Wehen Wiesbaden profiled: What FC Bayern have to watch out for

A first in the DFB Cup! On Wednesday evening (20:45 CEST), FC Bayern come up against SV Wehen Wiesbaden in the first round. It’s the first ever competitive meeting between the two teams, so what can the German record champions expect against the third-tier side? Which players do the FCB defence need to pay particular attention to? And who arrived in the Hesse state capital over the summer? fcbayern.com examines our next opponents in more detail.

Four points from three games

Wiesbaden’s season started over three weeks ago, with the 3. Liga getting under way at the start of August. The Hessians have four points on the board from the first three matches. After starting strongly with a 3-1 win at home to relegated Ulm, Wiesbaden squandered a 2-0 lead in a 2-2 draw at Verl. Last time out, Nils Döring’s charges went down 4-3 to Rot-Weiss Essen in a topsy-turvy encounter on Friday evening, conceding the winning goal in the fourth minute of stoppage time. “To lose the game at the end is frustrating,” said the SVWW boss afterwards. “We should’ve had it sewn up in the first half and led 2- or 3-0.” Striker Fatih Kaya agreed: “The frustration is deep. We can’t concede four goals. At 3-3 we need to be cleverer, play more calmly and sometimes just keep the ball when we win it,” analysed the captain.

That defeat is something of a fly in the ointment, as Wehen made a good impression in pre-season. The 3-0 win over league rivals TSG 1899 Hoffenheim II and a narrow 3-2 success over FC Schalke 04 demonstrated the team’s quality. The winning start to the season has fuelled hopes that, after ninth place last season, SVWW can challenge at the top again this term.

A squad in flux: Eight new signings

The most notable new signing to be presented at Wiesbaden over the summer was probably left winger Lukas Schleimer. The 25-year-old joined on the back of 13 goals and eight assists in 94 Bundesliga 2 appearances for 1. FC Nürnberg. On the opposite flank, Wehen also bolstered their attack with the acquisition of Simon Stehle from league rivals 1. FC Saarbrücken. The 23-year-old already has 95 games in the third tier to his name. Niklas May (23, left-back) and Donny Bogicevic (23, right winger) both joined from Viktoria Köln.

Jakob Lewald (26, centre-back), who’s moved to Wiesbaden from SV Sandhausen, also knows the division well with the experience of 131 games. Former Belgian youth international Jordy Gillekens adds another option in the centre of defence. In Robin Kalem (23, Hannover 96 II) and Milad Nejad (21, Hamburger SV II), Wehen have secured two other new signings with potential for development.

Line-up

Döring sets his team up in a 4-4-2 formation. Justin Janitzek, who played for FC Bayern as a youngster, and new boy Gillekens form the centre-back duo in front of goalkeeper Florian Stritzel. May has immediately established himself at left-back, while the experienced Sascha Mockenhaupt is the preferred option on the right side of defence, although he’s missed the last two games due to injury. Orestis Kiomourtzoglou and Tarik Gözüsirin operate in the middle of the park, flanked by Ryan Johansson – who like Janitzek spent several years in the Bayern academy – and Schleimer in the wide positions. In attack, Döring has recently deployed a front two of Fatih Kaya and Moritz Flotho.

The Bayern defence will be keeping a particularly close eye on captain Kaya. The 1.85-metre-tall striker scored 20 goals in 35 games in the third tier last season as well as setting two up. Strike partner Flotho also posted impressive numbers (10 goals and five assists in 38 appearances).

Wiesbaden’s cup record

The eight-time Hessian cup winners have mostly failed to progress beyond the first round of the cup in recent years. In that time they’ve largely come up against top-flight teams such as Mainz 05 (3-1 a.e.t, 2024), RB Leipzig (3-2, 2023) or Borussia Dortmund (3-0, 2021). The Wiesbaden club’s greatest success in Germany’s national cup competition came in the 2008/209 season, when they were narrowly knocked out 2-1 by Hamburger SV in the quarter-finals.

So, Bayern will do well to not underestimate their upcoming opponents and approach the assignment with full concentration – on Wednesday their cup campaign gets up and running!