Dribbling around cones, shots on a small goal, runs from box to box: Thiago Alcántara resumed training at the Säbener Strasse on Friday afternoon. The Spaniard sustained a muscle injury in his thigh in the Champions League match away to Anderlecht at the end of November. Two months later the 26-year-old's rehab programme is in full swing.

Kimmich named Germany International of the Year

What an accolade for Joshua Kimmich! The FC Bayern right-back has been named Germany International of the Year 2017. Kimmich claimed 45.3 percent of the fans' votes in an online poll conducted by German FA official website dfb.de, surpassing Paris Saint-Germain's Julian Draxler on 37.8 percent and FC Barcelona's Marc-André ter Stegen on 4.7 percent. The 22-year-old played 14 of the 15 international matches in 2017 over the full distance and was one of the key players in Germany's Confed Cup triumph last summer.

Third place for Leonie Maier

FCB women right-back Leonie Maier finished third in the Germany Women's International of the Year poll, claiming 11.2 percent of the votes. SGS Essen's Linda Dallmann won the poll on 27.8 percent, ahead of Olympique Lyon's Dzsenifer Marozsan on 22.3 percent.

Kampka in charge

Dr Robert Kampka will referee a Bundesliga match involving FC Bayern for the first time when the men from Munich face Bremen on Sunday. The 35-year-old doctor from Mainz has only taken charge of a cup match involving the Reds so far, a 3-1 victory over FC Nöttingen in August 2015. His assistants will be Robert Kempter and Benedikt Kempkes, with Dominik Schaal as fourth official and Felix Zwayer as video assistant.