Pre-season is just around the corner

The Blue-Whites will begin their preparations for the 2019/20 season on Monday (1/7/19) under the stewardship of new head coach Ante Čović.

No commando crawls, no sounds of a football being kicked, nor laughing or screaming – in the last few weeks, the training pitches at the Olympiapark have been full of peace and quiet. The only people to be seen were the groundsmen, working hard to prepare the training pitches for the return of Ante Čović and his men. Since now, after 45 training-free days, the summer break is over for the Blue-Whites. On Monday, Čović’s team will get back into the swing of training and begin their preparations for the upcoming 2019/20 season. “I am obviously really excited to get out there – the waiting is over. I am looking forward to getting to know the players a bit more – of course, I know most of them but not to the level that I need to yet,” Coach Čović commented, ahead of his first season as first team head coach, having managed the Hertha reserves for many years.

Players who represented their countries given extra time off

However, the 43-year-old coach will not be meeting up with his whole squad on Monday. “We will start with a smaller group, those who played in the internationals at the start of June will come back on 3^rd July and the U21 internationals will return later,” Čović explained. Along with U21 European Championship finalists Maximilian Mittelstädt, Arne Maier and new signing Eduard Löwen, Ondrej Duda, Peter Pekarik and Valentino Lazaro will all meet up with their teammates in pre-season in time for the beginning of the training camp in Neuruppin (03/07-10/07). Before the trip to Neuruppin, there will be a double dose of training for Salomon Kalou and his fellow Blue-Whites on Tuesday.

Hertha will travel to the small town in Brandenburg, as they did last year, to get their pre-season training underway. There, Hertha will have their first friendly of the season – on Sunday 7th July against third-division outfit Eintracht Braunschweig (KO 15:00 CEST). “The goal is, first and foremost, match fitness, so that we can then move on to improving in footballing terms as a team,” the former Hertha midfielder summarised. When the Blue-Whites return from Neuruppin, they will have a number of training sessions at Schenckendorffplatz, an anniversary tournament at Karlsruher SC (13th July) and two friendlies against 2. Bundesliga sides FC Erzgebirge Aue (17th July) and VfL Bochum (20th July).

The squad will then put the finishing touches to their pre-season in a second training camp in Stegersbach in Austria (24th July – 1st August). On 3rd August, they will travel to London to play Crystal Palace before beginning their 2019/20 season with a DFB-Pokal tie against VfB Eichstätt (11th August). Hertha then get their Bundesliga campaign underway with a crunch match away at Bayern Munich (16th August – KO 20:30 CEST).