Season

Pre-season training begins: “Good to be back again”

On Wednesday, Hamburger SV officially started their preparations for the upcoming campaign and held their first training session ahead of the 2025/26 Bundesliga season. With four new faces in their ranks, the Rothosen impressed the hundreds of fans in attendance at the the Volksparkstadion’s training facilities.

After completing medical and fitness tests on Monday and Tuesday, it was finally time for the HSV players to get back out on the pitch on Wednesday. Training for the upcoming season officially kicked off at 11 CEST, with the sun beating down and 300 fans present at the Volksparkstadion who greeted the players and had the chance to see some new faces in action.

Noah Katterbach was back in action in the first training session of the season.

U23 players Omar Megeed, Davis Rath and Dorian Migalic (summer signing from VfB Stuttgart’s U19s) were all involved. There was even more reason to celebrate, too: Noah Katterbach (pictured), Aboubaka Soumahoro and Bakery Jatta all took part in the session after recovering from long-term injuries – it was almost like having three new signings. On the other hand, Fabio Balde and Otto Stange both worked with rehabilitation coach Sebastian Capel, while four players were completely absent: Lucas Perrin and Nico Oliveira have been allowed to miss training to carry out talks with other clubs, with Miro Muheim and Immanuel Pherai having extended breaks following the international break. Everyone else was present and, shortly after the warm-up, put the pedal to the metal. The ball circulated in different formations, and it was evident that all the Rothosen were having fun during this first session back despite the sweltering heat. “You can feel the anticipation,” remarked director of football Claus Costa, “it’s pretty lively. It feels good, since the past few weeks at the stadium have been a bit quieter. We’re really happy that everyone’s back and that things are getting started again.” For Costa, though, the summer was anything but quiet. He had “lots of conversations with the players in the squad” on the agenda but was also on the look-out for reinforcements for the team.

Rayan Philippe (left) and Nicolai Remberg completed their first training session as HSV players.

Indeed, there were four new faces at Wednesday’s session. “Jordan Torunarigha has a lot of first-division experience and can help the side straightaway, as well as taking up a leadership position,” said Costa, “Nicolai Remberg played all of last season for Kiel, was a key player and will add a new element to our game with his physicality. Fernando Dickes is a little younger, but he is a talented, ‘modern’ goalkeeper who has a lot of potential and will work hard with our goalkeeper team. Rayan Philippe has a lot of pace, likes to run in behind and has an eye for goal. Also: He is a very multifaceted attacker, which will give us a lot of versatility up front.” These signings came to fruition following a “clear analysis of requirements, during which we worked out in great detail which types of players we wanted to add to the squad”, explained Costa. After all, “we probably won’t have as much possession and won’t be as dominant in the Bundesliga as we were in the 2. Liga due to the quality of the opposition – we’ll have to play out of possession and defend more. That being said, we don’t want to abandon our principles and our DNA, but rather we want to keep playing football at a higher level.”

Around 300 fans attended the first training session of the season, getting autographs and taking selfies with the players afterwards.

Board member for sport Stefan Kuntz took the same line as Costa during his pitchside interview which was streamed live on HSVtv. “We want to keep improving gradually,” said Kuntz, “and we will work hard to do so. That’s a must for us across all areas. At the moment, we can’t financially compete with teams like Augsburg, Freiburg, Mainz, or Union Berlin, who have been in the Bundesliga for a number of years now, even though you’d be inclined to think that HSV are a bigger club. We’ve got to gradually work back towards that now. But the excitement for this work is palpable, since it’s back in the Bundesliga. It ensures that everyone is working with a smile on their face. When we create the right foundation with hard work and continue to draw on the happiness of getting promoted and the euphoria of making new signings, we can go into the Bundesliga season with positivity. That’s the goal, because we’re here to stay.” Many of the fans were also here to stay, as they remained for the entirety of the 90-minute session with cold drinks in hand so they could have a chat with the players and get an autograph or photo afterwards. The training session finished with a lot of smiling faces, or, as Robert Glatzel put it: “It was a special season, and getting promoted was the cherry on top, but that’s in the past now. From now on, the only things that matter are the here and now, and that means the Bundesliga. That’s why it’s good to be back again.”