Arminia Bielefeld

That's been good enough for eighth place in the table and a comfortable cushion between Bielefeld and the relegation zone.

But Heesen has decided not to renew his extend his contract next year and is widely tipped to take over the coaching job at Dortmund. So it's uncertain whether he will still have the authority to keep the team on track.

Bielefeld know the perils of this situation. In the 2002-3 season, Bielefeld were sitting safely in the middle of the table during the winter break, only to get relegated after coming unglued in the second half.

Still, if midfielder Fatmir Vata and striker Sibusiso Zuma successfully return from injury, and forward Artur Wichniarek continues his resurgence, Bielefeld should be in the clear.

The Roster

Goal: Mathias Hain, Marc Ziegler, Pascal Formann

Defense:Markus Schuler, Marcio Borges, Petr Gabriel, Markus Bollmann, Tobias Rau, Heiko Westermann, Bernd Korzynietz

Midfield: Jonas Kamper, Rüdiger Kauf, Thorben Marx, Fatmir Vata, David Kobylik, Tim Danneberg, Ioannis Masmanidis, Marcel Biyouha Ndjeng, Kamil Vacek, Radim Kucera, Jörg Böhme

Strikers: Christian Eigler, Abdelaziz Ahanfouf, Artur Wichniarek, Sibusiso Zuma

(as of January 2007)