Women's team review 2025

A record-breaking year ends for the Bayer 04 Women. Fourth place, 13 wins and 43 points in the 2024/25 campaign - the Werkself have never been so good in the Bundesliga. Coach Roberto Pätzold's team also had plenty of reasons to celebrate in the first half of the new Bundesliga season - although there were also a few disappointments. A look back at 2025 for the Bayer 04 Women’s team.

January: Winter training camp and spectacular start

At the start of their preparations for the second half of the season, the Bayer 04 Women took part in a winter training camp in Oliva Nova on the Mediterranean coast in Spain, almost 1,800 kilometres from home - including two successful friendlies against Villarreal (5-1) and Union Berlin (2-1). "We had great weather and top conditions, from the hotel facilities to the training ground plus the preparation and follow-up work. The sessions were really good, the players focused on the essentials and worked very well individually in between training sessions," said Pätzold. Back in Germany, the season began with a 2-1 win in the return fixture of the first matchday in the Hinrunde at SC Freiburg. The Werkself won the game 3-2 but the result was result was chalked off due to a refereeing error. The away win was followed by a spectacular top-of-the-table match at Eintracht Frankfurt that ended in a 3-2  defeat despite a wonder goal from Karolina Lea Vilhjalmsdottir.

February: Winless streak and Pokal exit

There was little reason to cheer in February. In the league, the Leverkusen team could only draw 1-1 with SGS Essen and, despite a strong performance, lost 1-0 at TSG Hoffenheim. That was followed by a 1-0 reverse in the DFB Pokal against Werder Bremen at the Ulrich Haberland Stadion disappointing exit in the quarter-finals. At least the Pätzold XI did gain some confidence with a 2-0 victory in a friendly against Essen.

March: Spectacular home win against Bremen, no points in Munich

The run of four successive games without a win came to an end with a commanding 2-0 away win at FC Carl Zeiss Jena. A week later, the Leverkusen side got the frustration of their Pokal exit against Bremen out of their systems. In the rematch of the quarter-final, an unfettered Werkself defeated the Hanseatic side 6-0 and scored their goals with some great moves. As a result, Eintracht Frankfurt and VfL Wolfsburg remained within touching distance in the Champions League spots of second and third place. After the international break, however, there was nothing doing against the league leaders. The Black and Reds lost 2-0 away to Bayern Munich.

April: Draw in home derby and away win in Potsdam

In the tail end of the season, only two games were scheduled in April due to another international break. In the atmospheric derby against FC Köln, Cornelia Kramer and Co. suffered a serious setback in the race for third place. The Danish goalscorer's ninth goal of the season was ultimately only enough for a 1-1 draw. As a result, the chance of a Champions League place was jeopardised despite a 3-1 victory at Turbine Potsdam. At the same time, the Leverkusen team sealed the relegation of the big club and six-time German champions.

May: One last home win, tearful farewells and four newcomers

Kramer's goal in the last home game against RB Leipzig was enough to secure a 1-0 win but that result was not good enough for the Bayer 04 Women to keep their Champions League hopes alive. However, the Werkself set three club records with this win: Fourth place, 13 wins and 43 points - never before had a Leverkusen team done so well in the Google Pixel Women’s Bundesliga. Tears were already flowing before kick-off in the clash with RB Leipzig: Janou Levels, Karolina Lea Vilhjalmsdottir and Synne Skinnes Hansen played their last home game for the Black and Reds on that day. At the end of the season at runners-up VfL Wolfsburg, there were no more points to be gained (1-3) but goalscorer Kramer continued her impressive run of four goals in a row with her twelfth strike of the season. Subsequently, the departure of home-grown Delice Boboy (to Leipzig) was also announced. In return, the Werkself announced four signings for the new season: Striker Vanessa Fudalla came in from RB Leipzig, the talented attacking player Valentina Mädl and the Austria international Claudia Wenger were signed from Austrian serial champions SKN St. Pölten, and the new Germany international Carlotta Wamser from Eintracht Frankfurt. On top of that, coach Pätzold extended his contract by one year to 2027.

June: Six-week break from training and further personnel decisions

Further contract extensions followed during the six-week training break. Club veteran Melissa Friedrich, who has been at Bayer 04 since 2016, committed to the Werkself for another season. Offensive player Paulina Bartz signed a new contract to 2027. Two other players, Sofia Cava Marin and Julie Jorde, left the club. On 23 June Pätzold started the two-part preseason with 23 players at the Kurtekotten Performance Centre including two of the four new signings, Fudalla and Wenger.

July: European Championship duel between Kramer and shooting star Wamser

While the team's first friendly against Hoffenheim was scheduled for the beginning of the month (0-2), two Leverkusen players were at the European Championships in Switzerland. As luck would have it, Denmark's Kramer and Werkself newcomer Wamser went head-to-head on the second matchday - with the Germany international coming out on top in a 2-1 victory. The entire tournament turned out to be an almost unbelievable fairy tale for Wamser. In the opening match against Poland (2-0), the full-back unexpectedly made her European Championship debut shortly before the break when Germany captain Giulia Gwinn was injured. Wamser impressed straight away, setting up both goals and also delivering against Denmark. Her future team-mate Kramer collected her first minutes of the tournament when she came on as a substitute after 61 minutes, but went out of the competition early with Denmark. Wamser, on the other hand, progressed to the knockout rounds despite a red card in the 4-1 defeat to Sweden in the third group game. The suspended 21-year-old had to watch the emotional penalty shoot-out victory over France in the quarter-finals from the stands, but was back in the starting eleven for the semi-final against Spain. Despite another top performance from Wamser and her team-mates, Germany narrowly missed out on a place in the final after losing 1-0 after extra time. "That really was one of the most extreme experiences I've ever had," said Wamser before adding: "The stadiums were full for every game, the atmosphere was simply incredible."

Meanwhile, the Werkself also played friendlies against PEC Zwolle (1-1) and Ajax (1-0) in Leverkusen before the first part of the preseason ended. The trio of Louisa Remien, Paula Schwartze and Amy Wrigge moved up to the senior squad for the new season.

 

August: Intensive phase of preseason - training camp in Rieden

Part two of the summer preparations started at the beginning of August with the two European Championship players on board. A total of four more friendlies against KVC Westerlo (3-0), PSV Eindhoven (0-0), VfL Wolfsburg (2-3) and Standard Liège (7-1) helped them get up to speed for the start of the season. In the middle of the month, the Leverkusen squad finally moved to their training camp in Rieden in the Upper Palatinate. "The week brought us a big step forward. We had great conditions and were able to work on a lot of content, some of which could be directly implemented in the friendly against Wolfsburg." said Pätzold. "At the same time, it was a very exhausting and long few days with some issues off the pitch too. We grew together as a team and learned even more about each other."

September: First a big game, then a winning streak

After a total of seven friendlies, the 2025/26 season in the 14-team Bundesliga began with a highlight for the Bayer 04 Women. The Bundesliga opener at double winners Bayern Munich was played in front of 57,762 spectators at the Allianz Arena - a record attendance in German women's club football. Thanks to a strong performance, the Werkself did not allow the favourites to dominate for a long time and even came close to taking the lead. In the end the top individual quality of the Bayern Munich team prevailed as they secured a 2-0 win. Encouraged by their courageous performance, Pätzold's team went from success to success in the following weeks - also because the new players impressed immediately. The Black and Reds won against the ambitious promoted team Union Berlin (3-2) and the second promoted team FC Nürnberg (1-0), against last year's third-placed team Eintracht Frankfurt (2-1) and in the DFB Pokal at SV 07 Elversberg (5-0).

October: Curious derby match - 50-metre goal in rearranged game

October continued with a curious abandoning of the derby at FC Köln. The floodlights at the Franz Kramer Stadium partially failed shortly before half-time with the home side 1-0 up. As the attempts to restore the lights were unsuccessful, the match officials abandoned the match. At the second attempt, the Werkself fought their way to a draw despite being 2-0 down - with Katharina Piljic scoring from 50 metres out just before the end of the game. Between the two derby games, Loreen Bender and goalscorer Fudalla led the Bayer 04 Women to an impressive 2-0 victory at Hoffenheim. The first significant setback of the season followed three days after the 2-2 draw in Cologne. After being reduced to ten players for 90 minutes, with Charlotte Voll sent off early on, Lilla Turanyi was also shown the red card - Pätzold's team lost 5-1 in the top match against VfL Wolfsburg.

November: Disappointing Pokal exit in Hamburg

The Werkself played five competitive matches in the intense month of November - and were initially successful with victories in Jena (4-2) and against Hamburg SV (2-1) including a last-minute goal by Caroline Kehrer. But then came a disappointing Monday night at SC Freiburg (1-2), where the Leverkusen team not only lost the game late on, but also their reserve keeper Voll, who had only just returned in goal, with a serious shoulder injury. A week later, Pätzold's team was then unluckily eliminated on penalties in the DFB Pokal Round of 16 tie at HSV and shortly afterwards also lost 1-0 in the home game against bottom-of-the-table SGS Essen. At least a 3-2 victory in the friendly against Dutch league leaders Twente Enschede at the end of the month lifted spirits somewhat.

December: Unfortunate start to the Rückrunde against Bayern Munich - Foundation of the FBL e.V.

The Werkself secured their desired seventh win of the season on matchday 12 thanks to an outstanding opening phase with a 3-2 victory against RB Leipzig. However, they failed to successfully close out the Hinrunde a week later due to a 1-0 defeat at Werder Bremen. The first half of the season ended with the Bayer 04 Women in fifth place on 22 points from 13 games. "Overall, we are neither jubilant nor really dissatisfied after this Hinrunde," said sporting director Achim Feifel. At the start of the second half of the season, Leverkusen lost 3-0 to FC Bayern despite a strong performance in a sold-out UHS - also because the visitors were awarded three penalties. Off the pitch, Bayer 04, together with the 13 other top-flight clubs, hit the headlines with the foundation of the Frauen-Bundesliga FBL e.V. a joint organisation for the development of German women's football.