FC Augsburg striker Samuel Essende has looked back at the club’s pre-season camp in South Africa filled with excitement, saying it was “the best” pre-season he has experienced.
The Bundesliga side visited Mpumalanga ahead of the 2024/25 campaign, which was the club’s first ever camp outside of Europe after being invited by TS Galaxy and the Mpumalanga International Premier’s Cup.
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But Augsburg went over and beyond to not just visit South Africa, instead leaving a lasting impact, visiting local schools, visiting Kruger National Park, while also starting a project with Football4WASH with Viva con Agua.
For the players and management, the trip to Mzansi is still held in high regard, as Essende shared with iDiski Times journalist David Kappel.
“Wow, no, no, no, I remember everything. It was my first time in South Africa,” he said when asked about the pre-season camp during a recent Bundesliga Media Visit in Augsburg.
“It was one of my best pre-seasons ever. The experience I had [in SA] I never had that before. Of course it was very great.”
“We went to safari, of course we were there for football, so we didn’t have a lot of time to do a lot of things, but we did many good things, and I remember everything.”
The DR Congo international, who came through Paris-Saint Germain’s youth academy, was part of the squad that beat Tanzanian giants Young Africans 2-1 before losing to TS Galaxy by the same score-line. When asked about the games, Essende admitted he was a bit surprised by the level of their opponents.
“I actually have two players in my national team, who played for Yanga, one of them Fiston Mayele, and they told me about the quality at Young Africans,” he added.
“Because I was shocked after the games, they told me no, they are very good. And if they play for my national team, it also means they are very good.”
Essende has scored 10 goals for Augsburg across all competitions this season so far, including the opener in their last 2-1 win over VFL Bochum on Saturday.
