Bayern Munich Frauen season preview: Youth leads the way

Last season's Bayern Munich Women's squad finished the season in fourth place.  This season's Bayern Munich Women's squad is aiming higher.  During the off season the team brought in seven new players to the squad, including several young players.  Japanese international Mana Iwabuchi and German international Melanie Leupolz are both under 23 and are expected to make immediate contributions to the team. Leupolz is a midfielder and Iwabuchi is a forward who will most likely pair up top with Eunice Beckmann this season.

While the team has brought in many young players, the team also has added experience in midfielder Melanie Behringer, who has been a prominent member of the German national team for the better part of a decade.

Although there were a large number of additions to the team this offeason, the players had plenty of time to adapt to each other's playing style with a training camp outside of Munich and a friendly against PSG that ended in a 1-1 draw last Friday.

Unfortunately, the off season has not been perfect for the squad.  Last week, star forward and German international Lena Lotzen tore her ACL and is expected to miss a significant amount of time.  Having a player go down in training is never a fun situation to deal with, and especially when the injury occurs so close to the start of the season.  Losing Lotzen for so long will no doubt be tough on the squad.

Bayern was not the only team in the Frauen-Bundesliga busy making moves this offseason.  FFC Frankfurt recently signed Jessica Fishlock and Veronica Boquete from the NWSL.  Fishlock has been a monster in her two seasons playing for the Seattle Reign.  During her time in the United States she has scored 30 goals.  Boquete has also been impressive during her time in the NWSL as she was named to the short list for the UEFA Best Women's Player in Europe Award.

Frankfurt has mostly brought in older, established stars while Bayern has brought in mostly younger, energetic players.  On top of that, Wolfsburg is the reigning champions of Europe. Bayern definitely has a tough test in front of them this season.  This team has an abundance of quality players and plenty of players who are preparing for the World Cup next summer.

Winning the league might be out of reach for this squad, but a Champions League berth is possible for this team. They open the season at FFC Frankfurt on Sunday.