Yes, it’s that time of year again when the City team and fans jet off to prepare for the forthcoming season and for Coventry City that means a trip to Germany.
This tour is the third to Germany in successive years and is thanks to tour organiser Herr Killiat who charges the opposition for the privilege of playing the Sky Blues and in returns provides board, lodgings, travel and training facilities for the City players and management who only have to find the air fare.
Now Herr Killiat’s tours don’t always go smoothly. Gary McAllister was horrified after the trek to play AA Allen in 2002 and even more mifted last year, after the tour organiser said that Kotzting was only ninety minutes away when in fact, it was a three hour trek which saw the team arrive an hour late and the 15 or so fans who went miss their last train back from this East German outpost, four miles from the Czech Republic.
Talking of outpost’s, this years tour promises more of the same. Gemuenden where City will play their first game on Saturday July 17th, does not even have a train station and is a small village with a population of around 1200, nestled between Mainz and Idar Oberstein in Western Germany where City played on the 1999 tour although only twenty minutes drive from Frankfurt Hahn Airport. So hiring a car is highly recommended.
The opponents for the game are not the usual Tus Gemuenden team but one made from players at junior clubs in the surrounding area. A sort of Warwickshire select if you like and the ground is not a stadium but a sports field situated between the hills.
Two days after what should be a repeat of the 10-1 scoreline at SC Weismain, City take on FSV Oggersheim at the Bezirksportanlage in, Oggersheim in den Neugärten which is an area of Ludwigshafen.
These are a German Sixth Division outfit who lost in a play-off for promotion to the 5th Division and although far better then the first opponents, we should see another comfortable Sky Blue victory.
There is a three day gap between the next match at FC Saarbrucken and will provide an ideal opportunity to visit Luxembourg or the French towns of Metz and Nancy or German cities likes Kaiserslautern and Heidleberg.
Saarbrucken is a city with a 200,000 population, close to the Luxembourg and French borders and should provide some night life. The team is in a bit of a decline, having played in the Bundesliga a few seasons ago. They were promoted to the second division at the end of the season and should make for the hardest game of the tour at the 35,000 capacity Ludwigspark Stadion.
The final games of the tour comes on Sunday July 25th and is at the Stadion am Hammelsberg in a 2,000 population village called Perl which is only one kilometre from Luxembourg and 500 metres from France.
Again, it’s not the easiest of grounds to get to for a 4pm start but it does have a train station. By road exit the A8 motorway at Perl.
Peter Reid’s charges will play two matches in a mini tournament. Each match will be two halves of 25 minutes against two out of SC Perl from the German 5th Division, FK Pirmasens from the German 4th division and Luxembourg based side Grevenmancher who recently were knocked out of the Intertoto Cup by Finnish side Tampere United on away goals.
More details can be found on the Covsupport web site at