Westfalia Rhynern

Marco Stiepermann guided the side to the top of the Oberliga Westfalen, the fifth tier, in the spring of 2026. The former Bundesliga forward took over a club that had spent years trying to prove its stadium was good enough, and with it a first-ever place in the DFB-Pokal — a competition the club from Hamm's Rhynern district had watched from outside for its entire existence. Stanislav Iljutcenko, once a Germany international, gave the promotion campaign a name recognisable beyond the district.

Getting there had not been straightforward. Twice, in 2015 and again in 2017, the Westfalia-Sportpark fell short of what a Regionalliga licence required, and the club was held back on paperwork rather than results; only after the ground was brought up to standard did promotion in 2017–18 actually stick, before relegation pulled them back down. The stadium itself was dismantled in 2022 and the club shifted to new facilities, closing off the old ground for good.

The Pokal reward, when it came, was a lesson in distance: a trip to Dynamo Dresden in 2026–27 ended 0–6. Founding goes back to 1935, when Turn- und Sportverein Rhynern first formed, though that club folded two years later and Rhynern had to start again in 1946 under the Westfalia name it still carries in red and white.

None of it matters more locally than the Hammer Derby. Hammer Spielvereinigung sit across the same city, and whatever league either side is playing in, that fixture is the one that decides bragging rights in Hamm before anything else does.