FSV Optik Rathenow, founded in 1991 in the Brandenburg "City of Optics," has predecessor clubs dating back to 1906. Their greatest success was reaching the DFB-Pokal in 2013/14 and 2014/15, where they were eliminated in the first round both times, including against FC St. Pauli in a sold-out Stadion Vogelgesang with 4,500 fans roaring them on. The tenure of coach Ingo Kahlisch is also not to be sniffed at; he has been in office since 1989 and managed the club in over 1,000 matches on the sidelines. Recently, the club has alternated between the Regionalliga and Oberliga, to which they were relegated in 2022. IThey secured their league status in the Oberliga Nordost confidently last season. Their 35th anniversary will be celebrated with this friendly against Union. 

Union's second opponents, SV Grün-Weiß Lübben, have experienced even more difficult times. For many years, the club from the Spreewald remained in the Brandenburgliga, but were recently relegated and are now seeking their sporting lufortunes in the Landesklasse Brandenburg Ost. One of the few connections between Grün-Weiß and Union is the fact that Marco Gebhardt, an Union player from 2007 to 2010, later advanced his coaching career in Lübben. Additionally, there was an encounter in 1969 with SG Dynamo Lübben, the predecessor club of today's SV Grün-Weiß. Just like a further friendly in the summer of 2004, the match ended with a clear victory for guests from Köpenick. 

Union head coach Mauro Lustrinelli can draw on almost all of his resources for the weekend. Only Rani Khedira is yet to join up with the team after his participation in the World Cup, while Dmytro Bogdanov is still representing Ukraine at the U19 European Championship in Wales. Additionally, Frederik Rönnow and Robert Skov are missing. However, the squad is once again bolstered by its own youth. Duje Sliskovic and Fritz Gagzow from Union's U-19s are not only training with the professionals during the pre-season, but are also participating in the friendlies.

“As in every pre-season, the primary aim is also to gradually acclimatise the players to the load. They should have fun, especially with the ball, and ideally slowly find their rhythm. Through the double matchday, we also want to give every player the opportunity to showcase themselves and gather minutes,” said head coach Mauro Lustrinelli.  

The match on Saturday against FSV Optik Rathenow will take place at Stadion Vogelgesang (Vogelgesang, 14712 Rathenow). The gates will open at 14:00, and kick off is at 15:30. 

On Sunday, fans and spectators can enter the Stadion der Völkerfreundschaft (Spielbergstraße 26, 15907 Lübben) as early as 13:30, with kick off also at 15:30.