
“With Nina, we’ve been able to sign an established Bundesliga player for our defence who will bring a wealth of experience to the team. She’s an absolutely positive character with a strong desire to win and that will very much help our team,” said head coach Achim Feifel, who was at Hamburg SV with the new signing.
Brüggemann has clocked up 125 Bundesliga appearances and has also played in 14 DFB Cup ties and 17 games in the Bundesliga Second Division North. The 27-year-old made her top-flight debut for HSV under Feifel in 2009. She then joined the USA college team Sun Devils at the Arizona State University in 2012. Brüggemann signed for Bundesliga newcomers BV Cloppenburg for the 2013/14 campaign. After another season in second division, the player born in Pinneberg (Schleswig-Holstein) moved on to SGS Essen.

Bayer 04 Leverkusen will have to manage without centre-back Edmond Tapsoba in the coming weeks. The Burkina Faso international returned to the Werkself from the Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco with a muscle injury.
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The Werkself are away to Hamburg SV at the end of the Hinrunde in the 2025/26 Bundesliga campaign. The match at the newly promoted club is on Tuesday night, 13 January (kick-off: 20:30 CET). Ahead of the first encounter with HSV since 2018, Kasper Hjulmand spoke about the strengths of the opponents, lessons learnt from the home defeat against VfB Stuttgart and provided a squad update.
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In Germany, the temperatures are currently around zero, leaving even professional footballers freezing - but not the Bayer 04 Women. Roberto Pätzold's team have fled the cold to the south and are preparing for the second half of the season at a training camp in the Algarve, almost 2,000 kilometres away from home as the crow flies. The Leverkusen squad landed in Faro on Saturday morning and have already completed the first three training sessions over the weekend.
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It was a disappointing Saturday night. The Werkself lost 4-1 to VfB Stuttgart to start the new year on Bundesliga matchday 16 in 2025/26, a result that left both players and fans disappointed. "We played without any passion," said Alejandro Grimaldo honestly afterwards. Teammate Jarell Quansah was even more self-critical, emphasising: "We were miles off it in the first half. You can't put in a performance like that, especially in front of our own fans and I can only apologise to them, to be honest." Read on for the reaction, facts and stats from the clash with VfB Stuttgart in the Werkself review.
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