The final lineups have been announced for Per Mertesacker’s ‘Homecoming’ game that will take place in Germany in October.
The BFG’s farewell match, that will be played on 13 October, will feature a number of household names as ‘Merte’s ’96 friends’ take on a ‘Per’s World XI’ at the HDI Arena.
Merte’s ’96 Friends:
Gerald Asamoah, Steven Cherundolo, Jiri Stajner, Fredi Bobic, Otto Addo, Carsten Linke, Atlin Lala, Michael Tarnat, Hanno Balitsch, Mike Hanke, Jan Schlaudraff, Nebojsa Krupnikovic, Jorg Sievers, Daniel Stendel, Babacar N’Diaye, Thomas Brdaric, Kostas Kostantinidis, Christoph Dabrowski, Christian Schulz, Silvio Schroter, Fabian Ernst, Dennis Wolf, Ron-Robert Zieler, Martin Harnik.
Per’s World XI:
Michael Ballack, Petr Cech, Theo Walcott, Naldo, Christoph Metzelder, Tim Wiese, Łukasz Fabiański, Benedikt Höwedes, Tomas Rosicky, Torsten Frings, Arne Friedrich, Kieran Gibbs, Sebastien Kehl, Clemens Fritz, Marcell Jansen, Tim Borowski, Peter Niemeyer, Claudio Pizarro, Max Kruse, Ivan Klasnic, Jurica Vranjes, Aaron Hunt, Daniel Jansen, Felix Kroos, Patrick Owomoyela.
Tickets for Mertesacker’s farewell match are already on sale with prices starting at €10 for standing tickets.
Today I met every Arsenal Academy player and their families. We have big things planned for this Academy and I can't wait for the new season! #ArsenalAcademy #wearethearsenal pic.twitter.com/TUZGRk9kcj
— Per Mertesacker (@mertesacker) July 1, 2018
The game will take place at the HDI Arena. Tickets for safe standing are €10 while for a seat it’s just €15. Concessions are also available.
The match will see Per return to Hannover where his career started when he was just 11.
Kick-off is 3pm and the game will be shown live with proceeds going to the Per Mertesacker Foundation.
Tickets are available from NP, the HAZ, in Hannover’s online shop, their physical stores, the offices of TSV Pattensen and in the Bücherecke and the restaurant Zum Dänen, also in Pattensen.
As per Mertesacker’s site, “The Per Mertesacker Foundation is committed to the social inclusion of children in the Hannover region.
“Since 2009, it has supported more than 100 children in various projects. In addition to the competence-enhancing football team game, the children benefit from individual learning support and language lessons.
“The Per Mertesacker Foundation thus makes an effective contribution to the integration, education and physical activity of children and adolescents. From 2016, the Per Mertesacker Foundation will integrate refugee children from Afghanistan, Syria and Iraq into their project groups.”