With the Frauenbundesliga season fast approaching, All White Kit will be unveiling daily team-by-team previews of each club that will be competing in the 2010-11 season. And in the bid to up the coverage of the women’s top flight this season, Carmen Wales will now offer her insight into the league. Carmen once played in the league she now follows and we’re happy to have her on board.

We start off with the “climbers”, the two teams that have earned promotion into the Frauenbundesliga from the 2.Bundesliga.

Who are they: Bayer Leverkusen are essentially the latest edition of many incarnations. SSG 09 Bergisch Gladbach were kind of like the women’s soccer equivalent of Liverpool in the ’70s and ’80s in that they won everything. When the Frauenbundesliga season started up in the ’90s the team slipped out of the top tier and became TuS Koln rrh. That team played mostly in the second and third flights of German soccer. They eventually disbanded in 2008 and became Bayer Leverkusen.The current team has had a lot of success in its short lifespan. In the team’s first year, they finished 7th in the South of the 2.Bundesliga. Last year they finished as champions and earned promotion into the top flight.

Men’s affiliation: The men’s team have never won the Bundesliga but they’ve come close. The team have finished as runner-ups four times in the past 15 years and led the league for many months last season. It has the likes of Michael Ballack and Sami Hyppia in its ranks.

The women’s team is also interesting because it has some financial backing from the men’s side. Check out an article about this in the first edition of Our Game Magazine.

Where were they last year: Champions of 2.Bundesliga south

Notable names: A name WPS fans might remember is Shelley Thompson, the forward who spent a short amount of time with Atlanta this season. There’s also defender Marith Preisen who has experienced success with Duisburg and is coming off of Germany’s U-20 WWC win. Eunice Beckmann is another young (just 18) player from Duisburg. Rumors are also circulating that the team is interested in signing Colombian midfielder Lady Andrade who impressed at the U-20 Women’s World Cup.

What to expect: The team’s higher-ups know how to attain success. Although the team is young, they might be able to cope with the demands of the top flight. They could be a midtable team which would a huge accomplishment for a new ”climber”.

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