On Sunday, 22 January 2023, the women's team of 1. FC Union Berlin will play their first friendly of the winter against FC Carl Zeiss Jena. After spending six days in a training camp in Spain, Union are now looking to put everything they've been working on into a more competitive context in the match.

Kick-off at Hämmerlingstrasse is at 14:00. Admission is free.

Big reunion

This is a reunion on several levels. After all, there was a pre-season friendly in the Summer between the two side. Back then the second-division team beat Union 4-0, though their victory was certainly not as decisive as the scoreline would suggest.

But there will also be some familiar faces returning to Köpenick on Sunday. The Thuringian squad includes two former Union players, goalkeeper Sarah Hornschuh (2014-2018) and striker Josephine Bonsu (2015-2021). The latter also played in the Regionalliga duel last October, when Jena's U-21 team played Union in Berlin. That match was played at the Stadion An der Alten Försterei and ended 3-3 in front of 1,300 spectators, with Bonsu scoring one goal.

In the 2.Liga, FC Carl Zeiss Jena are currently in a reöegation spot in 12th, but with a game in hand. Remarkably, they are the the only team from the bottom half of the table with a positive goal difference. This is because particularly in defense, Jena are one of the strongest teams in the league, having conceded only 15 goals after ten matches.

Union's head coach Ailien Poese is looking forward to the encounter on Sunday.

"We expect a strong opponent who will demand everything from us. Nevertheless, we also want to try out some things that we have been talking about recently."

Apart from Pauline Wimmer and Luca Scheel, only the wing-backs Latoya Bach and Luise Wildner are still questionable, meaning the 38-year-old has all her players at her disposal.