Talent Recycling in the 3. Liga: How Regensburg Benefits from Squad Surplus

Young players as bargaining chips: The case of Marco Wörner shows how third-division clubs cost-effectively fill their squads with loan players from higher leagues. A look at market mechanisms.

05 July 2026

Four goals and six assists in just twenty games: Such a statistical output rarely goes unnoticed in the transfer market. In the past second half of the season, 21-year-old Marco Wörner delivered exactly these numbers for SC Verl.

The Loan System in German Football

The attacking player, born in Offenburg, exemplifies the circulation of players between professional leagues. After his basic football training in the youth academy of SC Freiburg, he moved to SC Paderborn. For this club, he has so far made four appearances in the 2. Bundesliga and one game in the DFB-Pokal. To get reliable playing time, he was subsequently loaned to the 3. Liga.

Sixth New Signing for Oberpfalz

Now SSV Jahn Regensburg enters this cycle and makes use of exactly this transfer model. Regensburg's sporting director Alexander Schmalhofer arranged another, this time one-year, loan deal with Paderborn. This confirms the third-division club's sixth new signing.

Physical integration into the new working environment happens without delay: Wörner immediately traveled to the Oberhaching sports school. The Regensburg squad is currently holding its training camp there, allowing the 21-year-old to directly join the sporting operations.