In the 90 minutes Nürnberg and 96 will not give each other an inch of lawn. “I expect an intense game,” says Jan Zimmermann. It’ll be all the nicer before and after the game.

The duel on matchday 9 is like a class reunion – with many old acquaintances, who today (have to) mainly take a seat on the bench and grandstand.

Nürnberg’s sports director Dieter Hecking was 96 coach between 2006 and 2009, is friends with Zimmermann (BILD reported) and even helped him jump out of the 5th league into professional football. Press spokesman Christian Bönig was previously with the Reds, as was physio Jens Vergers.

Konstantin Rausch also landed in Franconia. The 96 self-grown kept fit after their time in Russia at TSV Limmer in Hanover. Hecking lured him to Nuremberg – as did Florian Huebner. The promotion hero from 2017 came from Union Berlin in the summer, but is currently injured.

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At 96, Sebastian Kerk (2017 to 2020) and Mike Frantz (2008 to 2014) have a Nuremberg past.

Oliver Sorg also played for both clubs – but the right-back terminated his contract with FCN in the summer.

No Nuremberg story yet, but Gael Ondoua has a lot of hope for a victory in the first duel. The new 96-clearer sat on the plane in the morning as did Tom Trybull, who is in the squad for the first time after his quarantine weeks. Philipp Ochs did not travel to Nuremberg for this.