This Tuesday, the volleyball players from VfB Friedrichshafen travel more than 100 kilometers to their home game in Neu-Ulm.
They then stay one night in the hotel until the second final game of the best-of-five series for the German championship against the Berlin Volleys.
They haven't really come to terms with the extraordinary situation in Friedrichshafen yet.
"But," says VfB managing director Thilo Späth-Westerholt, "it now feels like a home game for the players because they have gotten used to the conditions in the hall after a long season."
A number of spectators, on the other hand, avoided the almost one-and-a-half hour drive to the Ulm Basketball Club's home ground.
VfB has not issued any season tickets either.
After the surprising 3-2 win in Berlin on Saturday, Späth-Westerholt is hoping for a good backdrop in Neu-Ulm. He predicts there should be 1500 spectators.
If you consider that at the first home game after the involuntary move, only 500 got lost in the arena, which can accommodate 6,000 people, "we are now on the right track".
The 13-time German champions had to go into exile before this season because they no longer have space for their flagship club in Friedrichshafen.
The volleyball team was the attraction at Lake Constance for many years, VfB regularly filled its own hall with 4000 spectators.
It had been chic to go there.
But the once intimate relationship between fans and club had cooled off for a variety of reasons.
And when the city closed the stadium due to serious structural defects on the roof, the Bundesliga club first moved into one of the exhibition halls, which were temporarily empty due to the pandemic.
When they were needed again last summer, VfB suddenly had no home base.
20,000 euros per home game
At the moment it is not clear what will happen in the next round.
"Our clear wish is to play in Friedrichshafen again," says Späth-Westerholt.
But there are no signed contracts yet, only loose talks.
Volleyball players as migrant workers will no longer exist, so Neu-Ulm is no longer an option.
On the one hand, because they have to take the Bundesliga basketball players into consideration and sometimes cannot go into the hall the day before.
On the other hand for economic reasons.
The home games in the distance gobble up costs of around 20,000 euros.
Per home game, mind you.
Späth-Westerholt would rather invest the money back into the quality of the squad.
The former Champions League winner from 2007 wants to get closer to the Berliners in terms of sport.
“Coach plays a crucial role”
The fact that the Friedrichshafeners have already won the cup in this round and are now leading the series for the German championship has a lot to do with the new head coach Mark Lebedew.
It was the Australian who ended Friedrichshafen's subscription to the title as coach of Berlin in 2012.
The Australian won the championship three times in a row with the volleys before leaving the club for Poland.
Before this season, the 54-year-old returned to Germany and immediately won the first title since 2019 with Friedrichshafen, the club's last championship was seven years ago.
"Our coach plays a crucial role," said Späth-Westerholt in praise of his work.
Berlin and Friedrichshafen have long since fallen away from the other clubs in Germany.
Since 1998, the German champion has either come from Lake Constance or from the capital.
“We have already achieved our goals”
To keep it that way, Späth-Westerholt hopes that a solution to the hall problem will be found quickly.
The Lord Mayor Andreas Brand is also the Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Messe Friedrichshafen GmbH.
It is now up for discussion that the arena will either be extensively renovated or demolished.
With the championship title, they would not really improve their negotiating position, emphasizes Späth-Westerholt, because they are more than they should be in terms of sport.
"We've already achieved our goals by winning the cup and qualifying for the Champions League."
So the championship would be a nice bonus.
The first game was a reflection of the season, emphasizes Späth-Westerholt.
Ups and downs. Friedrichshafen was 2-0 down and lost one of its best players in Vojin Cacic early on.
Afterwards, head coach Lebedev was particularly impressed by his team's great fighting spirit.
"But we have to play better on Wednesday, because Berlin won't simply accept this defeat." Maybe the victory in Berlin can change the minds of a few VfB supporters and they'll make the trip to Neu-Ulm after all.