 0 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 0 |
| 25 | DF | GER | Phil Neumann | 21 | 0 | 9+9 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| Midfielders ||||||||||||
| 6 | MF | GER | Ahmet Arslan | 18 | 2 | 2+13 | 2 | 0+3 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 7 | MF | KOR | Lee Jae-sung | 40 | 8 | 31+2 | 5 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 1 |
| 8 | MF | GER | Alexander Mühling | 36 | 13 | 27+4 | 12 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| 26 | MF | GER | Jonas Meffert | 40 | 0 | 34 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 29 | MF | GER | Joshua Mees | 34 | 4 | 9+20 | 3 | 1+2 | 1 | 0+2 | 0 |
| 32 | MF | GER | Jonas Sterner | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 36 | MF | GER | Niklas Hauptmann | 37 | 0 | 15+16 | 0 | 1+4 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Forwards ||||||||||||
| 11 | FW | GER | Fabian Reese | 39 | 3 | 26+6 | 2 | 3+2 | 1 | 1+1 | 0 |
| 23 | FW | GER | Janni Serra | 37 | 16 | 25+6 | 13 | 4+1 | 3 | 1 | 0 |
| 27 | FW | GER | Finn Porath | 40 | 1 | 5+28 | 0 | 2+3 | 1 | 2 | 0 |
| 28 | FW | GER | Noah Awuku | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 |
| 31 | FW | GER | Fin Bartels | 38 | 13 | 29+2 | 11 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 0 |
| 33 | FW | GER | Benjamin Girth | 20 | 0 | 1+16 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 | 0+2 | 0 |
| Players transferred out during the season ||||||||||||
| 18 | FW | GER | Lion Lauberbach | 4 | 0 | 0+3 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Last updated: 29 May 2021 Source: Competitions