FCB Women win friendly against Sparta Prague

• First friendly
• Four new signings in starting XI
• Viggósdóttir bags brace

FC Bayern Women won 2-1 in their first 2023/24 pre-season friendly. In the game against Czech runners-up Sparta Prague, which was played over two halves of 30 minutes, centre-back Glódís Perla Viggósdóttir netted both goals in the first period, either side of Tereza Kozárová's equaliser.

Debuts galore

A number of Bayern's summer signings made their debuts against Prague. Inès Belloumou, Katharina Naschenweng, Weronika Zawistowska and Sam Kerr all started the friendly, while Anna Wellmann came on in the second half. In Antonia Dehm and Stefanie Reischmann there were also two players from the reserve team included in the starting line-up.

Due to the World Cup in Australia and New Zealand as well as injuries, the squad was supplemented by several players from the U20s.

Viggósdóttir scores opener

The first goalscoring opportunity fell to the Munich girls straight from kick-off, with captain Sarah Zadrazil finding Zawistowska, but she couldn't find the target from the penalty area. Five minutes later, the visitors threatened for the first time when Anna Subrtová headed over the bar from close range.

Bayern began to gain control of the game after that and took the lead in the 11th minute. Naschenweng's free kick midway into the Prague half found the onrunning Viggósdóttir, who headed in the opening goal unmarked.

Prague equalise - Viggósdóttir nets second

Sparta thought they'd equalised seconds after that, but Cecilía Rán Rúnarsdóttir made a superb save to deny Kozárová one-on-one. Kozárová did better with her next chance and levelled the score on 15 minutes.

It wasn't until shortly before the half-time whistle that the next set piece caused problems in the Sparta box. A corner founds its way through to Viggósdóttir, who stabbed in her second goal of the afternoon from short distance.

Comfortable second half

The second half began with two scares for FCB. First Kozárová had a second equaliser disallowed for a foul in the build-up, and then a minute later the ball was in the Bayern net again, but this time the referee deemed it offside.

FCB's best two chances in the second half fell to Zawistowska, who was denied by Kryzaniak after running onto Wellmann's long ball and then had her shot from 16 metres blocked near the end.

Further friendlies against Hoffenheim and Sittard

FCB Women's preparations for the upcoming Google Pixel Women's Bundesliga campaign are in full swing. On Wednesday 23 August (18:00 CEST), Alexander Straus' team take on league rivals Hoffenheim in Mietingen. The final warm-up sees Dutch top-flight oufit Fortuna Sittard visit the FC Bayern Campus on Friday 1 September (18:00 CEST), when the World Cup participants will be back on board.