After four tough days of work at our training base in Germany, we play our second pre-season game tomorrow afternoon against VfB Stuttgart.
Last weekend’s workout saw a 2-0 victory over Boreham Wood, but a sterner test lies in wait tomorrow as we build up towards our Premier League opener against Leicester City.
The Opposition
VfB Stuttgart are one of Germany’s most successful sides with five national championships - most recently in 2006/07 - three German Cups, and a record three UEFA Intertoto Cups.
It’s been a turbulent period since that 2007 Bundesliga title. After a number of narrow escapes, VfB dropped into the 2. Bundesliga in 2016 and then again in 2019 - their only two seasons outside the top flight since 1977.
The appointment of Pellegrino Matarazzo as Head Coach in December 2019 proved to be a turning point.
Under the American, Stuttgart finished second and returned to the Bundesliga at the first attempt. In his first full season, Matarazzo led Stuttgart to ninth in the top flight before a dramatic final-day win over 1. FC Köln guaranteed their survival last time round.
The Stuttgart squad might not be too well known to fans with former Chelsea youngster Clinton Mola and Konstantinos Mavropanos, once of Arsenal, the only players with experience of English football.
This will be VfB’s third pre-season outing of the campaign following a 7-1 win over amateur side SV Böblingen and a 3-2 victory over FC Zürich.
Team News
Aaron Hickey, Keane Lewis-Potter, and Thomas Strakosha have all joined up with the squad in Germany this week to supplement the group that beat Boreham Wood last weekend.
The Manager
Pellegrino Matarazzo was raised in New Jersey to Italian immigrants.
He was a four-year varsity starter at high school and went on to play at Columbia University, where he earned a degree in applied mathematics in 1999.
After graduating from Columbia, Matarazzo embarked on a professional career, eventually signing for Eintracht Bad Kreuznach in the German fourth tier. Matarazzo spent a decade in the German lower leagues before ending his career with Nürnberg II, where he combined an assistant coach role with his playing career.
After five years at Nürnberg's academy, Matarazzo started the German FA coaching programme at the Hennes Weisweiler Akademie, where he shared a room with Julian Nagelsmann.
Matarazzo joined Nagelsmann's coaching staff at Hoffenheim in 2017 and was promoted to assistant a year later. In December 2019, Sven Mislintat signed Matarazzo as First Team Head Coach of VfB Stuttgart.
Ticket Info
Tickets for the game cost between €13 and €24 for adults depending on the location in the stadium. There are reduced prices for concessions. They can be bought from the match hosts now.
Getting There
Stadium Address: Teuringer Str. 2, 88045 Friedrichshafen
Tomorrow’s match will be played at the Zeppelinstadion Friedrichshafen des VfB Friedrichshafen, at the very southern tip of Germany, close to the Austrian border.
Friedrichshafen is on the northern shoreline of Lake Constance, around 15 miles from the Austrian border.
The stadium is in the northern part of the city, around a 30-minute walk from the station, through the Riedlepark and across the E54.