BY OLIVER GRISS AND STEFAN MATZKE (PHOTO)
For the lions it’s time to go to bed early today in the five-star hotel “Susesi” because the alarm clock rings in the middle of the night. After the 4-1 friendly win over Swiss first division club FC Winterthur, Markus Kauczinski said: “I’ll eat something – and then I’ll go to bed.” The lions fly from Antalya towards Munich at 7 a.m. local time, which probably means getting up between three and four in the morning. Free until Monday afternoon.
On the sidelines of the dress rehearsal against the Swiss there was a special kind of class reunion: after former goalkeeper Hendrik Bonmann (Ludogorez Rasgrad) had stopped by during the week, Leandro Morgalla and Maxi Wittek visited the Lions with VfL Bochum. The Bundesliga relegated team, like SSV Ulm, is housed in the “Calista”. Also spotted in the sports center was former managing director Marc Pfeifer, who is now a board member at Rot-Weiss Essen. The Swabian came to spy, after all RWE is the Lions’ opening opponent the weekend after next. Although Essen is testing against Dresden tomorrow, no Sixzger will be watching the game live.
Former team manager Fatih Aslan has also been in Belek with Red Bull Salzburg since yesterday, but the Turk is so busy that he didn’t have a time window to make a trip to the lions. On Wednesday Michael Köllner comes to Belek with Blau-Weiß Linz.
An indoor spectacle of a special kind will take place on Saturday from 2 p.m. in Regensburg – the Wintec Autoglas Banana Flanker Budenzauber 2026 in the Donau-Arena. A team from TSV 1860 is also at the start alongside teams from Nuremberg, Greuther Fürth, Jahn Regensburg, Borussia Dortmund, Bayer Leverkusen and Hamburg, but the big names are missing from the traditional Lions’ field of participants. The only person with Bundesliga minutes for the Blues is the coach: Uwe Wolf. He is supported by cult equipment manager Wolfgang Fendt, who was also part of the big time. The fact that there are no big Bundesliga lions is unfortunately an indictment…
The Lions squad includes Stefan Lex, Jürgen Korus, Maxi Nicu, Valdet Rama, Christoph Burkhard, Daniel Wein, Manuel Duhnke, Rodnei, Michael Schick and Marius Willsch. Timo Gebhart, Jan Mauersberger, Michael Liendl and Vitus Eicher, among others, canceled at short notice. Tickets are still available for this event – for a good cause! HERE you can stock up on cards.
