FC St. Pauli have changed the timetable for their winter training camp in Benidorm, angering Bundesliga football club Werder Bremen.

Although the two northern rivals will travel together by plane to Spain on Monday as planned, the Kiezclub cancelled the test match between the two teams scheduled for 4 January because it does not fit into the preparation schedule of new coach Fabian Hürzeler. The test had been arranged while Timo Schultz was still on leave on 6 December.

“This is of course very annoying for us. St. Pauli informed us about it some time before Christmas, but since quite a few leagues have already resumed play or are about to do so and therefore fewer teams are on site for preparation, it has not been possible for us to find a replacement so far,” said Clemens Fritz, head of scouting and professional football at Werder, on Thursday. The Bremen team still hopes to find an opponent in the short term. Otherwise, the only Werder test in Spain will be against the Swiss first division team FC St. Gallen in Murcia on 8 January (3.30 pm).

Hürzeler had explained the cancellation at his presentation as the new Kiezclub head coach on Thursday thus: “I want to have more time on the pitch with the team during the training camp and work on content.” Instead of playing Werder at the beginning, St. Pauli will now face Swiss first division side FC Lugano in a test match over 3 x 45 minutes towards the end of the training camp on 7 January (2pm). The fourth-placed team in the Super League is also in Benidorm fine-tuning for the rest of the season.