This third division team had chosen a rather unusual destination for a summer training camp. In the end, they will not be going to South Africa.

Austria, the Netherlands or at home in Germany: these are the usual training camp destinations for German soccer clubs in the summer.

SV Wehen Wiesbaden had chosen a slightly different direction. They were supposed to go to South Africa. Should have. Because SV Wehen Wiesbaden’s training camp in South Africa is not taking place. This is the result of an intensive exchange between SVWW and all partners involved in the trip.

After the flight to South Africa had to return to Frankfurt almost four and a half hours after take-off on Saturday night due to engine problems, the SVWW management pulled out all the stops to find alternative flights. The third division club reported this on its homepage. It continues: ‘Due to the size of the group and the short notice, the search had not been crowned with success in the end. The Red & Blacks will examine possible claims for damages.

“We are very disappointed that the training camp cannot take place after many months of preparation. However, we quickly realized that it wouldn’t make sense for the players’ health to travel later than Monday when the first game is already scheduled for Thursday. Our project team, which had already traveled to South Africa, will now make sure that we can at least implement the social projects. We would like to expressly thank the two clubs Cape Town City FC and Stellenbosch FC as well as the Stellenbosch Academy of Sports for their support in the implementation,” explained Nico Schäfer, CEO of SVWW. Schäfer also worked for Rot-Weiss Essen for over a decade – from 1997 to 2009 – and later also worked for Union Berlin (2011 to 2016).

The SVWW professionals have been training at the Halberg since Monday, July 1. New test match opponents are still being sought to replace the two test matches in South Africa