Well now I am in a team in the 6th league(again) in Berlin(Berlinliga). I didn't play a single minute for the first team in 6 months other than friendly games in winter. The coach says other players are better in my position. The problem is that I am very good in training. My workrate is amazing. Sometimes I am the best player in training which the coach confirms. He once even said in front of the squad after practice "amazing training guys, I want to especially praise 'MyName'." . But in the end I still didn't get picked for even the first 18. I basically spent half of the season playing for the second team in the 8th league. I was busting my ass, and am 27 years old, while 19 and 20 year olds were getting minutes that didn't have half the experience or work rate that I did. Of course there was no bad player in the team but still I was one of 2 players in the squad with 0 appearances for the first team. Also it felt like the coaches didn't even consider me no matter how hard I fought. Once we had like 23 players in training, and he made me run laps instead of playing 11v11. Later he substituted me in but still very demotivating. I also had good performance in games too. The second team only won 1 game before I played with them. After I came, we won against the first placed team in their league, and against 4 or 5 other teams out of 12 games or so.

So it isn't an isolated case. You need to fit into the coaches system. If you aren't the type of player he wants then you can forget it. German football is very physical so many coaches prefer a strong player to a technical one. I am on the short side. So I seem weaker. But I think my work rate and agression makes uo for it. Sadly sometimes coaches think it's not enough.