Freiburg’s captaincy had already been decided before the cup game at Lotte, with Christian Günter continuing to lead the first team on the pitch and Vincenzo Grifo und Maximilian Eggestein again named his deputies. Ahead of SC’s opening Bundesliga fixture against Augsburg, the rest of the team council have now also been confirmed. There are newcomers to the role in Noah Atubolu and Philipp Treu, while Nicolas Höfler is set to head into his second season as a member of the council.

“The team council is important for things like communicating how to improve certain processes within the team. That’s why we have regular meetings with the coaching staff,” said captain Christian Günter. “Other key tasks for us include holding everything together in those phases when things aren’t going so well, or being there for the boys who aren’t playing as regularly.”