The women's team of 1. FC Union Berlin can now look back on the most successful year in the club's history. After being promoted to the 2. Bundesliga and winning the Berlin Pokal in the first half of the year, the Köpenick side seamlessly continued their successful run with strong performances in both the league and in the DFB Pokal after the summer break.

Breaking records to get promoted to the 2. Bundesliga

Union had finished 2023, and the first half of the Regionalliga Nordost season, with a hundred percent record and a six-point lead at the top of the table. After a winter break of more than three months, during which the team of head coach Ailien Poese spent a week’s preparations in Campoamor, Spain, the first competitive game wasn’t scheduled until the beginning of March.

As it was the new year kicked off with the side taking on city rivals Hertha BSC in the quarter-finals of the Berlin Cup when, in front of 1,500 spectators at Dörpfeldstraße, Union cruised to a 5-0 victory. A week later, they got their Regionalliga Nordost campaign off to a successful re-start with an 8-0 win at 1. FFC Fortuna Dresden.

The match against their closest rivals Viktoria Berlin on matchday 15 was to prove a decisive step towards the league title. In front of almost 2,000 spectators at the Stadion Lichterfelde, Union played superbly and extended their lead in the table to nine points with a 3-0 win. Just one week later, the most exciting game of the league's second half took place – and possibly even of the entire calendar year. Against FC Carl Zeiss Jena II, Union were 1-0 down going into injury time, meaning that not only were they at risk of dropping their first points of the season, but also losing their first competitive game in over a year.

In a wild period of time added on, Dina Orschmann scored twice to turn the game around in the 93^rd and 95^th minutes. The remarkable game on 7 April will remain vividly in the memory of all the 300 spectators who were present.

Union showed little respite as they continued their march towards the Regionalliga title as the Spring rolled on. The 15-0 win over 1. FFV Erfurt was their largest win of the year, before, on the 20^th matchday, they mathematically secured the championship with a 7-1 win at Turbine Potsdam II.

The next silverwear followed a week later, though the Berlin Cup final was far from a foregone conclusion. Union had reached the final after a 10-0 semi-final victory over SFC Stern 1900, but waiting for them were their perennial rivals, Viktoria Berlin. The final at the Volkspark Mariendorf turned out to be much more evenly balanced than the league clash two months earlier. In an exciting, tense, battling game, Union took the lead late on through an own goal (77'), before, only three minutes before the end of regular time, Viktoria equalised through a free-kick. In extra time, Union’s unrelenting pressure provoked the second own goal of the day, which meant that the Cup was back in Köpenick after a five-year absence. Union had won the double.

The perfect season in the league, without dropping a single point, was rounded off in the last game of the season when they beat Bischofswerdaer FV 6-0. No team had ever managed this feat in the 33-year history of the league. The goal difference of 145:5 tells its own story of this magnificent season, with Sarah Abu Sabbah crowned top scorer of all the country’s regional leagues with 42 goals.

Despite all these records, however, there was still one last step to be taken to get promoted to the 2. Bundesliga, the promotion play-offs against SV Henstedt-Ulzburg.

At the beginning of June, when many teams had already gone on their summer break, Union hosted the the Regionalliga Nord champions at the Alte Försterei. In front of a record crowd of 18,045, beating the record from the league game against Hertha BSC in April, when 12,511 fans thronged the stadium, Union were superb and ran out 8-0 winners. With it, Union had one foot in the 2. Bundesliga and the return game in Henstedt-Ulzburg was ultimately only a formality. With their 2-0 win, Union sealed their return to the second-flight after an absence of eight years, crowning a magnificent season.

The mood after the game was exuberant, there were beer showers and jubilation and smiles on faces a  mile wide. The joy continued during the four-hour drive back to Köpenick, before the team finally arrived at the stadium at around 9 p.m. to be received by hundreds of jubilant fans. The promotion was celebrated on the stadium balcony together with the U23 team, who had also been promoted to the Regionalliga Nordost on the same day – a party that lasted well into the night.

The 2023/24 season thus also marked the perfect end for two Union legends. Elisa Schindler, who had played for Union since the age of six, and Lisa Görsdorf, who had played for the women's team since 2013 and was thus the longest-serving player in the club, both left the club at the top.

Union cause a stir in the 2. Bundesliga

Just three and a half weeks after promotion, Union were back on the training pitch. While the team, strengthened by five new players with Bundesliga experience, meticulously prepared for the forthcoming second division season, the squad received the next piece of good news. All their home matches in the 2024/25 season would be played at the Stadion An der Alten Försterei. In the following weeks, more than 2,500 season tickets were sold.

However, Union had to play their first competitive game of the season away from home, and it was to be a real thriller. In the first round of the DFB Pokal, Union faced league rivals FSV Gütersloh 2009, with the tie only being decided on penalties. Union had come back from a goal down to lead 2-1 in the second half, but Gütersloh equalised in the 90th minute, taking the game to extra time, where neither side tiring managed to secure a decisive advantage. In spot-kicks Union's new number 1, Cara Bösl, became a hero with two saved penalties, securing her side’s place in the second round of the cup.

Just four days later, the opening game of the second division season took place at the Stadion An der Alten Försterei against Hamburger SV. In front of 5,508 spectators, breaking the record attendance for the 2. Bundesliga in the very first game, the two teams drew 2-2. This was followed on matchday 2 by a goalless draw against the recently relegated 1. FC Nürnberg, despite the fact that the Union team were down to 10 players for 45 minutes.

A week later, they faced Bundesliga side RasenBallsport Leipzig in the second round of the DFB Pokal. In an intense cup tie between evenly matched sides, Dina Orschmann scored the only goal of the day, which saw Union's ladies advance to the last 16 of the Cup for the first time in the club's history.

In the league, Union followed up their cup victory by winning four league games in a row, giving them the lead in the 2. Bundesliga for the first time. In addition, the 3-0 win against FC Bayern Munich II on match day 5 saw the 6,181-strong crowd break their own second division attendance record once again. The early contract extension of head coach Ailien Poese gave more reason to celebrate around the same time.

However all good things have to come to an end, and on match day seven, Union’s unbeaten streak finally finished after 48 competitive games and more than 20 months when they team lost 2-1 to Eintracht Frankfurt II. However, far from letting this distract them, Union instead picked up ten points from the following four league games, thus consolidating their second place in the table. The 5-0 away win against FC Ingolstadt on matchday 8 also represented Union’s highest ever victory in the 2. Bundesliga.

At the end of November, another highlight took place with the DFB Pokal round of 16 against an Eintracht Frankfurt side who would end the year topping the Bundesliga. In front of 8,021 spectators at the Stadion An der Alten Försterei, Union fought tooth and nail and it wasn’t until the 83rd minute that they finally conceded from a corner kick. In injury time, SGE increased the score to 2-0, but few were in any doubt about the quality that Union had shown in their performance.

With a point against bottom-of-the-table VfL Bochum and a 3-1 win against Gütersloh, Union finally went into their two-month winter break in December. With 28 points from 13 games, the women's team finished the first half of the season in second place.

Their 2024 had been simply outstanding.