Almost four weeks of winter break are over and the Veilchen are back on the pitch. Head coach Stephan Helm called the squad to the first training session of the new year today, which Manfred Fischer & Co got off to a great start.

Many beaming faces could be seen when the team came together, the desire to kick was great. “The batteries are full, it's time to get going again, the joy is great”, was the general tenor. After a short speech by sporting ceo Jürgen Werner and sporting director Manuel Ortlechner, the Violets prepared for training as usual in the Generali-Arena's gym.

In the sunshine, the players felt their way around and quickly regained their feel for the ball. They were joined by goalkeeper Kenan Jusić and attacking player Konstantin Aleksa, both of whom will also travel to the training camp in Turkey. Johannes Handl and Hakim Guenouche returned from the winter break with minor ailments and trained individually indoors today. Ziad El Sheiwi (convalescent) was not yet involved, nor was Marvin Martins, who is moving to Almere City in the Netherlands.

Sports medicine tests are scheduled for Sunday, Monday and Tuesday will see training on the Generali-Arena pitches before the Violets take off for Antalya on Wednesday at midday. From January 8 to 17, Austria will be in Turkey for a training camp, which coach Stephan Helm has already planned out completely in the last few days of the winter break. All information about the violet winter schedule can be found here.