We continue our pre-season build-up with a game against Bundesliga side VfL Wolfsburg on Saturday 23 July. The home side are under new management. Croatian legend Nico Kovac is looking to return Wolfsburg to the upper echelons of German football following a disappointing 2021/22 campaign.

THE OPPOSITION

VfL Wolfsburg have come out of relative obscurity to establish themselves as one of the powerhouses of German football in recent years.

The city of Wolfsburg was only founded in 1938 as Stadt des KdF-Wagen to house autoworkers building the car that would later become famous as the Volkswagen Beetle.

VfL Wolfsburg were founded on 12 September 1945 as a 'Verein fur Leibesubungen' (club for physical activity). With everything in short supply following World War II, the team's colours were determined largely by chance when a local youth welfare worker, Bernward Elberskirch, came across ten green tops in his hunt for football shirts to use - white bed sheets donated by the public were sewn together by local women to make shorts.

Wolfsburg spent their early years in Germany's regional divisions, with short spells in the Bundesliga 2, before finally earning promotion to the top flight in 1997, where they have remained ever since.

Their greatest triumph came during the 2008/09 season when Felix Magath led them to the Bundesliga title. With Kevin De Bruyne in the side, they also won the 2015 DFB Cup and DFL Supercup.

Following relegation play-offs in 2017 and 2018 to maintain their top flight status, Wolfsburg have since recorded sixth, seventh, fourth, and, most recently, 12th-place finishes in the German top tier.

Former Manchester City youngster Lukas Nmecha was their top scorer last season with eight league goals. The Wolves have been active in the transfer market so far this summer bringing in internationals Jakub Kaminski (Lech Poznan), Mattias Svanberg (Bologna), and Patrick Wimmer (Arminia Bielefeld).

TEAM NEWS

Keane Lewis-Potter made a scoring debut for The Bees from the bench against Racing Club de Strasbourg Alsace on Tuesday afternoon. Goalkeeper Thomas Strakosha wasn’t involved in midweek but could make a debut tomorrow. Ethan Pinnock, Kris Ajer and Christian Norgaard are yet to feature in pre-season.

THE MANAGER

Niko Kovac was appointed Wolfsburg manager in May, returning to the league where he enjoyed success as both a player and manager.

He won the Bundesliga title and DFK-Pokal as both a player, in 2002/03, and manager, in 2018/19, with Bayern Munich. He also won an Austrian Bundesliga title as a player with Red Bull Salzburg in 2007 and led Eintracht Frankfurt to consecutive DFK-Pokal finals in 2017 and 2018, winning the latter.

For Croatia, Kovac played, and captained, at the 2006 FIFA World Cup and UEFA Euro 2008. He retired in 2009 with 83 caps and 14 goals for his nation. Kovac also managed Croatia to the 2014 FIFA World Cup, winning a two-legged play-off against Iceland in his first two games in charge. Croatia beat Cameroon 4-0 in their opening game at the finals but then lost 3-1 to Brazil and Mexico to exit in the group stages.

In total, Kovac made more than 650 competitive appearances as a player, for club and country, scoring 82 goals. He also has a 55 per cent win percentage as a manager, following his spells with Croatia U21, Croatia, Eintracht Frankfurt, Bayern Munich and Monaco.

TICKET AND TRAVEL INFO

Stadium Address: AOK Stadium, Allerpark 2, 38448 Wolfsburg, Germany

The AOK Stadium is the smaller of Wolfsburg’s two stadiums, sitting next to the main Volkswagen Arena.

The stadium is within walking distance of the city centre, across the River Aller. From the station, use the Stadtbrucke to cross the river then walk along the riverbank, under the Berliner Brucke and past the Volkswagen Arena. Take a left once you have past the Volkswagen Arena and the stadium will be straight in front of you.

Alternatively, use the Berliner Brucke to cross the river from the south side. Take a right at the end of the bridge and follow the directions above.

A number of special busses run on matchdays (lines 251-256) – just look for 'Volkswagen Arena' as the destination.