FC Bayern Women continue their preparations for the 2023/24 season with a friendly against Dutch side Fortuna Sittard on Friday, 1 September. It’s also Bayern’s first home game of pre-season. Kick-off at the FC Bayern Campus is at 18:00 CEST.
State of play
Bayern have already played two friendlies this pre-season. Alexander Straus’s side beat Sparta Prague 2-1 to get things going before a 2-2 draw with domestic rivals Hoffenheim.
Players who competed at the FIFA Women’s World Cup are slowly returning to training, with Sydney Lohamnn, Lina Magull and Tuva Hansen all involved again against Hoffenheim. Guilia Gwinn also made her long-awaited return from injury after over 10 months out.
Jovana Damnjanovic scored twice in the friendly against Hoffenheim.
The opponent
Fortuna ended last season in third place in the Dutch Eredivisie, just missing out on UEFA Women’s Champions League qualification. Sittard have played four friendly matches so far in pre-season with a lot of Bundesliga involvement. There was a 6-0 win over Borussia Mönchengladbach before further victories against Club Brugge (2-0) and Köln (2-1). Last weekend they were held to a 2-2 draw by Bayer Leverkusen.
Fitness update
Long-term absentees Carolin Simon (cruciate ligament), Weronika Zawistowska (cruciate ligament) and Cecilía Rán Rúnarsdóttir (patella dislocation) are all out. Goalkeeper Mala Grohs will be back in the squad after her ankle injury. All players who now competed at the World Cup in Australia and New Zealand are back in Munich.
Watch our documentary tracking Giulia Gwinn's long road to recovery:
“Great that we’re all back again”
“We want to keep giving lots of players game time. The competitive action starts in a week and a half. We don’t have much time left for pre-season. The most important thing is that we keep preparing for the season and working every day on the pitch,” said head coach Straus.
Lina Magull is also pleased that the entire squad is now reunited: “It’s great that we’re all back again. I think it’ll be a good test against a good opponent, and we can try out a few things again.”
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