Hoffenheim traveled a little more than thirty minutes north of Sinsheim to take on local opponents SpVgg Ketsch, as the professionals made Ketsch toil in the sweltering heat. Last season, the sides met and Hoffenheim ran out 11-1 winners. The senior side tore apart their opposition from the get-go, with five from Kai Herdling and a Jiloan Hamad hat-trick, they were 8-0 up at half-time. The second half was even worse for the amateur team, nine changes after the hour mark for Hoffenheim followed, as a hat-trick from subsitute Kevin Volland pilled on more misery. The scoring wasn't finished there, as Tarik Elyounoussi, Roberto Firmino and Janik Haberer meant Hoffenheim came away 17-0 victors. Hoffenheim look like they'll be every bit the same entertaining team they were last term.
Fortuna Dusseldorf were also in action over the weekend, taking on SV Austria Salzburg. Lukas Schmitz broke the deadlock after 41 minutes, with the former Werder Bremen man proving the difference between the sides at half-time. The Flingeraner made it 2-0 just before the hour mark, with veteran striker Erwin Hoffer slotting home. Sérgio Pinto then added a third, as the eleven changes at the break worked their magic. Andreas Bammer then pulled one back for Salzburg, before Michael Liendl immediately restored the three goal cushion. Hoffer then capped off the fine second half performance by sealing his brace and making it 5-1.
Primasens took on Stuttgart, in a first half where the Bundesliga side looked completely out of sorts. More worrying, however, was when Timo Werner went down in a heap after half an hour. After some lengthy treatment, Werner walked back on and then straight off again, looks likely that a hyper-extension of his knee is the cause of his problem. In a dull affair, it was Primasens that took the lead. Alexander Heinze headed home, from a corner, after 76 minutes to give the minnows a deserved lead. Their hopes of a famous victory were crushed, with Marco Rojas' last gasp goal sparing Stuttgart blushes.
Dynamo Dresden took on Scottish champions Celtic, as the Scots went on their mini pre-season tour, Dresden and St.Pauli, of Germany. Celtic are preparing for a multitude of Champions League qualifiers before the Scottish Premier League kicks-off. The favourites went a goal up after just eight minutes, when Kris Commons and, former Schalke player, Teemu Pukki combined for captain Commons to slot home. Dresden, who were dramatically relegated to the 3.Liga last year, seemed up against it for large periods of the game, but equalised with 20 minutes to go. Despite some desperate defending from Celtic, Sylvano Comvalius forced the ball home from a few yards out to score the equaliser, with the game finishing all square.
1860 Munich and Cardiff City met in Austria, which the 2.Bundesliga side getting off to an horrific start. Cardiff peppered Gabor Kiraly's goal, even having a goal disallowed, before new signing Federico Macheda made it 1-0 after 23 minutes. It seemed to be a wake-up call for the Bavarians and just five minute later they were level, as Christopher Schindler headed into the bottom corner to make things all square. However, the old cliche of being vulnerable when you've just scored rang true as Peter Whittingham's costless-kick evaded Kiraly to give Cardiff a 2-1 lead. Yet again, 1860 responded quickly. This time it was Maxi Wittek who leveled, albeit with the aid of a slight deflection. An even second half followed, but with four minutes remaining Cardiff scored the winner. Etien Velikonja tapping in from close range to seal a 3-2 win for the relegated Premier League outift.
Borussia Monchengladbach ran out 1-0 winners in a closely contested game with Stade Rennais. An Oscar Wendt goal after 66 minutes gave die Fohlen the win, the Swedish left-back putting the ball home after a speedy counter from the Bundesliga outfit. Later on in the afternoon Kaiserslautern faced Mainz, who will join Gladbach in the Europa League next year. In a game that took half an hour to get going, when the hosts edged into a one goal lead thanks to Marcel Gaus. However, the Bundesliga side turned things round after the break. With Croat Petar Slišković grabbing the equalising goal, before Seb Polter won the game three minutes later.
Borussia Dortmund took on Heidenheim and went a goal up just after the quarter hour mark, with Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang netting after 21 minutes. However, hosts Heidenheim hit back almost immediately. Florian Niederlechner calmly finished past Zlatan Alomerovic to restore parity. The home side didn't stop there, with Robert Leipertz firing them into a 2-1 lead thanks to a composed finish from the edge of the box. Henrikh Mkhitaryan brought BVB back from behind, before a Patrick Mayer goal restored Heidenheim's lead. Dortmund were not going down without a fight and Armenian Mkhitaryan leveled again. More important than any result tonight, was Neven Subotic's return to first team action after 252 days. A win is a win and Borussia Dortmund got just that, when new acquisition Joe Gyau scored his first goal for the club, winning 4-3.
Nürnberg had a glamour pre-season friendly against Valencia and after a lacklustre first half, they fell behind to the Spanish giants. Jonathan Viera put the Spaniards into the lead, five minutes into the second half. This sparked the Bavarians into life and they were soon level through new signing Jakub Sylvestr and, soon after, they were ahead. On the hour, Antonio-Mirko Colak scored twice in a minute to give the hosts a surprise 3-1 win. Another surprise win came in the form of Arminina Bielefeld beating Hannover, Christoph Hemlein's second half goal was the difference between the sides.
Hansa Rostock played host to a Schalke side without the majority their World Cup stars, but it was their new signings that did the damage in their 3-0 win. Sidney Sam scored a costless-kick, in the second half, to get things started. Jan Kirchhoff then added a second after a scramble in the box and youngster Dren Hodja completed the scoring with an audacious flicked goal. Schalke's top four rivals, Bayer Leverkusen, played Marseille in one of the best looking friendlies at the start of the day. Marseille midfielder prospect, Florian Thauvin put the French side a goal up before half-time. Things got worse of Schmidt's side when Michy Batshuayi netted his first goal for the the club, Roberto Hilbert then missed a penalty, before Morgan Amalfitano made it 3-0. Yurchenko cut the deficit to two, before Dimitri Payet scored the French side's fourth and final goal.