A final test at the table neighbours

This has been an unusual winter. Instead of the customary pause over Christmas followed by a preparatory training period, TSG stopped for winter on 12 November, as the World Cup upended the traditional schedule. After an initial training phase in December, which featured friendly matches against SV Elversberg (4-3), 1860 Munich (3-2) and Greuther Fürth (3-3), a short Christmas break followed. At their training camp in Albufeira, Portugal, TSG lost 3-2 to VfL Wolfsburg and defeated Servette FC 3-1. The fixture away to Mainz 05 will be TSG's final warm-up match ahead of the restart.

The Mainz club took a similar approach, albeit with fewer friendly matches. Before Christmas, the 05ers faced the second string of RCD Mallorca (a 3-1 win), while shortly afterwards, they played out a 2-2 draw with Mallorca's La Liga side. The Bundesliga's tenth-placed team then played their first friendly of the new year on Tuesday, beating FC Luzern 5-1 in 120 minutes of play as part of their training camp in Marbella.

TSG and Mainz, who sit next to each other in the table, will polish off their Bundesliga preparations at the Bruchwegstadion, where the 05ers played their home games up until 2011. The two sides will meet again on 4 March, but this competitive fixture will be played at Mainz's MEWA Arena.

Tickets for the match are available at the ticket office and cost €8 (standard), €5 (concessions) and €4 (child). There will not be a separate section for away supporters. Parking is possible in the large car park on Bruchweg and in the surrounding multi-storey car parks. The game will be played over two 75-minute periods and will be streamed live on tsg-hoffenheim.de.

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