After three away games in a row, the women's team of 1. FC Union Berlin will be back home on Sunday. For the 20th matchday of the Regionalliga Nordost, Union will host SV Eintracht Leipzig-Süd to Dörpfeldstraße. Kick-off is at 2 pm.

The opponents

SV Eintracht Leipzig-Süd are currently in 13th place - second from bottom - in the Regionalliga Nordost table with only six points so far, and the last of those for head coach Karoline Aulrich's side was five long months ago. They've gort nothing since beating bottom of the table Rostocker FC 3-1 last October.  

If that win offered a glimmer of hope, then those hopes were quickly dashed. One week later, Eintracht suffered their worst defeat of the season, losing 11-0 to Viktoria Berlin. Eight more defeats then followed.

Accordingly, the Green-Whites need a little miracle to avoid relegation, something that seems even more unlikely when considering the fine margins by which many of those games were lost. They lost 1-0 to their direct competitors, Babelsberg, Zehlendorf and Hohen Neuendorf. Last weekend they were beaten 3-0 by Bischofswerdaer FV.

The head to head

So they can be hard to play against, and this was proved when Union played them in Leipzig, beating against a solid, and very deep lying side, with a single goal from Luise Wildner. 

That continued a series, Union are still undefeated against Leipzig-Süd since their re-promotion to the Regionalliga in 2018. In five encounters so far, the Köpenick women have won four and there#s been one draw.

The coach's views ahead of the match

"Leipzig-Süd caused us problems in the first leg due to their passionate way of playing, and their good defensive work," said Union head coach Ailien Poese before the match. "So, we are prepared for another fierce and intense game." 

None of Elisa Schindler, Pauline Wimmer, Hannah Kratz and Luca Scheel will be able to play due to injury. Latoya Bach and Lena Bucher will also be absent due to illness. In addition, Naika Reissner will not be available. The left-winger has again been nominated for the Austrian U19 national team and will travel to Italy on Sunday for the European Championship qualifiers.