The women’s Bundesliga is in the final sprint. Four matchdays are still on the program, the next starts on Saturday. This leads to an exciting duel between MSV Duisburg and SV Meppen, in which nothing less than staying up in the league is being played for. Every point also counts for the title contenders from Munich and Wolfsburg and in the fight for third place between Frankfurt and Hoffenheim.
Bayer 04 Leverkusen – Eintracht Frankfurt (Saturday, 1 p.m.)
It was more than a year ago that Leverkusen’s Verena Wieder played a Bundesliga game. After a cruciate ligament rupture with complicated healing, the 22-year-old was out for a long time. At the end of March she celebrated her comeback – and seems to have played in top form again. In last week’s friendly against MSV Duisburg, she made it 1-0. Their first goal of the season in the Bundesliga is still missing, last season there were at least six goals.
She could play an important role for Bayer 04 Leverkusen against Eintracht Frankfurt. Coach Robert de Pauw’s team goes into the game as the underdog and has to do without a few players. Caroline Siems and Clara Fröhlich are missing, the use of Dina Blagojevic, Annika Enderle and Selina Ostermeier is questionable.
Leverkusen coach Robert de Pauw has to do without some players.
SGS Essen – Bayern Munich (Saturday, 1 p.m.)
First as a strategist on the pitch, then behind the scenes: Karin Danner has done a lot for the FC Bayern women and has now announced her departure at the end of the season. What would be a better gift than the championship title? This one title is still there after the Munich team said goodbye to the Champions League and the DFB Cup. With a win against SGS Essen on Saturday (from 1 p.m. live in the stream and in the ticker), FCB would be one step closer to the title.
As a player, Danner has won a total of seven championship titles with FC Bayern – but only at Bavarian level. The big successes only came afterwards: As a manager, she was involved in four German championship titles. Now number five could follow. With Essen, Hoffenheim, Leverkusen and Potsdam at the end of the season, quite feasible tasks await the Munich team, who are one point ahead of Wolfsburg.
VfL Wolfsburg – 1. FC Köln (Sunday, 1 p.m.)
There is no getting around her: Alex Popp simply makes the difference at VfL Wolfsburg. Missing the first leg of the Champions League with a calf injury, she was back on the pitch in Monday’s second leg and particularly showed off her header skills. With a goal, she supported her team on the way to the final.
After a three-week break, she ran the full 120 minutes – a feat and a mental feat as well. After this success, the captain now firmly believes in the treble and thinks that everything is perfect this season. How well she and her team can prove once again at home against 1. FC Köln on Sunday.
SC Freiburg – SV Werder Bremen (Sunday, 1 p.m.)
Austria’s Katharina Schiechtl made her 100th Bundesliga game last matchday against SV Meppen. Now the next anniversary is approaching for the defensive player, who has been out for a long time this season with a tendon irritation. As an absolute Werder veteran since 2013 – at that time still in the second Bundesliga – the 30-year-old has already made 199 competitive appearances.
Katharina Schiechtl (left) has often played for Werder Bremen.
At SC Freiburg on Sunday afternoon she could complete the 200 in green and white. It’s still about staying up in the league for the Werder women and national team player Schiechtl could help on the defensive to ensure that relegation is finally no longer an issue for the Werkself.
TSG Hoffenheim – Turbine Potsdam (Sunday, 4 p.m.)
Her dream is to play internationally at club level. Chantal Hagel has a good chance of doing so in the coming season – regardless of whether she still secures third place in the table with TSG Hoffenheim and thus the ticket for the Champions League. Since the prospective elementary school teacher is moving to VfL Wolfsburg for the coming season, she is already certain of participating at European level.
Nevertheless, she wants to say goodbye to TSG Hoffenheim with a third place. However, the draw in the important catch-up game against Eintracht Frankfurt made this task much more difficult. Now only wins count in Hoffenheim. The next chance to do so is on Sunday afternoon against Turbine Potsdam.
SV Meppen – MSV Duisburg (Sunday, 4 p.m.)
Coach Thomas Gerstner, who has been on the sidelines at MSV Duisburg since mid-April to try and stay up in the league, has two defeats in two games. He still has four game days left. Gerstner has experience with this. From 2018 to 2021 he was already coach of the MSV women and during this time he managed to hold the league three times.
He can still collect important points with Meppen on Sunday, then Freiburg, Essen and Hoffenheim. The game on Sunday against SVM, which is also threatened with relegation, could point the way to say goodbye to 11th place in the table. However, Duisburg lost the test against Leverkusen a few days ago 1:3. However, Gerstner speaks of an “enlightening game” and will probably draw his conclusions from it on Sunday.