Bundesliga season preview: Hertha Berlin
With not long until the 2016/17 Bundesliga season gets under way in earnest, it is high time to put each club's upcoming campaign under the microscope. Accordingly, bundesliga.com's previews will provide you with all you need to know ahead of the big kick-off on 26 August…
Big question
Next up are Hertha Berlin…
Having spent some 20 weeks in the UEFA Champions League places in 2015/16 before finishing in seventh, the question most fans will want answered next term is whether the Old Lady can keep the spring in her step until the business end of the season.
Having 11 players who each started at least 20 games in the Bundesliga is conducive to building a cohesive team unit, though it perhaps suggests that coach Pal Dardai will have to delve deeper into his squad in the coming campaign.
The stars of last year's campaign - Salomon Kalou, Vladimir Darida, John Anthony Brooks - are staying on at the Olympiastadion, and with the latter two players still on the right side of their 25th birthday heading into the summer break, there is reason to expect progress from a settled side who have nonetheless gone 14 years without a major title.
New faces
Ondrej Duda has been Hertha's biggest signing of the summer so far. A Polish Ekstraklasa champion with Legia Warszawa in 2014, the 21-year-old attacking midfielder swaps capital cities having most recently starred for Slovakia at UEFA EURO 2016, where scored in the 2-1 defeat to eventual semi-finalists Wales.
Vedad Ibisevic, meanwhile, has signed a permanent deal with Hertha after spending last season on loan from now-relegated VfB Stuttgart.
Pre-season form
Most recent first: L,W,W,L,W,W,W,W
Key dates
Hertha kick-off their campaign at home to promoted Bundesliga 2 champions SC Freiburg on 28 August. A trip to Munich to face FC Bayern München is scheduled for Matchday 5, before Dardai’s troops take on a Borussia Mönchengladbach side that won last season’s two Bundesliga meetings by an aggregate score of 9-1, on Matchday 10.
Home ground
The third-biggest stadium in the Bundesliga after Borussia Dortmund’s SIGNAL IDUNA PARK and FC Bayern München's Allianz Arena, Hertha's historic Olympiastadion boasts a 74,649 capacity and is traditionally the venue for the DFB Cup final.