It was one of those games where the draw felt like a win at the end: At the weekend, SC Freiburg played Borussia Dortmund with ten men for 60 minutes but were able to secure a 0-0 draw against BVB, who have made an excellent start to the season, with a battling defensive performance. That earned SCF a second point in the current campaign following a goalless draw against Eintracht Frankfurt in the opener and a 4-1 defeat away to RB Leipzig. The club from the Breisgau now occupy a position in the league that represents a minimum target for the season – fifteenth and above the drop zone.
Fate again raised its head in the Black Forest. The fate of a feeder club that affects Freiburg nearly every summer. Toprak, Cissé, Kruse and Ginter – they all emerged in the modest surroundings of the Breisgau before moving on to bigger clubs to advance their careers. This year, SCF had to cope with the departure of two key players from last season in Maximilian Philipp (Borussia Dortmund) and Vincenzo Grifo (Borussia Mönchengladbach). Coach Christian Streich, an institution in Freiburg and the world of German football, again confronts the challenge of ensuring his young team can avoid relegation with the modest financial means available and bring through the next talented youngsters to attract vital transfer funds. He has often succeeded in that area in the past.
It will be hard to compensate for the departure of Philipp and Grifo, who were directly involved in 26 of 42 Freiburg's Bundesliga goals last term. That is not only a loss of fire power up front but also a sharp reduction in the quality of the squad. In addition, the defence has to settle down around the two, highly talented but inexperienced central defenders Marc-Oliver Kempf and Caglar Söyüncü – last term Freiburg had the fourth-worst defence in the Bundesliga with 60 goals conceded. Kempf is unlikely to play against the Werkself due to an injury and Streich will also have to replace the forward Yoric Ravet who was shown a red card in the Dortmund game.
Last season, the world of German football was able to see what Freiburg are capable of achieving with their settled club environment and sustainable transfer strategy when the team qualified for Europe for the fourth time in the club's history ahead of a host of clubs with bigger reputations. The desire to establish the club in the Bundesliga over the long term is evident in the recent plans to build a new stadium. The new ground is due to have a capacity of 35,000 fans and should be ready to occupy by 2020 at the latest.
Even though Freiburg have seen the rewards for last season's outstanding campaign disappear with defeat in the Europa League play-off against Slovenian club NK Domzale that could be a blessing in disguise in terms of ambitions in the Bundesliga. Without the burden of additional games for a thin squad, Streich is once again capable of keeping his team in the top flight even if climbing to the heady heights of the Bundesliga appears rather unlikely this time round.
Werkself-TV shows the highlights of Bayer 04 Women's 0-2 loss at 1. FC Nürnberg on Matchday 8 of the 2026/27 Google Pixel Women's Bundesliga.
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After nine points from their first three away matches of the 2026/27 season, the Bayer 04 Women suffered their first away defeat on Sunday afternoon. The 2-0 defeat away to FC Nürnberg, who were winless before today, represented a setback for coach Roberto Pätzold’s team in the race for the top spots in the Google Pixel Women’s Bundesliga. Fany Pronietz scored both goals (62’, 85’) for the home side.
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After six consecutive wins, the Werkself have hit a rough patch: Bayer 04 lost 3-0 away to TSG Hoffenheim. Andrej Kramaric put the hosts ahead from the penalty spot (79'), with Alexander Prass and Max Moerstedt adding to the tally shortly before full-time (89’/90+5’). After ten matches under Carles Martínez, with the Black and Reds always scoring at least twice, Leverkusen failed to find the net for the first time.
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The Werkself still have a score to settle with TSG Hoffenheim: Bayer 04 lost both matches against the Kraichgau side last term – after the Black and Reds had won all the previous five encounters. Leverkusen are currently on a roll and looking to kick off a new winning streak against TSG in Sinsheim on Sunday 25 October (kick-off: 15:30 CET), and Patrik Schick is keen to continue his current run of form. However, it will not be easy, as coach Christian Ilzer’s team have also gained confidence recently. Today’s matchday news.
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