An interesting test during the international break: Second division side Schalke 04 takes on Bundesliga club Mönchengladbach.

In the middle of the first international break of the 2025/2026 season, second division side FC Schalke 04 has an interesting test match on the schedule. The Royal Blues will face Bundesliga club Borussia Mönchengladbach. The game at the Fohlenplatz in the neighborhood of Borussia Park is sold out. Kickoff is VfL Bochum won the test match against MSV Duisburg 1-0 (0-0). Coach Dieter Hecking saw room for improvement in some areas. VfL Bochum and MSV Duisburg took advantage of the international break to play a friendly behind closed doors. Bochum, led by coach Dieter Hecking, won 1-0 (0-0).

The second division team was clearly the better side against the 3rd division leaders, especially in the first half. After just two minutes, Mathis Clairicia was denied by Duisburg’s new goalkeeper Omer Hanin.

Around ten minutes later, Felix Passlack’s powerful shot was saved by the MSV keeper, who once again made a strong save. In the 23rd minute, Ibrahim Sissoko missed the chance to take the lead when he headed a corner over the goal from close range. “In the first half, we need to make more of our chances in the first 25 minutes,” Hecking explained after the game. “There were three or four good moves where we got in front of goal well. After that, a lot of the play was in midfield and we saw where our problem still lies: we need to get into zone three more often. When we had the space, especially on the wings, we needed to make better use of the options to get forward.”

At half-time, the visitors from Duisburg made ten substitutions, while Bochum made two. MSV subsequently got into the game better and had two chances to take the lead through Maximilian Dittgen in front of Bochum goalkeeper Mats Pannewig in the 69th minute. But both times, Bochum goalkeeper Niclas Thiede came out on top.

The second half was perhaps a more balanced game, but in the end we only conceded because of our own mistakes and not because the opponent created chances.

Dieter Hecking

Even after taking the lead, Duisburg had another huge chance, but new signing Andy Visser failed to connect properly with the ball around five minutes later and it went wide. All further information about the game can be found here.

“In the second half, it was perhaps a more balanced game, but in the end, we only conceded because of our own mistakes and not because the opponent created chances,” Hecking summed up. “There were three or four unnecessary turnovers in our own half.”

Despite the sporting success against Duisburg, Bochum fans are worried about goal scorer Mats Pannewig. The 20-year-old injured himself after jumping to head the ball into the net and had to be substituted immediately. According to the coach, the midfielder twisted his ankle, but no further information was available. From Bochum’s point of view, it is to be hoped that Pannewig will not join the list of injured players, which already includes Kacper Koscierski, Philipp Strompf, Koji Miyoshi, Moritz Kwarteng, and Ibrahima Sissoko.