The Wolves have played seven friendlies since starting pre-season training nearly seven weeks ago, but their campaign starts in earnest on Saturday when they take on SV Elversberg in the DFB Cup first round (kick-off 15:30 CEST). VfL head coach Bruno Labbadia has promised to “take the game very seriously”, while his opposite number Roland Seitz has talked up his team’s chances of pulling off an upset, saying: “It’s going to be difficult, but anything’s possible in a game of football.”
We’ve compiled all the key facts and figures ahead of the Green-Whites’ 105th outing in the DFB Cup:
- While the start of the new Bundesliga season is still a week away, Elversberg are already well into their league campaign. With just one point from their opening four matches, they are currently bottom of the Regionalliga Südwest (south-west regional league).
- Elversberg’s only ever appearance in the 3. Liga - Germany’s third division - came in 2013/14. They were relegated after just one season but have since recorded four successive top-five finishes in the fourth tier.
- Elversberg are appearing in the DFB Cup for only the third time. They were beaten by Bundesliga opposition in 2009 (SC Freiburg) and 2015 (FC Augsburg) before beating Hannover 96 5-4 on penalties in the first round in 2010. They were eventually knocked out by 1. FC Nürnberg in the second round.
- Four members of the Elversberg squad have played in the Bundesliga: Gaetan Krebs (20 appearances for Hannover 96), Alban Meha (18 for SC Paderborn), Aleksandar Stevanovic (five for SV Werder Bremen) and Sinan Terkici (one for Nürnberg).
- Meha scored three league goals for Paderborn during the 2014/15 campaign, including one in a 1-1 draw against VfL at the Volkswagen Arena on Matchday 15.
- Head coach and sporting director Seitz also has top-flight experience, having made one appearance for MSV Duisburg during the 1993/94 season.
Referee: Lasse Koslowski
Assistants: Henry Müller, Robert Wessel
Fourth official: Luca Schlosser
