Freiburg coach Christian Streich has admitted that the season ahead will be a tough challenge.

Streich's side defied the odds to qualify for the Europa League last season and the coach has concerns that the extra games could be hard for his side.

"We've got a very, very big challenge ahead," the 48-year-old told Bundesliga.com. "You know, it's going to be hard because our weekly schedule has always consisted of playing on a Saturday, recovering on a Sunday and then analysing the game and working on things in training throughout the week.

"We used to have Wednesday off, but now we'll be playing on Thursday so how are we going to do that? How can we get by without having to drop any training sessions?

"When will we get any time off? Not too much, mind. We're going to be coming back on Friday, tired after playing, so we're not going to be able to do too much on that day to prepare for our next opponents."

Freiburg will start the Bundesliga season with a trip to Bayer Leverkusen on August 10.