After returning to training at the FC Bayern Campus, Bayern’s Women arrived in Doha on Tuesday evening for their winter training camp. Alexander Straus and his team will be in Qatar till Sunday, 15 January as they prepare for the rest of their season. The squad also encountered some familiar faces at the Aspire Academy, meeting up with Thomas Müller, Joshua Kimmich & Co. from the Men’s team. They have been here since Friday and will return back to Munich on Thursday.
First session
Bayern completed their first session under sunny skies.
After a nearly five-hour flight, the team were straight down to business with their first training session. Despite a bit of tiredness, you could sense the motivation among the players. “It was obviously a short night, but when I see the conditions here, it’s just excitement. It’s great fun to be here with the girls, enjoy the time and use it well. It’s also about the fun and joy of being out on a football pitch again. But it’s also about working on fine details and training moves in games. It’s important to find a mix of both so motivation remains high,” said Klara Bühl.
The mood is good among the squad of 26 who made the journey to Doha. “The players enjoy being together as a team, which is very important to get results and achieve our goals. We’re going to carry on what we started last summer. We now have a bit of time to work in a calm environment. The combination of tactics and team spirit is very important for us,” said Straus, for whom this is the first training camp in Doha. The goal for this pre-season is also clear for the Norwegian: “We want to get a little better every day, in terms of what we want to achieve and the idea of how we want to play. It’s like you’re building a castle, stone by stone.”
Sarah Zadrazil, new signing Tuva Hansen and Emilie Bragstad were in good spirits.
Parallel training with Men’s team
It’s the first time the Men and Women’s teams have held training camps in Doha that coincide. The two squads held parallel training sessions at 15:00 CET, which was streamed live. Players from both teams were excited about the meeting. “It’s obviously nice to train at the same place and come together. That mutual support is important. We’re one club, so it’s nice when that comes across, when we can talk and have a few photos together,” said Sydney Lohmann. Bühl also added: “It’s always exciting to find the parallels between the teams, but also the differences.”
The second session of the first day will be more demanding than the one in the morning. “We’ve already had our first session, came through it well and did a bit of technical work. But the focus today is on the second session,” Lohmann commented. The next four days won’t be any less intense. “We’re in pre-season, want to get fit and also don’t have too long, so we’ll use the time here,” she added.
Shortly before leaving Munich, Carolin Simon extended her contract at Bayern:
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