Toon pre-season – German side announce friendly

Newcastle United will play Chemnitzer FC in a pre-season friendly, according to the German third division side.

The game has been scheduled for Friday, 13 July and a 18:30 (local time) / 19:30 (BST) kick-off at the club’s 16,000 caparity Stadion an der Gellertstraße.

There has been no official word from Newcastle, but it seems like a trip to Germany is on the cards after South Africa’s Vodacom Challenge was called off due to time constraints. The game against the Sky Blues could be the first of a few more friendlies that Toon may play over in Germany.

According to Chemnitzer, the entire NUFC squad will travel to Germany for the game including the likes of Demba Ba, Papiss Cisse, Fabricio Coloccini and Jonas Gutierrez.

Their head coach Gerd Schädlich said:

“We are very happy to play our last preseason game against such a good opponent. Newcastle are a top international club.”

CEO Dr. Mathias Hanel added:

“We can be proud that such an ambitious club like Newcastle will play at our stadium.”

Based in the federal state of Saxony, the football club finished 9th in the third tier of German football after gaining promotion a season earlier. Chemnitzer have won the local Saxony Cup four times.

Newcastle will play a pre-season tournament in Portugal with FC Porto and Olympiacos at the end of July. Friendlies away at Gateshead FC and Cardiff City have also been confirmed for August.