When VfL Wolfsburg plays in Lyon on Tuesday evening (November 11th, 2025), not only will two previously unbeaten teams meet in the Champions League, but national player Jule Brand will also meet her old team. And the young striker appears to be on time “special duel” to have found her role in the French star ensemble.
She dribbles through the opponent’s penalty area, provides precise assists across the entire field, just in time for the duel with her former club, VfL Wolfsburg. The 23-year-old Brand is still waiting for her first goal in French Division 1, but scored one on matchday seven in a 5-1 win in Montpellier (November 7th). The debut now seems to have been a success, also because the team made it very easy for her to feel comfortable, said the national player.
After three years in Wolfsburg, Brand decided in the summer to sign a contract with the top French club Olympique Lyonnais Lyonnes (OL Lyonnes) until 2028. “I want to show what I can do on the field. I want to win titles with the team”said Brand at the announcement and so far the striker is well on her way there. After seven games, coach Jonatan Giraldez’s team has a maximum of 21 points and a goal difference of 31:5.
Brand is still unbeaten with Lyon this season
It’s clear that Wolfsburg’s captain Alexandra Popp doesn’t see her team as favorites before the duel: “We have to throw ourselves into everything and try to take away the fun of the game and set the needle ourselves. We’ll have to see whether we succeed.” After two games, the team from Lower Saxony is level on points (six points) with the French in third place in the Champions League, one place and one goal ahead of the supposed favorites.
But while Jule Brand is rediscovering her scoring skills in France at the perfect time, the German Bundesliga record champions are in crisis. On the 10th matchday (November 8th), coach Stephan Lerch’s team narrowly lost 2:3 against Eintracht Frankfurt. It was the second defeat of the season and the difference to leaders Bayern Munich grew to six points early in the season. In France, however, Lyon is the measure of all things.
National player looking forward to “familiar faces”
As the Germersheim native already highlighted in the welcome video at her new club, the mentality in Lyon is at a particularly high level. The team won the premier class eight times, the cup ten times and the French league 18 times. So there’s no time for sentimentality before the duel in Lyon, something the German is also clear about: “I had a great three years there. It’s nice to see familiar faces again. It’s going to be a good game and I’m looking forward to it.”
Not always easy times: Jule Brand celebrates one of her 22 goals for Wolfsburg
No trace of “bad blood” after the not always easy time in Wolfsburg, when Ralf Kellermann, director of women’s football at VfL Wolfsburg, publicly criticized the striker. In December 2023, the 57-year-old said: “She doesn’t have consistency in her performance, keeps hinting at her potential, but hasn’t yet found a way to reliably bring this potential onto the pitch. She also lacks the sense of success.”
“Golden Girl” award stops fire in Wolfsburg
At the time, Brand partly agreed with her sports director and was self-critical. After the offensive player received the “Golden Girl” award as the best U21 player in Europe in October 2022, she “I realized that I had something to lose – and that there were expectations of me.” Instead of giving up, the footballer fought her way out of a temporary dip in form and said goodbye to the German upper house in 2025 with five goals and five assists.
It should be out of the comfort zone and into one of the strongest teams in Europe. Train and compete every day with ex-world footballer Ada Hegerberg, defense expert Wendie Renard and Olympic champion Lindsey Stapel. “I respect the whole thing, but I’m also really looking forward to it.”Brand described her feelings after the announcement of her move. A change that seemed to have had a positive effect on the German even before the actual transfer.
With Wolfsburg against Lyon: Jule Brand played against her current colleague Damaris Egurrola in 2024
Since the European Championship in the summer at the latest, the national player has once again impressively demonstrated her footballing and fighting skills. Two goals in five games – DFB vice-captain Sjoeke Nüsken said about them: “When she’s confident on the pitch, she’s unbeatable.” And the German number 22 in Switzerland was unbeatable not only offensively but also defensively. In the quarterfinals against France, she won 18 of 34 duels – more than any other player on the pitch. A quality that could also be extremely valuable against Wolfsburg.