GriDay. "Wolfsberger" - "Metalist 1925". Match #1. Winter training camp 2026
January 18. 16:00 (15:00 local time). Spain, Jerez de la Frontera, Montecastillo Stadium. Friendly match #1. Winter training camp 2026
Watch the match broadcast on the YouTube channel "Metalist 1925" and UPL.TV.
Preparation: "Metalist 1925" gathered on January 9 in Ukraine, where the team underwent a routine medical examination before departure for the training camp and had several intensive training sessions in the arena in Shchaslyve. After the flight to Spain, the team started meticulous work with two-a-day training sessions. It is worth noting that the first winter newcomers, Colombian Arevalo and Venezuelan Castillo, joined the team in Estepona. The key part of the training camp, as always, will be the friendly matches, of which Mladen Bartulovich's team has planned 7, with the first one against Austrian "Wolfsberger".
"Wolfsberger" started preparations earlier, the Austrians gathered on January 6 in their homeland and even managed to play one friendly match, defeating the representative of the Regional League "Atus Felden" - 8:0. However, in Spain, they faced a tougher opponent - Hungarian "DVTK" and suffered a 0:2 defeat. It is worth mentioning that the winter training camp for the Austrians will be significantly shorter than for "Metalist 1925". On February 1, "Wolfsberger" will play their first official match of the second half of the season in the Austrian Cup quarterfinals.
Head-to-head history: Almost 2 years ago, on January 26, 2024, the teams already met in a friendly match in Spain, then the victory was celebrated by the players of "Wolfsberger" - 3:1 (Goals: Yasich 43, Ballo 51, Zabitzer 73 - Boryachuk 87).
Current season: "Wolfsberger" is a strong team by Austrian standards. However, this season the "Wolves" started poorly, first being eliminated from the Europa League qualification by "PAOK", and then exiting the Conference League qualification against "Omonia". In the championship, the team is in 8th place after 17 rounds, with 24 points (7 wins, 3 draws, and 7 losses). Only in the country's Cup, "Wolfsberger" retains chances of success, as they have already reached the quarterfinals (interestingly, the team is the current holder of the Austrian Cup). This course of events led to several changes in the head coach during the first round, so currently, the team is led by 45-year-old Ismail Atalan.
Geography: the football club "Wolfsberger" represents the town of the same name - Wolfsberg, located in the south of Austria, near the border with Slovenia. The town's population is only 25,000 residents, and Wolfsberg is also the administrative center of the district. Interestingly, the distance to Kharkiv is 1,910 kilometers.
Transfermarkt: the well-known portal estimates the total value of the club's players at almost 22 million euros. The most expensive player in the team is Serbian midfielder Dejan Zukic, whose value is 5 million euros, by the way, Zukic is the top scorer of the team in the current season's championship. The top three leaders also include: youth national team striker of Austria - Erik Koizek (2 million 500 thousand euros) and goalkeeper Nicholas Polster (2 million euros).
The team has a wide representation of foreign players, interestingly, most of them are from African countries: Ivory Coast, Nigeria, Ghana, and Kenya, although there are also players from Serbia and Kosovo. Also, in "Wolfsberger," there are 6 players with experience playing for their national teams. The most matches are played by Austrian midfielder Alessandro Schepf, who has played 35 matches for the national team in all tournaments since 2016.
Winter transfers: so far, "Wolfsberger" is not very active in the transfer market, as the team has not signed any winter newcomers yet. However, there is a noticeable transfer acquisition in the form of the sale of Nigerian defender Chibuike Nwaiwu to Turkish "Trabzonspor" for 5 million euros.
