This is how Hannover 96 is planning for the second half of the second division
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It starts again: This is how Hannover 96 plans the winter preparations
Full focus: On the first Monday of the new year, Havard Nielsen (third from left) and his 96 colleagues start training again. After a week in Hanover we go to the training camp in Belek.
© Source: Florian Petrov
Hanover. The vacation is over, after a three-week break, the football pros from Hannover 96 meet again on January 2nd (Monday) in the arena. We’ll tell you how to proceed.
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What is the 96 plan for the first week of training?
After hello and the first meeting, the first unit is scheduled for Monday afternoon. At 3 p.m. Stefan Leitl leads the team to the all-around facility next to the stadium, fans can watch. This also applies to the other units this week – on Tuesday and Wednesday twice from 10.30 a.m. and 3.30 p.m., on Thursday and Friday training begins at 11 a.m. At the weekend we’re going to Turkey for 96.
How is the training camp going?
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After the Corona years, in which the team was in Hanover in winter, it went further away again. The pros will fly to Belek in Turkey for nine days from Saturday to January 15th. The town is around 30 kilometers from Antalya on the southern Mediterranean coast and was once considered the first choice for football training camps. Recently it was off for a while, this year numerous professional teams are there again – in addition to 96, for example, the next opponents Kaiserslautern, Hansa Rostock and Bundesliga club Schalke. Leitl, captain Ron-Robert Zieler and Co. live in the five-star Hotel Cornelia Diamond, which also has a training ground. In addition to the units there, 96 has scheduled three friendlies.
With pool and sea view: The five-star Hotel Cornelia Diamond not only has a lot to offer footballers – here is an impression from January 2019.
© Source: Imago/Zinc
Against whom 96 tested?
A total of four test games are scheduled until the start of the second half of the season on January 28th. In Turkey, 96 will first play on Tuesday, January 10 (3:30 p.m.) against FC Zurich, which ex-96 coach André Breitenreiter made Swiss champions last season. Four days later, Leitl has two tests on Saturday – from 3 p.m. against VSC Debrecen from Hungary’s first division, only three hours later against Ludogorez Razgrad from Bulgaria. The 96 dress rehearsal will then take place at home again: A week before the first competitive game in 2023 there will be an XXL test on January 21 (1 p.m.) with two 60-minute halves against Holstein Kiel. The game against the second division team will take place either in the arena or in the Eilenriede stadium, 96 hasn’t decided that yet.
Will another contract be extended?
Sports director Marcus Mann was only extended shortly before Christmas until 2027, followed one day before New Year’s by full-back Sei Muroya (2025). In the new year, however, it will probably take a while before it is signed again. There are some candidates whose contracts are expiring, but after the signals at the end of the year 96 is more defensive. Everyone can recommend themselves in the second half of the season, head coach Leitl has already announced. That applies, for example, to striker Hendrik Weydandt and Muroya’s right-back colleague Jannik Dehm. The expiring contracts of goalkeeper Zieler and defender Julian Börner will be automatically extended by the number of appearances.
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How about transfers?
New player coming?
96 keeps everything open, maybe man will fall into his hands an accurate and affordable striker. But the trend is negative. The squad is already enormous, especially since Leitl promoted talented Monju Momuluh (20, forward) and Tom Moustier (20, midfield defence) to his pre-season squad. In the case of departures, on the other hand, there is “zero movement”, says professional boss Martin Kind. Sebastian Kerk, Sebastian Stolze and Tim Walbrecht could be candidates, and Gaël Ondoua can also go.
How does the second half of the season start for 96?
The first competitive opponent is Belek and neighbors in the table, Kaiserslautern. Kick-off: on January 28 at 8.30 p.m. in the Heinz-von-Heiden-Arena. The promoted team from the Palatinate is brutally effective and is in fourth place, directly in front of 96. 96 is not only warned because of the 1: 2 in the first leg, which dampened the initial euphoria. In the meantime, one is more stable under Leitl, thoughts of promotion are no longer categorically blocked. In order for the promotion places to remain within reach, a victory should be forthcoming at the start. The opponents are then St. Pauli (away, February 5), Paderborn (home, February 11) and Regensburg (away, February 18).