Eagles visit Louisville Cardinals | OneFootball

As part of the ADIDAS U.S. TOUR, Eintracht officials were lucky enough to be given a look at the soccer facilities at the University of Louisville, as well as getting to chat with the players and coaches.

A warm welcome, interesting discussions and an in-depth exchange of knowledge and experiences: a delegation of Eintracht Frankfurt representatives, featuring board member for sport Markus Krösche and his aide Ole Siegel, sporting director Timmo Hardung, head of professional football Pirmin Schwegler, and head of media and communications Jan Martin Strasheim, visited the soccer facilities at the University of Louisville as part of the ADIDAS U.S. TOUR 2025. The tour is enabling the Eagles to continue to build bridges and strengthen its ties with the city of Louisville and its inhabitants.

Grand tour

“We share a mutual language – that of football,” said Hardung, who along with his Eintracht colleagues got to meet men’s head coach John Michael Hayden and players Jack Lewis, Ale Svetanoff and TJ Kahoalii. They were given the grand tour of the impressive facilities, taking in the dressing rooms, treatment and recreation rooms, the training field and the 5,300-seater Dr. Mark and Cindy Lynn Stadium, opened in 2014.

“The facilities are amazing for a university team – it all looks so professional. From what I’ve seen to date of the NCAA [National Collegiate Athletic Association], this is among the very best,” said Hardung. “The development of college football in recent years is clear for all to see, with the infrastructure becoming so much more professional during that time. The teams behind the teams are also growing. Overall, the NCAA is making sizeable investments.” Founded in 1798, the University of Louisville, or UofL as it is known, currently has around 20,000 students registered, not to mention a prestigious men’s soccer team. Since 2009, the Cardinals have won eight titles in the Big East, American Athletic and Atlantic Coast Conferences. Over the past 18 years, they have qualified for the NCAA tournament 16 times, making it through to the quarter-finals on eight occasions and going all the way to the final in 2010. A total of 29 UofLplayers have gone through the Major League Soccer (MLS) drafts, which enable pro teams to recruit the best young talent, with 15 of them making it into the ‘All American’ teams that are picked at the end of each season.

“The way US college sport is run is completely different from Germany and the club structure that we have, which made for some interesting discussions and a very good overall experience,” said Krösche, who rounded off the visit by exchanging jerseys with head coach Hayden out on the pitch. Both shirts feature the world-famous three adidas stripes, as like the Eagles, the Cardinals also enjoy the support of the sports apparel manufacturer from Herzogenaurach. Krösche also made a donation of 5,000 dollars on behalf of Eintracht Frankfurt Fußball AG to the NIL Fund.

“We are working towards becoming the number one location for college soccer, and exchanging with representatives of such a high-ranking club as Eintracht Frankfurt will obviously really help our cause,” said Hayden, who has held the coaching reins since December 2018. “This was a really worthwhile experience and also goes to show what we have achieved here and how special this place is. We’re very grateful for the visit.”