First test for FC Bayern Women! As part of their pre-season preparations for 23/24, the Munich women play their first friendly against Sparta Prague on Saturday, 5 August. The match will take place at the BSC Regensburg sports ground. Kick-off against the team from the Czech Republic is at 14:00 CEST. Tickets for the match can be purchased from 12:00 CEST at the ticket office in Regensburg.
The situation
Head coach Alexander Straus' side crowned the 22/23 season by winning the championship in front of their own fans at the FC Bayern Campus on the last matchday. The team then had a well-deserved holiday before returning to the training pitch for the first time on 20 July. This marked the start of pre-season for the 23/24 campaign and mission "Title defence". In the meantime, there was a lot of movement in the FCB Women squad: In addition to the departing personnel, a total of nine new players were signed. One of the new arrivals, Natalia Padilla Bidas, went straight out on loan to 1. FC Köln, while Weronika Zawistowska returned from her loan spell in the cathedral city. New signings Katharina Naschenweng, Sam Kerr, Inès Belloumou and Anna Wellmann will make their first appearances for the record champions against Prague.
Due to the World Cup currently taking place in Australia and New Zealand, some of the FCB Women players are on duty with their national teams. Nine of Bayern's internationals will therefore be missing in Regensburg. The World Cup participants will be back in Munich for the friendly against the Dutch first division team Fortuna Sittard on 1 September, completing Straus' squad.
Sam Kerr and Glódís Perla Viggósdóttir tussling on the FC Bayern Campus training pitch.
The opponents
The visitors from the Czech capital have already played and won two friendlies in their pre-season preparations. First, head coach Anton Mišovec's team beat Hungarian Champions League participants Ferencváros 2-1 and then went on to win 3-0 against Austria Vienna. The club finished second in the league last season.
The team news
The shortfall in the squad due to the World Cup will be made up by players from the Bayern Women's second team. FC Bayern are still represented by the following players at the tournament in Australia and New Zealand: Magdalena Eriksson, Pernille Harder, Georgia Stanway, Jill Baijings and Tuva Hansen. The German national team featuring Lina Magull, Lea Schüller, Klara Bühl and Sydney Lohmann were eliminated from the tournament on Thursday. In addition, Linda Dallmann (rehab after syndesmosis ligament rupture) and Carolin Simon (cruciate ligament rupture) are not available. Goalkeeper Mala Grohs will also not make the line-up for the match against Sparta Prague, after suffering a ligament injury in her ankle.
The pre-match quotes
Head coach Alexander Straus: "The most important thing is to have an 11 vs. 11 game to get the players used to the normal size of the pitch again. This is not always possible in training at the moment because of the number of players available. Above all, the friendly will also help us to introduce our new arrivals to our style of play and to show them how we approach match situations. We've talked about it a lot and done some things on the training pitch, but it's important to put it into practice on the pitch in a match.
Tickets for the match against Eintracht Frankfurt at the Allianz Arena are on sale now:
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