Feulner committed to Nuremberg cause
Markus Feulner has shown his commitment to Nuremberg on the eve of their first Bundesliga fixture of 2013 against Hamburg by signing a new contract with the club.
The 30-year-old former Bayern Munich player, who was born in the Franconian region, will be sticking with Nuremberg until 2015 after penning a new deal.
"I am absolutely delighted to be able to carry on working with everybody here at Nuremberg," he said.
"It makes me proud to carry on playing for my home."
Feulner, who scored Nuremberg's goal in a 1-1 draw with Bayern earlier this season, joined the club in 2011 from Borussia Dortmund having won the Bundesliga title with the Westphalians.
"We are pleased that Markus will be playing for Nuremberg for the next two years," said the club's director of sport Martin Bader.
Feulner has shaken off the flu to be available for Sunday's clash with Hamburg, the first game for the club's new coach Michael Wiesinger, who replaced Dieter Hecking during the winter break.
"We feel good and we go into this game with self-confidence," said the new coach at a press conference.
"Our aim is quite clearly to avoid relegation and that is what we have reminded everybody about during the preparations."
Opponents Hamburg can understandably harbour greater ambitions as they make the trip to Bavaria, but the way they start the second half of the season will dictate their ambitions, according to full-back Marcell Jansen.
"If we pick up plenty of points from the first three games, then we can set ourselves a target," he said on his club's website.
Rafael van der Vaart is available again to make his first appearance since missing the last six games of 2012.