Union Kick-off in Mainz

1. FC Union Berlin start their 2024/25 Bundesliga season with an away game at 1. FSV Mainz 05 on Saturday, 24 August. Kick off at the MEWA Arena is at 15:30.

The lie of the land

Mainz won their DFB Pokal first round match against neighbours SV Wehen Wiesbaden. After falling behind early on, they equalised in normal time and secured their place in the next round in extra time thanks to 113th and 120^th minute goals from goals from Jonathan Burkardt and Nadiem Amiri.

1. FC Union Berlin, meanwhile, beat Regionalliga side Greifswalder FC in the Cup thanks to substitute Yorbe Vertessen’s superb second half strike.

The opponents

A year ago, Union’s current head coach Bo Svensson was still on the touchline in Mainz. Under his leadership, the club had finished eighth and ninth in the two previous seasons, before Svensson stepped down on 2 November last year. At the time, Mainz were bottom of the table with just three points from nine games.

His successor, Jan Siewert, was unable to halt the downward trend and was replaced by Bo Henriksen in mid-February 2024. Under Henriksen’s leadership, the team stabilised significantly, losing just two further league games and collecting 23 points from the final 13 matches to finish thirteenth in the table.

The side from the carnival town start the new season with five wins and one defeat from their pre-season preparations. Three friendlies against amateur teams, including two wins and a 3-0 loss against SV Eintracht Trier 05, were followed by successful games against second-division club SC Preußen Münster (3-1) and the recently promoted Bundesliga side SV Holstein Kiel (2-0). They rounded off their summer with a 3-1 win against French first division team Montpellier HSC.

The personnel

Union head coach Svensson is still without Kevin Volland, and the injured Josip Juranović and Yannic Stein. Goalkeeping coach Michael Gspurning is also missing due to receiving a red card in the last Bundesliga matchday.

The reunions

The season’s opener in Mainz marks a special return for Bo Svensson and co-coaches Babak Keyhanfar and Tijan Njie. Svensson, who made 122 appearances for Mainz as a player, was initially an assistant coach under Kasper Hjulmand and Martin Schmidt after retiring before taking charge of various FSV youth teams. After two years coaching in Austria, he returned in January 2021 and managed Mainz’s first team until November 2023.

Since 2018, he has been assisted by the Mainz born Keyhanfar, who played for FSV himself at youth level and is an integral part of Svensson’s coaching team. Njie is also returning to his old club. He joined Mainz as a match analyst in the summer of 2017, first in the youth programme and later for the first team.

The coaches’ views ahead of the game

“After a very good week of training, we are looking forward to an intense match that will be characterised by many duels,” said Union head coach, Svensson, during his press conference on Thursday afternoon. “Since both sides know each other, it will certainly be an exciting duel. Mainz is a special place for me and it will be a difficult task, as they are particularly strong at home.”

Meanwhile his opposite number, Henriksen, had this to say about Saturday’s clash. “I’m happy with the preparations. The players know what they can, and what they have to do. I’m just looking forward to this good game on Saturday. We know that Union Berlin are a good team. Of course, I hope that the whole season is exciting and that we get a good result on Saturday.’

Service information

The Union players can count on the support of a good 2,600 fans travelling to support them in Mainz. The mobile Union Zeughaus will also be there. Information on attending the stadium can be found here (German).

The match will be broadcast live by Sky. There will also be an audio stream on rbb24 Inforadio and rbb24. As usual, Union will also provide information about the match via the club’s own live ticker, as well as in English and Spanish on Twitter.