Club Haberleri

FSV Mainz got their pre-season training underway on Tuesday evening. The three new arrivals Danny da Costa, Anthony Caci and Maxim Leitsch all took part in the session (Aymen Barkok is on an extended break), as did young talents Ben Bobzien, Eniss Shabani, Nelson Weiper and Philipp Schulz, who all signed their first professional contracts with the club in recent weeks. It was a relaxed opening session for the Zerofivers, who have a busy summer schedule ahead. The 350 or so fans in attendance at the Bruchwegstadion were treated to autographs and selfies afterwards.

The main sponsor of 1. FC Union Berlin is wefox and the partner’s logo is red on a white background. The white logos of Comedy Central (Bundesliga) and Aroundtown (Cup and Europe) will be present on the sleeves this season.

The VfL Wolfsburg players completed a morning training session at the VfL Center before heading to Braunschweig-Wolfsburg airport, where they departed for their training camp in Portugal at 14:45 CET.

“On Tuesday, we have the next exciting game ahead of us,” said Marco Reus after the final whistle of the league match against Leipzig (a 2-1 win). Around 60 hours have passed since then. Donyell Malen and Gregor Kobel, who picked up knocks against Leipzig, are with the team on board the Eurowings special flight. 

Back to business. The Bundesliga returns following the international break, and SV Werder Bremen are playing in the final game of the weekend as they face TSG Hoffenheim (2nd April, 17:30 CEST) at the wohninvest WESERSTADION. “We want to put ourselves in the best possible position ahead of the run-in,” said head coach Ole Werner at the pre-match press conference.

VfL Bochum 1848 continues to work intensively to professionalise its structures and leverage new potential. Therefore,...

Jeffrey Gouweleeuw: “I think we would have won the game if both teams had ended with 11 men. It was a really intense match and we knew what to expect. Schalke are right in the middle of a relegation battle and we didn’t want them to drag us into it today. Both teams struggled to create chances and the red card, which was an accidental challenge, was decisive. A point is a point and we’ll take it. It’s kept a big gap between us and Schalke.”

You can see him come on with the rest of the substitutes from yesterday’s game in this video:

After the dismissal of Fredi Bobic on Saturday, club president Kay Bernstein, board member Klaus Brüggemann and managing director Thomas Herrich spoke at a press conference on Sunday afternoon. They were joined by Benjamin Weber, who has assumed the role of sporting director at the ‘Old Lady’. At the 42-minute-long conference, the club management explained the reasons for the change and introduced Weber to the media. The four also spoke about Andreas “Zecke” Neuendorf, who will be the club’s new director of academy and first team football. “In Benny and Zecke, we have two figures who people can identify with who live for Hertha. That’s exactly what we need,” said the president. Brüggeman added, “The decision was about Hertha BSC, not about Fredi Bobic, Kay Bernstein or the advisory board. After taking everything into consideration, we fully support the decision taken by the board.” Weber was looking forward to the task of his new role. “I’m a Berliner, I’m a Herthaner. I’m really happy to be returning to my club and I’m fired up to get to work. I’ll talk to Sandro Schawrz and his coaching team. We absolutely have a clear plan that we want to follow as a team. I have always been a team player and one of my main tasks will be to get the whole Hertha family on board.”

Continuity instead of delusions of grandeur, step by step instead of big city club: within a very short space of time, Hertha BSC have gone from having major aspirations to win titles to humbly fighting to keep their place in the division. Hertha’s turbulent time off the pitch is likely to be over for the time being following the arrival of their new investor, meaning the focus can – and must – now be switched to sporting matters.