Hard work is done in the idyll.

Where the Kronacher Straße becomes ever narrower and more rural and an urban forest area delimits the ambience, the Greuther Fürth game association is at home beyond the Bundesliga match days: in a picturesque training center that only invites you to take a breath at first glance.

In fact, the professionals charge their batteries here in their daily work so that they can start at full speed ahead of the comeback in the First Bundesliga this Saturday (3.30 p.m. in the FAZ live ticker for the Bundesliga and on Sky).

The first test takes the Franconians to Stuttgart, where VfB made its return to the top floor of German football a complete success last year. The Swabians, however, often thrown off track in their recent past, are part of the economic and sporting inventory of the top division, which is reflected in the Fürth team, who only played once, in the 2012/13 season, and were promptly relegated as the bottom of the table , does not let you say.

In the second attempt, however, as a “big outsider”, as coach Stefan Leitl says, they want to refute all skeptics who predict that the club with the smallest budget (16 million euros) and the smallest stadium (16,626 seats) will only make a flying visit this time.

After all, the three-time German champion (1914, 1926, 1929) has more than one glorious tradition to offer.

"Our style of play is complex"

The way in which the people of Fürth at the end of an exhausting and nerve-wracking season 2020/21 conquered second place and thus a direct promotion was impressive. With high speed and powerful dynamics, Leitl's team put the opponents under pressure with early pressing and rapid combination football and thereby acquired the reputation of having taken the Second Bundesliga by storm. Can Leitl's motto “Identity through Intensity” also be applied to the Bundesliga?

Leitl is excited about the outcome of this adventure, because: “Our way of playing is complex.

The question will be whether we can also access that in the Bundesliga. ”Skeptics also point out that the“ Kleeblättler ”have lost four of their regular players from the lively promotion season.

Center-back Jaeckel, full-back Raum and midfielder Stach were drawn to the first division competitors Union Berlin, TSG Hoffenheim and FSV Mainz 05.

Midfielder Ernst returned to his hometown club Hannover 96.

The smallest club among the Bundesliga sizes cannot easily compensate for these losses with 3.5 million euros as compensation for the Stach transfer.

Leitl says why: “We can't buy a player who will get us ahead immediately.

But we can get players whose potential we are convinced of. "

From the free transfer professionals Max Christiansen (Waldhof Mannheim), Gideon Jung (Hamburger SV), Nils Seufert (Arminia Bielefeld) and the loaned Adrian Fein (Bayern Munich), Justin Hoogma (Hoffenheim) and the one who was thrown back in the preparatory phase by a cruciate ligament injury Jessic Ngankam (Hertha BSC) hopes for Leitl to get fresh impulses for the courageous football of Fürth in the near future.

"We have nothing to give away"

"We want to force the opponent to play a game that is as intense as possible," predicts the Munich-born player, who, led by key players such as attackers Hrgota and Nielsen and midfielders Green and Seguin, has a lot of empathy ("We also allow mistakes" ) and authority ("every player has to go to his maximum limit in every unit") led to the dream goal of second class in May. With the Fürth intensity when working on the pitch and identity when looking at shared values ​​such as team spirit and helpfulness.

They appreciate the comparatively quiet location of Fürth to be able to develop steadily without excessive external pressure. "This is a point that can be beneficial for performance," is how the sometimes emotional, but mostly analytically explanatory head coach Leitl describes the working atmosphere in Fürth. And think of the example of Arminia Bielefeld, who set a precedent last season when the East Westphalian Bundesliga returnees were seen as the league's underdogs, both sportily and economically, and with their professional persistence stayed against all predictions.

In Fürth, Leitl, head coach of the chronically underrated game association since February 2019, as well as the sports director Rachid Azzouzi, who has returned to the Ronhof, and his commercial colleague Holger Schwiewagner orchestrated the latest upswing.

“We have nothing to give away,” says Leitl, who as a talented professional could have won more than five Bundesliga games wearing the 1. FC Nürnberg jersey, “that requires enormous fitness and great mental freshness.

Now we have to make sure that everything fits, from tension to relaxation.

We will fight for our place in this league: "