This Sunday will see 1. FC Union Berlin's women's team playing their second friendly match of the winter. At 1pm, they travel to play Bundesliga side ,Turbine Potsdam at the Sportforum Waldstadt.

Turbulent Times for Turbine 

If you look at their bulging trophy cabinet, you quickly realise that 1. FFC Turbine Potsdam, are rightly regarded as footballing royalty. Six championship titles, three cup victories and two Champions League wins speak for themselves. However, it is also true that Turbine's glory days are now largely over. The last championship title was more than ten years ago, and they have had to become used to settling for third or fourth place behind the likes of "new" clubs such as Wolfsburg or Bayern.

But even considering this development, a look at the current women's Bundesliga table is still surprising. With only one point from ten games, Turbine are currently bottom of the table, nine points from safety. The grand old club are threatened with relegation to the 2. Bundesliga for the first time since a brief spell in 1994.

The reasons for the fall of the Brandenburg side are difficult to see from the outside, though finances are tight, and an exodus of players- has hardly helped. After all, the club still reached the final of the DFB Pokal in the summer of 2022, where they were beaten 4-0 by VfL Wolfsburg. Since then, the club has changed coach twice, but the turnaround hasn't been achieved.

A return to old stomping grounds for some players

Tthe 1. FC Union Berlin squad includes a number of players who have previously played for Turbine with, first and foremost, the two new winter arrivals, twins, Katja and Dina Orschmann. Katja played for their second team in the 2. Liga from 2017 to 2020, while Dina was a goal-scorer for the first team in the Bundesliga from 2019 to 2022. The 25-year-old scored twelve goals in 42 games.

Meanwhile, Union striker Elisa Spolaczyk played for the Turbine's youth team from 2011 to 2015, as did full-back Luise Wildner (2019-2021). Sophie Trojahn was also trained in Potsdam and moved from their reserves to Union last summer.

Jennifer Zietz, the new sporting director for the women's first team, even enjoys a kind of legendary status in Potsdam. The 39-year-old was under contract for Turbine from 1999 to 2015 and won all of those above listed titles during that time.

One player will not make the trip to Potsdam on Sunday, and will also not play for 1. FC Union Berlin again in the future. The contract with goalkeeper Sarah Duszat, who has been absent in recent weeks, has been terminated. The 20-year-old joined Union's girls' section in 2013 and made a total of 22 appearances for the first women's team.