Winning streaks, plenty of emphatic victories and a magical night at the Allianz Arena in front of a record crowd! FC Bayern Women can look back on an eventful 2022, with eight victories on the spin to kick off the year, the trophy retained at the AMOS Women's French Cup, and a 3-1 victory against Barcelona in front of 24,000 spectators at the Allianz Arena. fcbayern.com reviews the great games, successes, defeats and farewells in the last 12 months.
Perfect start
Six wins to start the year! FC Bayern Women continued their strong finish to 2021, winning five games in the FLYERALARM Women's Bundesliga and one in the DFB Cup. The free-scoring Frauen fired 30 goals in six games, a fine average of five per match. The highlight was a 9-1 victory over Carl Zeiss Jena in the DFB Cup quarter-finals.
Champions League on the big stage
A very special highlight followed. After a convincing group stage in the UEFA Women's Champions League, the Reds welcomed Paris St. Germain in the quarter-final first leg. On the occasion of this elite encounter, FCB played at the Allianz Arena for the first time - and in front of a large crowd. A total of 13,000 spectators were in attendance for the Champions League clash.
Mental strength in the UWCL
In the first leg, the Frauen narrowly lost 2-1 to PSG. In the return, the Bavarians were without eight players due to Corona, but showed fighting spirit, the will to win and passion. Goals from Lea Schüller and Saki Kumagai made the score 2-1 to FCB after 90 minutes and 3-3 on aggregate, so the match went into extra time. However, PSG equalised on the night and FCB were eliminated, narrowly missing out on the Champions League semi-finals despite a show of impressive mental strength.
Double header versus Wolfsburg
The schedule in the Bundesliga and the DFB Cup served up two important duels with VfL Wolfsburg. On Matchday 19, FCB travelled to the Wolves lying second in the standings on 46 points, one behind their opponents. The match ended in a bitter defeat for Schüller and Co., and despite subsequent victories over Carl Zeiss Jena (4-0), Bayer Leverkusen (3-0) and Turbine Potsdam (5-0), the Bavarians had no chance of the league title as the leaders avoided any slip-ups. The Reds were also beaten 3-1 at home by Wolfsburg in the DFB Cup and missed out on the final.
League top scorer Schüller
"It's Müllered" - that's what they say in the men's game when legend Thomas Müller works his magic. For FCBW, it "Schüllered" 16 times in the 2021/22 campaign. Her 16 goals in 21 appearances meant FCB striker Schüller deservedly finished as the top scorer in the FLYERALARM Women's Bundesliga.
Farewells and new faces
After the 2021/22 season, five players - Viviane Asseyi, Andrea Gavric, Marina Hegering, Lineth Beerensteyn and Carina Wenninger - bid farewell to FC Bayern. Wenninger, who had worn the FCB jersey since 2007, was loaned to AS Roma for one season. The departures were offset by four new arrivals: Emilie Bragstad from Rosenborg Trondheim, Emelyne Laurent from Olymique Lyon, Georgia Stanway from Manchester City and Tainara from Girondins Bordeaux. There was also a change in the dugout, where Alexander Straus took over from Jens Scheuer.
UEFA Women's EURO 2022
Twelve FCB players were in action for their national teams at the 2022 European Championship in England, and seven of the Munich contingent competed for the trophy at Wembley Stadium on 31 July. In the final, Stanway and England faced Giulia Gwinn, Sydney Lohmann, Linda Dallmann, Lina Magull, Klara Bühl and Schüller with Germany. After a hard-fought match including a Magull equaliser, England prevailed 2-1 after extra time, thus winning the tournament in front of their home crowd.
Tribute at the Allianz Arena
But credit where it’s due! Following the rock-solid performances from the FC Bayern players, European champion Stanway, finalists Gwinn, Lohmann, Dallmann, Magull, Bühl and Schüller and also Tainara, who won the Copa América with Brazil, were honoured by Herbert Hainer, Hasan Salihamidžić and Oliver Kahn at the Allianz Arena before the men's home opener.
New season, new coach
The Euros were still in progress when training under new head coach Straus began at the FC Bayern Campus in mid-July. On 7 August, Bayern played their first warm-up match against Brighton & Hove Albion, who finished seventh in the English Women's Super League last season.
Training camp in Italy
All FCB players were back on board in time for the short training camp from 9 to 12 August in Emilia-Romagna. With the Euros done and dusted, Straus supervised the entire squad for the first time in Italy. At the end of the camp, Bayern celebrated their first warm-up victory with a 2-0 win against US Sassuolo Calcio.
Trophy retained at the AMOS Women’s French Cup
Just four days after the training camp, coach Straus' team travelled to Toulouse for the AMOS Women's French Cup, aiming to defend their title at the tournament contested by top international teams. In 2021, Bayern won the trophy after beating Lyon 4-2 in the semi-finals and AS Roma 4-0 in the final. And the Munich women duly retained their crown this year. In the semi-finals, the Frauen beat Barcelona 2-1 with goals from Gwinn and Laurent. In the final, FCBW won 3-0 against Manchester United - Bühl, Magull and Kumagai scored the goals.
Goals galore to start the season
The first competitive match of the 2022/23 season was in the DFB Cup. In the second round of the competition, the Reds delivered a gala performance with goals aplenty. Straus' team celebrated a 7-0 victory over FC Ingolstadt with Schüller, Dallmann, Kumagai, Magull, Simon, Gwinn and Bühl adding their names to the scoresheet. A promising opening indeed!
Four points from first two Bundesliga games
For the league opener, Munich travelled to Frankfurt – and the first highlight of the brand new season. In front of 23,000 spectators at Deutsche Bank Park - a new record in the women's Bundesliga - the teams drew 0-0 after a hard-fought contested. After the draw, FCB recorded a well-deserved 3-0 win at home to Werder Bremen, ushering in a successful home streak.
UWCL qualification against Real Sociedad
The UEFA Women's Champions League finally got underway, although FCB first had to qualify for the group stage against Real Sociedad. In the first leg, Schüller sealed the important 1-0 away win. The Reds won the second leg 3-1 to wrap up the aggregate success. Magull and company were drawn into Group D of the UWCL alongside FC Barcelona, Lisbon giants Benfica and FC Rosengård.
Five Bundesliga wins on the spin
After two 4-0 victories in the Bundesliga against Duisburg and Köln, Straus' team narrowly lost 2-1 to Wolfsburg at the Volkswagen Arena. But after that FCB mined a rich vein of form as the Frauen won five matches in a row, including a clear-cut 4-0 victory in Hoffenheim and a 2-0 home success against Bayer Leverkusen. In the Bundesliga season so far, FC Bayern Women have won all five matches on their home Campus turf. With 25 points from ten games, Munich are spending the winter break in second place in the Bundesliga table.
Another routine DFB Cup success
Bayern also had every reason to celebrate in the DFB Cup. In the Round of 16, they cruised to a 7-0 success against MSV Duisburg - Simon and Dallmann each scored twice. Next year's quarter-final will be against league rivals Hoffenheim.
Successful start in the Champions League
Six points to kick off the Champions League campaign! The Frauen turned around the first game against FC Rosengård and won 2-1 at home. In the second game at Benfica in Lisbon, the Munich women once again came from behind – and this time, the comeback was hard to beat in terms of drama. After trailing 2-0, Maximiliane Rall reduced the arrears, before Stanway scored a brace in the closing stages to turn the game in FCB's favour. In the last match of the first half of the group stage, Bayern travelled to Barcelona but lost 3-0 at Camp Nou.
Record crowd, rousing success
One for the history books! For the first UWCL return leg, Bayern welcomed FC Barcelona to the Allianz Arena in front of a record crowd! A total of 24,000 spectators were in attendance - there have never been more fans at an FCB Women home match. But it wasn't just the setting that gave the fans goose bumps. Munich started the match furiously and led 2-0 after ten minutes through goals from birthday girl Bühl and Magull. In the end, Bayern beat Barcelona 3-1 - a magical night in the Allianz Arena and the highlight of 2022!
Champions League quarter-finals await
After the success against Barcelona, Bayern won 4-0 at Rosengård and were safely through to the UWCL quarter-finals following Barcelona's win against Benfica. In the last group stage match and the final game of the year against Lisbon, the Reds turned in a strong performance and bowed out for the winter break with a 2-0 win. This also meant the Frauen won all their home matches of the season so far across all competitions. Now there’s something to whet the appetite for the New Year!
The year in pictures:
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