Queen's will play friendlies against Gunnigfield and Eppendorf, two German amateur sides before facing off against former Bundesliga side SG Wattenscheid 09.
This trip had been in planning since April 2005, when a group of 16 Wattenscheid fans, from the Blues Brother branch of the Watt support made a trip to Glasgow to watch Queen's Park beat East Fife 2-1. The Watt fans made the decision after reading about The Spiders in a German Football Magazine, they saw many similiraties between Wattenscheid and Queen's Park, both play in the shadow of two footballing giants in these countries, while they both have local rivals who operate in slightly higher divisions.
In Queen's Park's case, Rangers and Celtic are the big sides while rivals Partick Thistle operate just higher up the league ladder. Wattenscheid can relate with nearby Schalke 04 and Borussia Dortumnd giants of the Bundesliga while nearby Bochum are in a similiar position to Partick Thistle. Another similiarity is the black and white worn by both sides.
Wattenscheid play in the Lorheide Stadion in Bochum. Don't tell that to the Watt supporters though, who refuse to accept that their town is officialy part of Bochum. They also spent much of the early nineties as a Bundesliga side reguarly playing giants of the game like Bayern Munich and local rivals Schalke 04, but, financial troubles saw them plunge down the German pyramid.
In May, eleven Queen's Park fans made the return trip to The Ruhr, and despite Wattenscheid suffering relegation that weekend, I am told that they had a rare old time in Germany.
Queen's Park play Gunnigfield on Monday 17th July and then Eppendorf two days later, the Saturday sees "the big one" as Billy Stark's team meet Wattenscheid at the Lorheide Stadion.