The Borussia Dortmund and 1. FC Cologne reserves will go head-to-head on Saturday afternoon at the traditional kick-off time of 14:00 CET. 300 spectators will be allowed into the Rote Erde for what will be BVB's first home game of the new season.

The young Black & Yellows got the new campaign off to a good start last weekend by beating Alemannia Aachen 1-0 away in what was a very intense match towards the end. Centre-forward and captain Steffen Tigges, who scored the only goal, was very satisfied after the game. "I hit the ball perfectly and I'm happy we won. All in all, it was a very good performance from the entire team." Focused and passionate defensive work as well as ruthless finishing in front of goal were key to the victory. Those qualities will be called upon against the young Billy Goats too.  

Coach Mark Zimmermann's charges were not in action at the weekend and are yet to play a competitive game. But they did impress in a 2-2 draw with SC Verl – who were promoted to the third tier last term – in their final friendly. The Rhinelanders have many young players in their squad, as well as several experienced heads too. Captain Marius Laux, 34, former Black & Yellow Lukas Nottbeck, 31, and Lucas Musculus, 29, form a stable and experienced core for FC in the fourth tier. As is usually the case for reserve teams, there was also a lot of personnel upheaval in the Cologne squad at the beginning of the new season. Nine new signings arrived in the U23 squad, although only two of them came from outside the club. The majority were promoted from the U19s, who became West German champions last season.

During the course of Dortmund's final training session on Friday, team manager Ingo Preuß had some personnel news to announce: "We've extended Julius Schell's contract by one year. However, he will be loaned out to TuS Rot-Weiß Koblenz in the Regionalliga Süd-West for the coming season. I hope that Julius gets lots of playing time but, more importantly, that he has an injury-free season."
Timo Lammert