Club - FC Nürnberg: Club Facts

On Wednesday, we will face FC Nürnberg in Marbella. Get to know everything about this friendly & the opponent here! 

The game

On Wednesday 10 January at 14:00, Club Brugge will play a friendly match on the field of Dama de Noche against the German team FC Nürnberg. That match will be livestreamed on YouTube & Facebook, and can also be attended by fans.

Manager Ronny Deila selected 29 players for the winter training camp in Marbella, southern Spain. They have had an intensive week of training sessions so far, in preparation for the second part of the season.

Club has to do it without Raphael Onyedika and Denis Odoi in Spain: they are currently playing at the Africa Cup of Nations. Moreover, Club said goodbye to Canadian right winger Tajon Buchanan, who has left for Internazionale (Italy). 

With two thirds of the regular league games played, Club finds itself in fifth position. Just before the winter break, Club set a strong series of performances and are now unbeaten for 7 games in a row (4W 3D). The next challenge awaits on 16 January in the Croky Cup, where it will meet KAA Gent in the quarter finals. In Europe, FCB won its Conference League group and is consequently exempt until March, when the round of 16 is played. 

Club plays a friendly against German 2nd Bundesligateam 1. FC Nürnberg in Marbella. These two teams have met once before in Marbella, in January eleven years ago. That training match ended in a spectacular 3-4 win for manager Juan Carlos Garrido's Blue & Black. The Germans had taken an early 2-0 lead in that game, thanks to goals from Hiroshi Kiyotake and Tomáš Pekhart. Right before half-time, Ivan Tričkovski cut the deficit in half for Bruges, and after the break the Macedonian added another goal. Goals by Vadis Odjidja and Ryan Donk gave Club a well-deserved lead, and eventually also the win, although Alexander Esswein scored a third for Nürnberg from the penalty spot in the closing stages of the game. 

At the time of the previous meeting, the Bavarian club was still active in the first Bundesliga. However, in the past ten seasons, the club has only played one season at the highest level. The last campaign in the first Bundesliga dates back to the 2018-19 season. After its relegation back then, the club didn't manage to claim promotion in the following four seasons. 

This season, 1. FC Nürnberg is in tenth place in the 2nd Bundesliga halfway through the season. The club is 11 points behind leader Holstein Kiel. Nürnberg was also kicked out of the German Cup in December, after losing on the pitch of league rival 1. FC Kaiserslautern.

FCN's manager is Cristian Fiél. This summer, the 43-year-old German was appointed head coach at the club. Previously, he was the first team's assistant manager and the main coach of the second team. As a player, Fiél was active as a midfielder for Alemannia Aachen and Dynamo Dresden, among others.

Nürnberg has been in Marbella since Sunday. Contrary to Club Brugge, it will also practice against Karlsruher SC. FCN is preparing for the second half of the season, which will resume on 20 January with a home game against Hansa Rostock. 

Nürnberg's top scorer in the league is the German-Turkish Can Uzun (6 goals). He is currently struggling with a groin injury. The 18-year-old attacker is already being closely monitored by many top teams in Europe and is considered one of the competition's biggest talents. 

Daichi Hayashi, the Japanese attacker who played for STVV in the past two seasons, is one of Nürnberg's king of assists (2 assists), together with Lukas Schleimer, Jan Gyamerah, Benjamin Goller and Tim Handwerker.  

Timmy Simons played 110 games for 1. FC Nürnberg between 2010 and 2013, before returning to Bruges. The German midfielder Stefan Reisch, who featured 30 times for Club Brugge in the late sixties, was a youth product of the German team. Reisch played seven seasons for FCN. 

Alongside Simons, goalkeeper Robert Dekeyser (1987-88) is the only other Belgian to have played for Nürnberg.