Women

Next up: Northern derby

The She-Wolves host Hamburger SV at the AOK Stadion on Sunday.

Before the international break, the VfL Wolfsburg women are looking to deliver once more: on Sunday 4 October, they host Hamburger SV at the AOK Stadion, with kick-off at 13:45 CEST (live on Sport 1, Magenta Sport and DAZN). The She-Wolves’ objective is clear: they want to come out on top in the northern derby. Tickets are still available from the Wölfeshop for the Matchday 6 encounter in the Google Pixel Women’s Bundesliga. The Green-and-Whites won the last meeting at the AOK Stadion 3-1 in December 2025.

Huth on the verge of milestone

The VfL women have another intense week and plenty of travel behind them, but it was also a highly successful one: on Wednesday, the She-Wolves won 2-0 away to SK Sturm Graz in the second qualifying round of the UEFA Women’s Europa Cup to book their place in the round of 16. They also beat SC Sand 6-0 in the first main round of the DFB Cup last Sunday. The Green-and-Whites therefore head into the match against HSV with momentum on their side. It could be a particularly special game for captain Svenja Huth, who is on the verge of her 350th Women’s Bundesliga appearance. That would see her move ahead of Saskia Bartusiak on the league’s all-time appearance list, leaving only Kerstin Garefrekes (360), Sandra Smisek (378) and Melanie Hoffmann (395 appearances) ahead of her.

Back-to-back wins for HSV

The HSV women have registered one league win so far. Two weeks ago, they beat 1. FC Nürnberg 5-1. The team also won 2-1 away to SV Meppen in the DFB Cup last weekend. Hamburg struggled for long periods against the second-tier side, only scoring the decisive goal in the 90th minute. Notably, the HSV women have conceded just six goals in the league this season. HSV head coach Rodolfo Cardoso expects a “tough game” against the She-Wolves. The former professional initially took charge of the team on an interim basis in April and has officially been head coach since the start of this season. Prior to that, he worked in the club’s youth set-up.

Stephan Lerch lacht in der Nahaufnahme.

Ahead of the match against Hamburger SV, VfL head coach Stephan Lerch spoke about…

…the squad situation: As things stand today, the personnel situation is unchanged from the game against Graz. With the exception of Giovanna Hoffmann, Cecilie Floe and Weronika Arasniewicz, all players are available.

…the opposition: Particularly after their win against Nürnberg, HSV are certainly a team who will play with freedom and approach the game with confidence and courage. Hamburg made very good use of their transition moments against Nürnberg and were clinical with their chances. I’m sure that’s something they’ll look to do again. They’ll want to defend compactly and keep the spaces tight.

…what will be important on Sunday: For us, it’s about being switched on from the very first minute, taking control of the game and finding solutions against an opponent who sit deep. We want to keep the pressure on, create space, be flexible in the final third and generate chances that way. We need to be more clinical in front of goal. At the same time, we need good defensive cover and good counter-pressing to prevent transitions. We want to keep the three points in Wolfsburg before the international break.

…the fans: I’m expecting another good crowd and hope it’ll be really full again. The atmosphere at the last meeting at the AOK Stadion was already quite remarkable. That said, I also think the support Hamburg bring is a real asset to the league. So I’m expecting another great atmosphere.

…the number of different goalscorers so far: It’s very important that every player can pose a threat in attack. I’m pleased that we’re managing to make ourselves harder to predict. One indication of that is that, on the one hand, we have several different goalscorers and, on the other, we can score from a variety of situations. That’s exactly how we want it.