Overview
- Mauro Lustrinelli has taken charge of Union's preseason and is moving the team away from its long‑standing three‑man defence toward a more offensive, vertical, high‑intensity approach.
- Goalkeeper Frederik Rönnow remains in rehabilitation for an adductor injury and missed first‑team field sessions, so Matheo Raab and Carl Klaus are set to cover early friendlies under new goalkeeping coach Marcel Höttecke.
- Recent arrivals Zeno Van den Bosch and Marvin Friedrich trained with the squad and Stanley Nsoki was permanently signed after his loan as Lustrinelli begins to integrate new players and give youth prospects opportunities.
- Union has laid out an extensive friendly schedule of about eleven matches, starting with tests against Optik Rathenow and Grün‑Weiß Lübben, to build the new system before a tough opening league run against Eintracht Frankfurt, Bayer Leverkusen, Schalke and Bayern.
- Club leaders say the changes aim to produce more attractive football and steadier early‑season results, a response to three modest league finishes that prompted the coaching change and a renewed emphasis on youth development.