Aston Villa German Preseason Trip
The absence of plans for Aston Villa’s mooted preseason trip to Germany had left some Villa supporters frustrated, as they were unable to make their arrangements for a summer jaunt to Germany. While Villa’s 2017 domestic preseason games have been announced, the destination and date for the German trip wasn’t. That wait for those details is over though, although it still isn’t known exactly who they will be playing.
Aston Villa confirmed the team will take part in the Schauinsland-Reisen tournament, a mini-competition at Schauinsland Reisen Arena, Duisburg on Sunday July 23 (kick-off 1pm local time). The closest airport to Duisburg is Dusseldorf airport, which is just over 15km away.
45 mins
Teams will play two matches (a semi-final and a final or 3/4 place game) lasting 45 minutes each.
The hosts MSV Duisburg topped the German third tier last season and also finished runners-up to Hertha Berlin in the 2016 version of the preseason tournament. Due to the shorten playing time, three of the four games in last season’s tournament ended in draws and had to go to penalties.
For the 2017 version of the tournament, it is currently not known who will compete alongside Villa and MSV Duisburg. The official Villa site reports it will be one Bundesliga club and one La Liga club.
Last season the tournament was contested between three German teams and the French team Nantes.
Extra Dutch Game
Bruce’s men will also play a friendly against Dutch team Vitesse Arnhem in the same region as the tournament.
This will take place on Tuesday July 25, kick-off time and venue TBC. Arnhem is just over an hour’s drive over the border in Holland, so they won’t have far to come to play Villa.
More news to come on the finer details.
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