The women of VfL Bochum are spending the winter break in mid-table in the 2nd Bundesliga. A losing streak and injury woes took the momentum out of their good start.

The 2025 soccer year ended a little earlier than expected for the women of VfL Bochum. The last game of the year at VfR SW Warbeyen was canceled.

This meant that coach Kyra Malinowski’s team had no opportunity to add to their previous haul of 17 points and remain in mid-table in the 2nd Bundesliga.

A losing streak of four games in October and November had somewhat overshadowed the VfL women’s good start to the season.

Kyra Malinowski, how would you assess VfL Bochum’s first half of the season?

Mixed overall. I think we all went into the season with different expectations. We’ve had some less than fortunate games at times. We definitely want to collect more points in the second half of the season than we did in the first.

What has been the highlight for you so far?

That was definitely the game against SC Sand, which we won 5-1 at home. The game against Turbine Potsdam was very emotional because we had a lot of injured players and many who were ill. We went there with very few players and played a good game – and took the three points.

And what was the most negative experience?

The low point was the game against VfB Stuttgart, which we lost 6-0. But in general, you can just list the four games in a row that we lost.

Will there be any changes to the squad during the winter break?

We have a good squad together. Now some players are coming back from injury, such as Nina Lange, who will be slowly reintegrated at the beginning of the year. Or Leana Zaugg, who was and still is injured and will hopefully be able to slowly rejoin the team at the beginning of the year. That’s why I can’t say anything more specific at the moment. What is your goal for the rest of the season?

Our basic idea is not to look too far into the future, but to take it step by step. It’s easy to forget the small steps and only focus on the big picture. In our current situation, it’s all about bringing consistency and giving 100 percent week after week.