The U19 Bundesliga gets back underway following absence due to coronavirus and 1. FC Union Berlin are ready to go for the new season. The Köpenick kids will start their campaign at home to Viktoria Berlin on Saturday at 10.30am.

The match will be held at the FEZ-Berlin complex and admission is free.

Andre Vilk's U19s have prepared for the new league season with tough matches against Hertha, Bayern Nürnberg, 1860 and Energie Cottbus. Union beat local rivals Hertha 4-2 and managed to fight for a 1-1 draw at Nürnberg. The strong academy team of 1860 won 2-1 during the pre-season camp in Austria before they headed for the red side of Munich. Union put in a strong performance, but ultimately went down 3-5 to Bayern. The last outing saw Union draw 2-2 with Cottbus.

"The start of the preparation went very well, of course, with the win against Hertha. Unfortunately, we could not continue the performance consistently, which is normal in a preparation, though. Overall, I am very satisfied, we were able to improve in all parts of the team and are now looking forward to finally play a point game again after 10 months. Since we only play a single round robin, a good start to the season will be important. Similar to cup games, we have to be ready to play to the maximum in all games to play a good round. We want to play offensive football and show that we are absolutely competitive," said Vilk.