Foals complete first session of pre-season in front of 1,500 supporters

The Foals have begun pre-season preparations for the 2023/24 season. Borussia’s new head coach Gerardo Seoane welcomed 22 outfield players and two goalkeepers to Sunday morning’s session.

Gladbach are back in training. In around 35°C temperatures, the first team completed a 90-minute session on Sunday morning as they kickstarted their preparations for the new season. After giving a speech in the performance centre, head coach Gerardo Seoane led his first team session on training pitch 1 at BORUSSIA-PARK, for which 1,500 fans were in attendance. “We’ve had a long break and enough time to recharge our batteries. Towards the end of my holiday, my excitement ahead of the start of pre-season was getting bigger and bigger,” said midfieler Julian Weigl after the session. “It was very hot today and we had a very intense session to get things going, from which we can now build.”

Partial session for Omlin, internationals to return later

Following the warm-up, which consisted of some activation work as well as a rondo, the team completed a variety of drills, and the session ended with a game which included six mini goals. New signings Robin Hack, Lukas Ullrich and Grant-Leon Ranos all took part, as well as Mika Schroers, Phil Kemper, Ibrahim Digberekou, Simon Walde and Shio Fukuda from Borussia’s U23s. Jonas Omlin only took part in some of the session, because he decided to make an earlier-than-expected return to training. Jan Olschowsky (thumb injury) was the only player to miss out due to injury. Internationals Ko Itakura, Fabio Chiarodia, Luca Netz, Joe Scally, Nico Elvedi and Manu Koné are all expected to return to pre-season at a later date. “The youth players who are involved have caught our attention with their performances recently, and we believe they have potential for the future. They’ve got a real chance to prove themselves in pre-season,” commented Seoane. “All players have to fight for their place during pre-season. Beyond that, we want to focus on team spirit during this period.” 

“The first few chats with the new coach have been really positive. We‘re working hard on team spirit, and there’s a great energy in the dressing room,” commented Weigl. “The team are really looking forward to the new season and to working on improving things we didn’t do so well last season.” Nine sessions and one friendly are on the agenda for Borussia next week. All of the 10:30 CEST sessions on Monday to Friday are public training sessions, and all current training times can be found in the training schedule.

First friendly against FC Wegberg-Beeck on Saturday

A friendly away to FC Wegberg-Beeck is coming up for the Foals on Saturday 15th July (16:00), in what will be their first friendly of pre-season. After the visit to Wegberg-Beeck, the Foals’ next friendly is against 1. FC Saarbrücken (22nd July, 15:00 CEST), and then comes a week-long training camp in Tegernsee. “There’s plenty of time for us to work on our game and make progress. I’m sure we’ll have assembled a strong team come the first competitive match of the season,” added Weigl.

2023/24 Pre-season: Key dates

• Saturday, 15th July, 16:00 CEST: Friendly vs. FC Wegberg-Beeck (A)
• Saturday, 22nd July, 15:00 CEST: Friendly vs. 1. FC Saarbrücken (A)
• Sunday, 23rd, until Saturday, 29th July: Training camp in Tegernsee 
• Wendesday, 26th July, 18:00 CEST, Stadion am Birkenmoos in Rottach-Egern: Friendly against FC Ingolstadt
• Saturday, 29th July: Tournament in Heimstetten with matches against TSV 1860 München (15:00 CEST) and VfB Stuttgart (16:15 CEST)
• Saturday, 5th, and Sunday, 6th August: Season-opening weekend with friendly against Montpellier (H) (Saturday, 15:30 CEST), Foal family day, Jünter day
• Friday, 11th August, 18:00 CEST: DFB-Pokal first round match vs. fifth-tier side TuS Bersenbrück (A)
• Saturday, 19th/Sunday, 20th August: Bundesliga Matchday 1 vs. FC Augsburg (A)