Bayer 04 Women: First international goal for Carlotta Wamser

Wamser with Germany secured wins in the first two qualifiers for the World Cup in Brazil (24 June to 25 July 2027). Firstly, Germany coach Christian Wück's team beat Slovenia 5-0 in Dresden; Wamser come on in place of captain Giulia Gwinn at the break and she put in a rock-solid performance. Four days later, the Leverkusen player was in the starting XI against Norway at the Viking Stadium in Stavanger and she netted her first goal in her tenth game for Germany. A pass from Wolfsburg's Vivien Endemann into the heart of the opposition defence found Wamser and she put the ball in the back of the net at the near post to make it 2-0 in added time in the first half. Wamser went off on the hour mark making way for Bayern Munich midfielder Linda Dallmann. Germany went on to win the game 4-0 and now lead Group A4 with six points from two games.

The World Cup qualifiers got off to a less than favourable start for Wamser's team-mate Claudia Wenger. The centre-back suffered two narrow and painful defeats with Austria in the same group. The 24-year-old played in a 1-0 defeat against Norway and remained on the bench in the 1-0 reverse in Slovenia. In the next international break, Wenger will face Germany with Wamser in two head-to-head encounters on Tuesday, 14 April and Saturday, 18 April.

germany U23s miss out on Final Four

Far from the battle for the World Cup places, the Bayer 04 Women were strongly represented in the Germany U23 team as usual. Loreen Bender, Katharina Piljic, Selina Ostermeir, Sofie Zdebel as well as Julia Mickenhagen, called up in place of her injured team-mate Estrella Merino Gonzalez, formed the largest club group in coach Michael Urbansky's team. Germany will not be able to defend their title in the 2025 international final round held for the first time. That was the outcome of a 3-1 defeat in Alesund against Norway, their opponents in last year's final. Bender, Ostermeier, Piljic (until the 60th minute) and Zdebel were in the starting XI, with the latter narrowly missing out on an equaliser with a shot from 20 metres out. Four days later, the U23s secured their first win of the year. A friendly in Bochum against Belgium ended with a 4-2 win thanks to an improved performance. This time Bender (46’) and Zdebel (63’) started, Mickenhagen and Piljic (from 63’) came off the bench. Ostermeier missed out due to illness. The Urbansky team will continue their campaign on Sunday 12 April with another match against Belgium.

Striker Amy Wrigge did not feature for the Germany U19s. Coach Melanie Behringer's team took part in a training programme in Alicante, Spain, with two international matches against Sweden (0-1) and Italy (1-0). The qualifying round for the European Championship finals in Bosnia-Herzegovina (27 June to 10 July) will take place between 10 and 16 April.

Bundesliga claSH AT VfL Wolfsburg

At the beginning of this week, the eight internationals will return to team training in Leverkusen. The Werkself are away to VfL Wolfsburg on Sunday, 15 March (18:30 CET) at the end of the Bundesliga matchday 20.