Tim Hoogland during a training session

Back on the ball

And in the very first session, the ball took centre stage. Having initially gone through some warm-ups with co-trainer Eddy Sözer the players got straight on the ball – initially with a ‘Handball-Heading’ game of young versus old, with the more senior players eventually leaving the young hopefuls hopelessly trailing.

Whilst the out-field players worked on their passing in groups of two, goalkeepers Sven Ulreich, Marc Ziegler and André Weis were put through their paces by keeper trainer Andreas Menger.

New signing Tim Hoogland involved

At the very first training session of the new campaign, the fans who had braved the weather got their chance to see new signing Tunay Torun and Tim Hoogland in the VfB kit for the first time. It was also the 27 years olds very first day as a VfB player and he was eager to show what he is capable of during the session. With the exceptions of EURO participant William Kvist and the injured Daniel Didavi, trainer Bruno Labbadia had his complete squad available to him. The almost two hour long session was completed with a kick-about, again with the young facing the old. The youngsters wanted revenge for the earlier defeat and took an immediate lead but Tamas Hajnal levelled for the veterans and the game ended in a deserved draw.