AUDIO: Wolfsburg before the first game of the year against Cologne (1 min)
Women’s Bundesliga
As of: February 2, 2026 3:47 p.m
After losing a game last week, VfL Wolfsburg is starting the rest of the women’s Bundesliga season late: today 1. FC Köln is coming to the Allerpark Stadium. Coach Stephan Lerch has learned his lessons from the first half of the season and also wants top striker Alexandra Popp to continue at VfL.
“You can see she’s in good shape,” says Lerch about VfL captain Alexandra Popp. The attacker scored ten times in 13 games. Also thanks to the support of her teammates, says the coach: “I believe that the collective is working better and better, so that Poppi’s strengths can be used better and better. But of course she also benefits from her own hard work and commitment. She is in a really good flow.”
The 34-year-old shone before the winter break, is accurate and opinionated, leads the team – but has not yet decided whether she will still play for VfL after the summer.
Lerch wants Popp’s contract extension
Both a move to another club and the end of his career are possible – Popp is currently playing her 19th Bundesliga season. “She has her own mind when making decisions and I don’t know what arguments you could give. But she realizes how important she is for the team, and I often tell her that – and that we need her. I also told her that I would be very happy if she continued here.”
The captain herself said at the winter training camp in Malta that she could not yet foresee when she would decide on her future.
Better defense work needed
On the Mediterranean island, the coaching team focused on defensive work in mid-January – because VfL have conceded 20 goals so far, more than in the entire previous season. “In particular, the number of set-piece goals conceded is very noticeable. We have worked intensively on how we can improve defensively. But it is also clear that we have to better control long balls into the defense and second balls from the opponents,” says the coach.
The league leaders from Munich have only conceded four goals, the second strongest team in defense is 1. FC Köln with 18 goals conceded. Today (6 p.m., in the NDR Livecenter) we face the team of former Wolfsburg assistant coach Britta Carlson.
“The Cologne team has developed further, previously injured players have come back and that has increased the quality. The defensive work is worth highlighting – and also the very aggressive style of play against the ball,” Lerch observed.
VfL coach Lerch on the chances in three competitions
The play-offs in the Champions League are also coming up in February: in the return leg, Wolfsburg will fight against Juventus Turin for a place in the quarter-finals. “Of course we want to achieve that – then we could be really proud,” said Lerch.
His team is already in the last eight of the DFB Cup and will host Eintracht Frankfurt in March, one of two hurdles that need to be overcome towards the final. “Of course we want to go to the final in Cologne. And come back with something in our luggage as best we can. That’s clearly our goal,” says Lerch, who won the cup three times in his first Wolfsburg term – and the championship three times.
However, this title currently seems quite far away due to FC Bayern’s lead. “We want to consolidate second place and further expand the gap to third place. If FC Bayern continues to win so consistently, we won’t be able to catch up. But if there is a weak phase for the Munich team and we are stable, we of course want to stick with it,” said Lerch.
It’s not just the lawn heating that needs to be running at full speed
In the game against Cologne, the VfL coach has to do without some professionals. In defense, Janou Levels is still injured and Caitlin Dijkstra has only just started training again. Midfielder Lena Lattwein is out sick, as is attacker Cora Zicai.
The game, however, is not at risk: the pitch heating in the home stadium is running at full power, explained Lerch, who wants his team to play with commitment at temperatures expected to be five degrees below zero: “We all don’t want to freeze. One more reason to step on the accelerator.”
