VfL Women’s 2024/25 pre-season kicked off on Thursday with 31 players and 10 new faces. In rainy weather, the squad went through a brisk first session at the Elsterweg training ground, before a media day in the afternoon and a team get-together in the evening.
“Really fun first session”
After a summer break of about six weeks, almost all the players walked onto the pitch around 10:30 on Thursday morning in high spirits. “It was a really fun first session,” said VfL head coach Tommy Stroot afterwards. Not everyone completed the full programme, however. “We’ve adapted the training to individual players’ current situations,” explained Stroot.
Along with the She-Wolves’ seven summer signings, Karla Brinkmann and Nelly Smolarzyk were also involved – the two U20 players are part of the Green-and-Whites’ first-team squad from this season. There was also a first look at a new member of the coaching staff, with Carin Bakhuis, previously head coach at SV Meppen, now working for VfL Women as an assistant coach.
For all the players, it was the first training session with the whole squad on the field, although there have been a few small group sessions in recent days alongside the obligatory performance tests. However, there will only be one more session with the full squad for now. After training on Friday morning, the international players will be on duty until 17 July, while VfL’s seven Olympians then head off to prepare for the tournament in France, which takes place from 25 July to 10 August. With regards to the absences, Stroot said: “It’s no problem, because we’ve already achieved a lot in these few days.”
For the players who are staying in Wolfsburg, the focus in the coming weeks will be on getting to know each other and, for the new arrivals in particular, internalising the She-Wolves’ principles of play in defence and attack.
The summer schedule
