FC Bayern Women beat RB Ōmiya Ardija in first game of pre-season

FC Bayern Women kicked off 2026/27 pre-season with a 4-1 victory over RB Ōmiya Ardija at the NACK5 Stadium in Tokyo as part of their Allianz Women's Tour. Pernille Harder and Jovana Damnjanović gave Germany’s double winners the advantage in the first half, before Katharina Naschenweng added a third in the second period. Minami Munakata’s header earned the hosts a consolation before Alara’s penalty in added time wrapped things up in Japan. Sarah Mattner, Kassandra Potsi, Ella Rauscha and Regina van Eijk all made their debuts for Bayern during the game.

Controlled first half

Bayern got off to the better start in their first game of the new season in hot summer temperatures. José Barcala’s side controlled proceedings before Momoko Tanikawa dribbled her way through the home defence and looked for Harder, who couldn’t make the chance count. The Dane made no mistake at a corner a minute later as she was found at the far post and pounced on the bouncing ball to open the scoring.

Damnjanović had a great opportunity to double the lead after 19 minutes when played clean through by Harder, but she was unable to beat goalkeeper Yuria Ito. Klara Bühl got into the action when she struck the crossbar with a shot from the edge of the box.

Bayern remained on the front foot but Ōmiya had some promising moments, mainly through Hanon Nishio’s three efforts off target. The Munich Frauen finally stretched their lead on the stroke of half-time when Tanikawa found Damnjanović to finish at the far post.

Naschenweng banger

Barcala made some changes for the second half but it didn’t change the pattern of play. Nishio remained a lively outlet for Ōmiya, but she was well marshalled by captain Glódis Viggósdóttir and the defence. A Bühl corner was met by the head of Magdalena Eriksson but failed to hit the target, before Tanikawa won a free-kick on the edge of the penalty area but couldn’t beat the jumping wall.

Bayern got their third just before the hour when substitute Naschenweng powered her way up the inside left and pinged an unstoppable left-footed shot across goal and into the far corner. The home crowd finally had something to cheer in the 73rd minute when Munakata’s stooping header got them on the scoreboard, but Bayern got their fourth in added time when Alara converted a penalty awarded for handball.

More training and friendlies to come

Bayern return home to Munich on Monday and will continue working in the coming weeks on preparing for the new season in the Bundesliga, DFB Cup and Champions League. They have two more friendly matches scheduled before the competitive action, against Nürnberg on 1 August (17:00 CEST) before playing their first game at their future home of the Sportpark Unterhaching against Paris FC on 9 August (16:00). The latter will be broadcast live in English on FC Bayern TV PLUS.

The first competitive fixture of 2026/27 is in the Supercup against Wolfsburg in Ingolstadt on 15 August (19:30).

🎟️ Get tickets for the Paris game in Unterhaching HERE!