FC St. Pauli

FC St. Pauli won their opening pre-season friendly on head coach Alexander Blessin's debut, beating fourth-tier side Bremer SV 3-1 in front of 1,200 spectators at Uwe Seeler Sportpark in Malente on Saturday afternoon. Johannes Eggestein opened the scoring in the tenth minute, only for Nikky Goguadze to equalise on 25. But second-half goals from Danel Sinani and Andreas Albers eased the Boys in Brown to a 3-1 victory.

FC St. Pauli began their pre-season preparations on Monday after a extended seven-week summer break. Some 200 fans gathered to watch new head coach Alexander Blessin take his first training session, in which work on the ball formed the focus.

After losing first place in the table on the final matchday of 2023, the Boys in Brown reclaimed top spot with a win at Kaiserslautern when the campaign resumed after the winter break. They went on to claim victory in the top-of-the-bill clashes against Düsseldorf and Fürth but were knocked out of the DFB Cup by the former in between. The Hürzeler XI then tasted defeat in the league for the first time at Magdeburg before returning to winning ways against Braunschweig.