28 SCF players made the journey to Andalusia on Thursday afternoon. Karl Steinmann, Marco Wörner and Ruben Müller from the U23s were among them. While the Freiburg group were on their way, Noah Weißhaupt was already completing his first training session in Hamburg after a successful medical. The 23-year-old has joined FC St. Pauli on loan until the end of the season. Kenneth Schmidt’s loan to second-tier side Hannover 96 had already been confirmed.

After a three-and-a-half-hour flight to Málaga and an hour-long bus journey to Sotogrande, the team arrived at their lodgings in the evening. From Friday, they will complete daily training sessions in the south of Spain. Just like during their six previous winter camps in Sotogrande, SC will train on polo fields. A polo field measures 300 by 200 yards. That comes to about 50,000 square metres in area – plenty of space for the Freiburg players.

Time is of the essence. A week when SCF will face Holstein Kiel, travel to Eintracht Frankfurt and play the derby in Stuttgart is on the horizon.  “The challenge is to use the time well and with purpose without overloading the players,” said assistant coach Patrik Grolimund. There will be particular focus on the main training days of Saturday and Tuesday. As there will be no friendlies before returning to Bundesliga action, the team will also complete some eleven-against-eleven exercises.

The real eleven-against-eleven action returns with our first Bundesliga match of the new year. On Saturday, 11th January, we will host Holstein Kiel at 15:30 CET.