First team 06.10.2026 - 16:55 Uhr
International players return, Nebel and Widmer back in training
Mainz 05 started preparations on Tuesday for the home match against Leverkusen
With a public training session, the Mainz 05 first team began preparations on Tuesday morning for Saturday’s home match (15:30, live on Sky, DAZN and 05ER.tv, remaining tickets available in the online shop) against Bayer 04 Leverkusen at the MEWA ARENA. They did so with a larger training group, as Paul Nebel and Silvan Widmer were back involved. Fabio Gruber also returned after his knee irritation, while goalkeeper Robin Zentner ran laps and completed ball exercises with his feet.
The three week XXL international break is coming to an end. Here is an overview of the Mainz 05 players away on international duty:
• Jae sung Lee is still in action today with the South Korean national team, facing Uzbekistan in Yongin, and will only return to Bruchweg during the course of Wednesday. Lee previously remained on the bench for the full 90 minutes in the goalless draw against Venezuela, while he started against Uruguay (1:4).
• Kaishu Sano is expected back in Mainz today. The Japanese midfielder started yesterday’s 2:1 win against Australia. Sano was also in the starting XI against Ecuador (5:4 on penalties), while he remained on the bench against Ecuador (2:1).
• Kacper Potulski did not feature for the Poland national team in their Nations League matches against Sweden (1 3), Romania (6 0) and Bosnia and Herzegovina (0:1).
• Stefan Posch and Phillipp Mwene started for the Austrian national team against Ireland (2:2). In the draw against Kosovo, Posch played the full match, while Mwene watched the game from the bench.
• Nadiem Amiri was part of the first Germany squad under new head coach Jürgen Klopp. After the 0:1 first leg defeat against Greece, in which he did not get any minutes, he has now returned to Bruchweg.
• Otto Ruoppi has already been back in Mainz since the beginning of October and is following an individual programme. A knee irritation forced the Finn to leave the U21 national team camp early. Before that, Ruoppi had scored the opening goal in the 2:1 win against Spain.
