After just a few days of pre-season preparations for the 2023/24 campaign, VfB Stuttgart beat amateur side FSV Hollenbach 8-1 at the JAKO-Arena in their first friendly of the summer.
As part of a charity match organised by VfB equipment supplier Jako, Sebastian Hoeneß’s men took to the pitch in front of a sold-out crowd of around 3,500 supporters.
No public training sessions have taken place so far due to EURO 2024, so this was a first chance for fans to see the new-look team in action – wearing their new 2024/25 jerseys, no less. Proceeds from the match will go to the Rudi Sprügel Foundation.
Big half-time lead
As expected, Hoeneß’s team dominated throughout the 90 minutes and they took a 4-0 lead into the break thanks to goals from Pascal Stenzel (11’), Silas (30’, 35’) and Jamie Leweling (40’).
Comfortable victory
The scoreline continued to increase in the second half courtesy of efforts from Wahid Faghir (48’), Justin Diehl (56’) and Thomas Kastanaras (57’, 73’), while Niklas Dörr (63’) notched a consolation penalty for Hollenbach.
Reaction
VfB head coach Sebastian Hoeneß: “It was our first friendly after the summer break. I saw some good things and the boys enjoyed themselves, so I’m satisfied overall. At the end of the day, it’s always important that you don’t pick up any injuries in these games. We’ll increase the intensity over the coming weeks and then we’ll head to Switzerland to take on FC Luzern.”
VfB line-up
First half
1 Fabian Bredlow (31' Minute Dennis Seimen) – 10 Wooyeong Jeong, 11 Nick Woltemade, 13 Frans Krätzig, 14 Silas Mvumpa Katompa, 15 Pascal Stenzel, 16 Atakan Karazor (C) , 18 Jamie Leweling, 24 Julian Chabot, 30 Ömer Beyaz, 37 Maxmilian Herwerth
Goals: 0-1 Pascal Stenzel (11'), 0-2 and 0-3 Silas (30', 35'), 0-4 Jamie Leweling (40')
Second half
41 Dennis Seimen (60' Minute Stefan Drljaca) – 3 Ramon Hendriks, 5 Yannik Keitel, 6 Angelo Stiller, 17 Justin Diehl, 19 Wahid Faghir, 22 Thomas Kastanaras, 29 Anthony Rouault, 39 Alexandre Azevedo, 40 Luca Reimund, 43 Raul Paula
Goals: 0-5 Wahid Faghir (48'), 0-6 Justin Diehl (56'), 0-7 Thomas Kastanaras (57'), 1-7 Niklas Dörr (63'), 1-8 Thomas Kastanaras (73')
