Opening game under floodlights: BVB women to kick off DFB-Pokal against Gladbach | OneFootball

It has been a summer of change for the BVB women. The Regionalliga promoted outfit not only have a new head coach in Markus Högner (read the in-depth interview), but they have also brought in 16 new signings. “The big overhaul has gone well so far. The new signings have integrated well and you can already sense a good team spirit,” explained Högner. The players strengthened this spirit even further at their training camp in early August. For 10 days – consisting of a pre-season tournament in Liechtenstein followed by a five-day stay in Westendorf, Austria – the Borussia women prepared intensively for the new season. The question of who will be the new Black & Yellow captain was also resolved there: 23-year-old Paula Reimann will lead the team onto the pitch from now on. (The BVB women in Tyrol: training, excitement for Juventus and the captaincy issue.)

The Borussia women will go into Tuesday's play-off round with the experience of several friendly fixtures and the pre-season tournament under their belts. The pre-season schedule included a match against Japanese top-flight team Cerezo Osaka. Markus Högner's team suffered a 3-1 defeat against the strong side from Japan. But BVB won the pre-season tournament, defeating ambitious Austrian first-division club SCR Altach 6-1 in the final. The highlight of the pre-season preparations was last Sunday's season opener against Champions League participants Juventus. Although the match ended in a 4-0 defeat, the Black & Yellows held their own for a long time and missed a penalty in the first half.

The opposition in the BVB women's DFB-Pokal debut on Tuesday evening will be second-tier side Borussia Mönchengladbach. “Gladbach are the favourites on paper. They do good work there, they develop talented youngsters and have experienced players too. Unlike in the league, we will be the underdogs on Tuesday,” said Högner, as he looked ahead to the match against Gladbach. The opposition have won each of their last three friendlies against Regionalliga teams (10-0, 2-1 and 5-1). The second-tier side finished last season in ninth place. In their most recent DFB-Pokal campaign, the Gladbach ladies made it to the quarter-finals.

After a successful pre-season, BVB coach Markus Högner is feeling good about the first competitive game of the season. “The players have been quick to implement the things that we've been working on in terms of our philosophy. Now we're looking forward to our first DFB-Pokal game under the floodlights.” Högner also has almost all of his players at his disposal. Only Frederike Kempe is missing due to adductor problems.

Tickets for the evening game at Stadion Rote Erde are available via the Online Store. The match against Borussia Mönchengladbach will also be broadcast live on Sky Sport Mix.