July: Maaßen celebrates successful competitive debut

Year in review 2022, part seven

An emotional 12 months full of highs and lows are drawing to a close. As we enter the last few weeks of the year, FC Augsburg are looking back on the last 365 days. In the seventh part of our series, we look at July.

In July, FC Augsburg signed their first new player under Enrico Maaßen. The 24-year-old striker Ermedin Demirović joined from SC Freiburg, boosting the Red-Green-Whites up front. At the same time, Michael Gregoritsch went the other way and headed for Breisgau.

Before heading to a training camp in Scheffau, FCA had two more friendlies in the region. With a 5-0 win against VfB Eichstätt in Donauwörth and a 1-1 draw against SV Sandhausen in Zusmarshausen, FC Augsburg remained unbeaten.

The Fuggerstädter then suffered their first friendly loss of the season, a 1-0 defeat at the hands of Dynamo České Budějovice, played as part of the training camp in Austria. The trip to Austria was rounded off with a 1-1 draw against FC Schalke 04 in another friendly.

The dress rehearsal before the start of the season took place on home soil at the WWK ARENA. On the ‘Day of Diversity’, French Ligue 1 side Stade Rennais were in town – but beat Augsburg narrowly 3-2 in a game made up of four half-hour periods.

Shortly before the DFB-Pokal opener against Regionalliga outfit Blau-Weiß Lohne, FCA strengthened their central midfield. Elvis Rexhbecaj, from league rivals VfL Wolfsburg, joined the club with immediate effect and signed a four-year contract.

Zehnter makes professional debut

In the DFB-Pokal clash against Lohne, Enrico Maaßen was on the touchline for the first time in a competitive match as FCA head coach. Newcomers Elvis Rexhbecaj, Ermedin Demirović and Maximilian Bauer also made their debut as they were all named in the starting XI. Thanks to goals from Arne Maier, Fredrik Jensen, Florian Niederlechner and Maurice Malone, FCA took home a 4-0 victory and moved into the second round with ease.

Another positive was that academy product Aaron Zehnter, who signed his first professional contract in the summer at the age of 17, got his first professional minutes in the DFB-Pokal against Lohne.