It's been quite a season for FC Bayern Munich Women: one of emotional events, nerve-wracking matches and spine-tingling moments, crowned with the league title. fcbayern.com takes you on a look back over the 2022/23 campaign!
Bayern welcome six new signings and a new coach
Six players joined head coach Alexander Straus' team over the course of the season. Straus himself was a new arrival at the start of the campaign, arriving from SK Brann's women's team in his native Norway.
The biggest coup was the arrival of freshly crowned European champion Georgia Stanway last summer. The English midfielder joined from Manchester City and quickly established herself in the Bayern starting XI. There was also reinforcement in defence in the form of Brazilian centre-back Tainara, who came from French club Bordeaux. Winger Emelyne Laurent arrived from Champions League winners Lyon, while Emilie Bragstad, who had signed in January of last year but stayed on loan at former club Rosenborg BK, moved to Munich. There was another addition in defence in the winter break with Norway international Tuva Hansen joining from Brann.
DFB Cup
Bayern Women had lots of causes for celebration against Duisburg.
FC Bayern Women started the season with a 7-0 thrashing of second-tier FC Ingolstadt 04 in the DFB Cup in mid-September, with new signings Stanway, Tainara, Bragstad and Laurent all making their competitive debuts. In the round of 16 they travelled to Bundesliga rivals MSV Duisburg, where the Munich girls again registered an emphatic 7-0 win to qualify for the next round. After seven different players scored against Ingolstadt, Carolin Simon and Linda Dallmann each netted a brace against Duisburg.
Klara Bühl and Maxi Rall both got on the scoresheet in the DFB Cup quarter-finals.
A tough test awaited against TSG Hoffenheim in the quarter-finals in late February, but second-half goals from Maximiliane Rall and Klara Bühl earned the Reds a hard-fought 2-0 win and a place in the semis.
VfL Wolfsburg, nine-time winners of the cup at that point, were the visitors to the FC Bayern Campus as the two rivals battled it out for a place in the final. Bayern had won the league meeting 1-0 just three weeks earlier to claim top spot in the table, but the cup semi-final turned out very differently. After taking an early lead, the visitors ran out 5-0 winners and Bayern had to exit the competition.
Champions League
Sydney Lohmann bundles the ball in in double-digit minus temperatures in Malmö.
The Champions League provided more special moments this season. As well as some incredible atmospheres, there were highs and lows for the team on the pitch.
First up in the qualifying stage for FCB in September 2022 were Real Sociedad. Straus' side won 1-0 in the first leg in Spain thanks to a Lea Schüller goal, before sealing their place in the group stage with a 3-1 victory at home courtesy of a Linda Dallmann brace and another goal by Schüller.
Bayern were drawn in Group D along with FC Rosengård, Benfica and FC Barcelona. The home game against Barcelona on 7 December proved to be one of the highlights of the season, with Bayern Women impressing in front of a record crowd of 24,000 at the Allianz Arena and defeating the Catalans 3-1. Bühl, Schüller and Lina Magull were the scorers at the Arena. The penultimate group match at Rosengård will also live long in the memory of the Bayern players, not least because of the freezing temperatures in the Swedish coastal city. Despite the bitter cold, the Bavarians were able to celebrate a 4-0 win after goals from Tainara, Sydney Lohmann, Stanway and a first FCB goal for youngster Julia Ladenberger. Bayern progressed to the quarter-finals as group runners-up due to the earlier 3-0 defeat away to Barça, the only time they dropped points in the group stage.
Bayern came up against Arsenal in the last eight. The first leg was staged at the Allianz Arena, where nearly 20,000 fans created a special atmosphere. In a tense encounter in Munich, the hosts eventually won 1-0 thanks to Schüller's strike just before half-time. With that lead in the bag, Straus' side travelled to London for the second leg, where another impressive crowd of 21,000 greeted them at the Emirates Stadium. However, the Gunners demonstrated their strength at home and cancelled out the first-leg scoreline with a 2-0 victory, and so Bayern's UWCL journey ended at the quarter-final stage.
Bundesliga
FCB Women had plenty of wins to celebrate in 2022/23 and were rewarded with the championship.
Without dropping a single point at home and with just two draws and one defeat overall, FC Bayern Women clinched the fifth Women's Bundesliga title in the club's history on the final day of the 2022/23 season. With an 11-1 drubbing of relegated Turbine Potsdam at the Campus, the team underlined their strong performance over the whole campaign.
Defensive rock: Glódís Perla Viggósdóttir has been the glue in the Bayern defence.
Glódís Perla Viggósdóttir was Bayern Women's ever-present this term. The Icelandic defender played every minute in the league in 2022/23 – something only goalkeepers Stina Johannes and Laura Sieger from Eintracht Frankfurt and SV Meppen respectively could also do. The 27-year-old therefore played a leading role in the Reds' unmatched defensive solidity – Straus' charges conceded just eight goals in the Bundesliga all season, seven fewer than the second best defence from Wolfsburg.
In attack, Schüller was again the leading scorer for Bayern with 14 goals in 22 appearances. The striker finished second in the Bundesliga scoring chart behind Germany teammate Alexandra Popp of VfL. With 13 assists, Carolin Simon was the league's best provider, while goalkeeper Maria Luisa Grohs was also the best in the league with 15 clean sheets.
FC Bayern Women announced a double signing this week:
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