Over the last few weeks, two things have been rare: rain, and SC Freiburg playing football. Just before the players returned to the pitch, though, a shower cooled the ground on what was an otherwise scorching day – the sun returned on cue as the players stepped out into perfect summer footballing conditions for their first training session of pre-season.

All the cameras were focused on Matthias Ginter, as he donned SCF colours in his first training session since rejoining the club on a free transfer from Borussia Mönchengladbach. There were several other new faces to the first team, as U23 star Robert Wagner, who has officially joined the first team, all took to the pitch with fellow youth players Vincent Vermeij, Kenneth Schmidt and Max Rosenfelder. Wagner and Ginter, as well as new goalkeeping coach Michael Müller and fitness coach Maximilian Kessler, were part of the traditional photo of the coaching staff and new arrivals. Having had an operation just before the DFB-Pokal final in May, Kevin Schade did not head out with the rest of the team, instead staying in the gym to continue his recovery program. The players who represented their countries in the June international break, namely Mark Flekken, Roland Sallai, Wooyeong Jeong, Ermedin Demirovic and Killiann Sildillia, will return to training in the next few days.

Even if head coach Christian Streich did say he “wouldn’t have a problem with having another two weeks off”, he and his coaching staff got the season underway with an opening training session shaped by intensity. Streich made clear that, given the challenges of a European campaign alongside the Bundesliga, the squad would be growing. “Our team will get bigger, and we have at the very least six players to come back. It’ll be exciting to see how us coaches and the players will deal with things if someone can’t get on the pitch. Managing that as a group will be a big challenge this season.” Matthias Ginter also detailed a further objective of 2022/23: “We want to create some special moments and emotions in our new stadium next season once again – I’m looking forward to that; that will be our key to staying successful.”

The overwhelming portion of July will be devoted to preparations for a successful 2022/23 season. This Saturday sees the first pre-season test for Christian Streich’s team, as they play SV Elversberg at the Dreisamstadion – kick-off against the newly-promoted 3. Liga side is 15:00 CEST. Further dates for pre-season will come in due course.