Having kicked off the second half of the season with last weekend's superb match against Viktoria Berlin, the women's team of 1. FC Union Berlin now have to travel away. Next Sunday, 20.02.23, the Eisernen will play FSV Babelsberg 74 on the artificial pitch in Rudolf-Breitscheid-Straße in Potsdam. Kick off is at 2 pm.

The opponents

Having played 14 matches, FSV Babelsberg 74 are sat in the lower middle of the table in 10th place with 15 points. Whether this will ultimately be enough to stay in the Regionalliga though is still unclear. The North-East German Football Association (NOFV) wants to reduce the size of the league from 14 to 12 teams again for the coming 2023/24 season, which is why it has not yet been finally decided how many teams will ultimately have to be relegated.

Since it is highly likely that Turbine Potsdam II, a second-division team, will be relegated to the Regionalliga Nordost, there will probably be at least four relegated teams. However, five or even six relegation places are not out of the question. Should the latter occur, FSV Babelsberg 74 would also be affected. Accordingly, FSV coach Clemens Haack, who took over as coach in the summer, already declared before the start of the season: "We simply have to leave enough teams behind us to stay in.

So far, FSV Babelsberg, who have been playing in the Regionalliga since 2020 and finished 12th at Christmas, have displayed enough of their tenacity and toughness to have already managed to build a small cushion of four points on the last four places. They are also particularly strong in front of their home crowd, having scored 11 of their 15 points at home.

This includes an impressive 4-0 win over Magdeburger FFC on matchday 12. It was of course Magdeburg who inflicted the first league defeat of the season on Union, back in November.

Babelsberg drew 2-2 with Bischofswerdaer FV last weekend, however, took the point having squandered a 2-0 lead. It had been FSV's two top scorers, Aline Reinkorber (with six goals this season) and Lätizia Radloff (four), who had given Babelsberg their platform, with the latter also having played Union Berlin from 2018 to 2021. Conversely, it will also be a return to her old stomping ground for Union's goalkeeping coach Laura Ketzer. The 28-year-old was the regular goalkeeper at FSV Babelsberg for the past two seasons before hanging up her boots in the summer.

The head to head

Union won the first meeting between the sides this season, 2:0, with first half goals from Lisa Heiseler and Elisa Spolaczyk. The margin, however, should have been greater, by all accounts.  

Before that, in May 2022, Union won 3-0, while the first encounter between the sides in September 2020 ended in a goalless draw. During the winter break, FSV Babelsberg 74 also played out a goalless draw in a friendly against Union's women's 2nd team in Potsdam.

The coach's view ahead of the match

"We expect a similarly challenging game against Babelsberg as in the first half of the season, as they are a defensively very disciplined team, but also one that can always cause you trouble going forwards," explained head coach Ailien Poese with a view to the match.

Personnel

The situation aroundthe Union squad is currently quite tense. Pauline Wimmer, Luca Scheel, Hannah Kratz, Ginger Schulz and Lisa Görsdorf are all still missing due to injury. Zita Rurack, who scored two goals against Viktoria Berlin, is also absent due to an injury in training. There are also question marks over the firness of Latoya Bach, Naika Reissner, Lisa Heiseler and Marie Becker.