Matchday. "Bochum" - "Metalist 1925". Match #5. Summer training camp 2025"

July 19 at 16:00 (15:00 local time). Austria, Schwaz, Zillberstadt Arena stadium. Friendly match No. 5. Summer training camp 2025.

Watch the match broadcast on the YouTube channel of "Metalist 1925":

The preparation of "Metalist 1925" for the start in the UPL is coming to an end. Two weeks and two days separate us from the first official match of the season. After the first three matches at the training camp in Austria, which left a positive impression on the fans, this week a friendly match was played against "Waldhof", which ended in a bitter defeat and caused completely different emotions than before. These impressions, through adjusting the gameplay, are supposed to be corrected by "Metalist 1925" today. Today's opponent is yesterday's Bundesliga club, which, however, was relegated from it, finishing in the last position, and will play in the second Bundesliga - Bochum in the new season. This is a fairly well-known club that has spent most of its history in the elite of German football.

The start of the new season for the "unyielding" ones, who were relegated from the elite, is scheduled for August 2. They have also managed to play several friendly matches. In the first one, they defeated local amateurs 14-0. In the next friendly, they beat another group of amateurs, a bit more modestly - 5-0. Already at the training camp in Austria, "Bochum" played against the Czech "Viktoria" and this match ended in a draw - 1-1.

And last Wednesday, "Bochum" played two friendly matches. One of them was against "Waldhof", the same opponent that "Metalist 1925" played against. Trailing 0-2, in the end "Bochum" won 3-2. And on the same day, another group of "Bochum" players played against the Swiss "Young Boys". In this match, they were also behind, the score was even 1-4, but here too the players of the "unyielding" team showed character and turned the game around, ultimately winning 5-4.

Achievements: "Bochum", as we mentioned, is a club that has spent a significant part of its history in the Bundesliga. However, quite often, the club found itself in the second division. Therefore, among their trophies, they have 4 victories in the second Bundesliga. Twice the team managed to reach the finals of the German Cup. The highest results in the championship were achieved in the late 1930s and early 1940s, when they managed to win silver and bronze medals. 

Geography: "Bochum" represents the eponymous city in western Germany in the Ruhr region. The population of the city is just under 400,000 residents. The Ruhr region is very football-oriented, as besides Bochum, cities like Dortmund, Gelsenkirchen, Duisburg, and others are located here.

Head coach: since November of last year, the 60-year-old German specialist Dieter Hecking has been leading the team. He played in the Bundesliga for Moenchengladbach's "Borussia" and "Leipzig".

However, most of his playing career was in the second Bundesliga. He started his coaching career in 2000. Among the well-known clubs, he managed "Hannover," "Nuremberg," "Borussia" from Mönchengladbach, "Hamburg," "Wolfsburg." In total, teams under his leadership played 443 matches in the Bundesliga, winning 170, drawing 114, and losing 159 matches. At the helm of "Bochum," he coached 25 matches, with 6 wins, 6 draws, and 13 losses.

Transfermarkt: evaluates the current squad of "Bochum" at 35.3 million euros, which is 20 million euros more expensive than the estimated value of the "Metalist 1925" squad. Six players of the German club are national team players of their countries: Slovakia (Bero), the Philippines (Holtmann), Mali (Ibrahima Sissoko and Ibragim Sissoko), Japan (Kodji Miyoshi), Serbia (Erzhan Maqovozh).

Specifically, the highest transfer value was assigned by the portal to the Malian midfielder, born in France - Ibrahima Sissoko - 6 million euros. The second most expensive player has a transfer value twice as low - this is the Slovak central midfielder Mateus Bero. He was the second top scorer of the team in the Bundesliga last season - 5 goals. 9 goals were scored by Myron Boadu, but he played on loan and returned to "Monaco." Defender Maximilian Wittek spent the most minutes on the field last season, with Sissoko and Bero mentioned in second place.

Considering that the team dropped from the first to the second Bundesliga, significant squad work is being done at "Bochum" this offseason. A dozen players left the team. Even more players joined, including several club graduates from the youth system, free agents of various experience levels. It is also worth noting the young players loaned from Borussia Dortmund and Bayer - Kjell Vetten and Francis Onyeku.

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