On Sunday, 14.04.2024, the women's team of 1. FC Union Berlin will visit SV Blau Weiss Berolina Mitte as part of the 17th matchday of the Regionalliga Nordost. 

The opponents

With only four points from 16 games, Berolina Mitte are currently bottom of the Regionalliga table and are still waiting for their first points from 2024. Having lost their first four games of the second half of the season by at least two goals, head coach Oliver Thomaschewski resigned last week to give the team fresh impetus in the battle against relegation. He had previously been in charge for four years and celebrated promotion to the Regionalliga last season.

He has been replaced by Frank Krug, whose B-Juniors side led the Berlin Liga table, on the touchline. Krug previously also coached Borussia Pankow's second women's team.

Last Sunday, in the first game under the new coach, the Blue & Whites came close to picking up their first points of the year, however, "Bero" were narrowly beaten 2-1 at Bischofswerdaer FV, the club against whom a draw in the first half of the season gave Berolina their first ever Regionalliga point.

Their only win to date came on the seventh game of the season against fellow promoted side Fortuna Dresden, when the club from the centre of the city turned a 2-0 deficit at the break into a 3-2 victory. But Berolina are yet to pick up another point since this fleeting October flush of success and are now five points behind Dresden in 11th place. Depending on how many teams are promoted and relegated, eleventh place in the table could be enough to keep them in the league.

With eleven goals, Berolina have the weakest attack in the league. In the winter, the club also lost Anna Loftus, the only player to score more than one goal in the season to date. The 24-year-old Englishwoman, who has scored four goals in eight games, joined Club Puebla from Mexico in January.

The head to head

In this season’s first match between the sides at Dörpfeldstraße, Union recorded their biggest win of the season with a 13-0 win, a game in which Maria Cristina Lange scored five and Lisa Heiseler four goals.

The two clubs have faced each other in two competitive matches so far. Union won both matches by a clear margin.

Personnel

Head coach Ailien Poese will be without seven players on Sunday due to injury: Maria Cristina Lange, Pauline Wimmer, Anna Weiß, Pia Metzker, Sophie Trojahn, Ginger Schulz and Sarah Hornschuch.

The coach’s views ahead of the game

"We're looking forward to the game and expect an opponent who will once again do everything they can to defend their own goal,” said Union’s head coach, Ailien Poese, during midweek. “It's important for us to take the lessons learned from last weekend and, in the next game, and through possession of the ball create and exploit our opportunities to score.  The clear aim is to take three points from the Friedrich-Ludwig-Jahn-Sportpark."

Service information

The match against SV Blau Weiss Berolina Mitte will be played on Sunday at 14:00 on the grounds of the Friedrich-Ludwig-Jahn-Sportpark. Admission costs €5 (regular) and €3 (reduced).