German women’s national team footballer Lena Oberdorf has torn the ACL in her right knee for the second time in 15 months, leaving her sidelined for several months. The 23-year-old will undergo surgery on Tuesday, Bayern Munich confirmed. “Until we meet again…,” Oberdorf wrote on Instagram, adding a broken-heart emoji under a black-and-white action shot.
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“This news hits all of us very hard, and we’re feeling for Lena. After her first injury she fought back to her comeback with great determination and tireless effort,” Bayern director Bianca Rech said. “To now face another setback like this is incredibly tough.”
National-team comeback derailed
Oberdorf had to be substituted early in the Bundesliga champions’ 5-1 victory over 1. FC Köln on Sunday after a collision. Supported by staff and with a taped knee, she left the pitch on the Bayern campus.
The openly lesbian midfielder was slated to make her comeback for the German national team in the Nations League games against France on Friday in Düsseldorf or on the following Tuesday in Caen. For the first time since her return was announced last week, the world-class midfielder was named again to the squad by national coach Christian Wück.
Künzer: “A really big setback”
“Of course, it’s a really big setback for her personally,” said DFB sporting director Nia Künzer after the training session in Düsseldorf that was accompanied by Lena Oberdorf chants. During her active career, Künzer herself suffered four ACL injuries. Speaking with Oberdorf, who has been “touched” by the support, she said, “we are by her side.”
There was also a concerned mood among the players. “Hearing the news today was, of course, very shocking, even though it looked that way yesterday,” said 18-year-old Alara Sehitler of Bayern. “I was on the field with her, and when she went down and I heard her scream, my mind was already: shit, not again.”
Right knee affected again
In the July 16, 2024, international friendly against Austria, the 51-time national team player sustained an ACL and MCL tear in the right knee. Oberdorf thus missed not only the Olympic Games in France, where the DFB team won bronze, but also the European Championship in July in Switzerland.
The injury hits not only Bayern—who have been plagued by injuries this season—but the national team as well. Oberdorf has long been regarded as a leader despite her young age.
Dallmann steps in for Oberdorf
The DFB later named Bayern teammate Linda Dallmann to replace Oberdorf, who had fallen out of the squad after the European Championship. The squad gathered on Monday for its first training ahead of the matches against France.
Oberdorf had made her Bayern debut and return to competitive action at the end of August in the Super Cup victory of the Munich women over VfL Wolfsburg — after a 410-day layoff. “I’m just glad to be playing football again,” Oberdorf said at the time.
The first layoff already felt like ‘hell’
The former Wolfsburg midfielder also spoke again about the countless moments that had felt like “hell”: “When others go out on the pitch, play football, I’m sitting in the gym lifting weights, unable to be with the players on the field, not keeping up with the routines, not traveling with the team, not boarding the bus, not having a bus seat for a year that I’ve now earned again next to Linda Dallmann.” Now she faces another long, painful layoff.
Oberdorf not the only current case
Women in football are statistically more prone to ACL injuries than men, a pattern shown in several studies. Because of the same injury, DFB chief coach Wück recently had to deal with the absence of striker Giovanna Hoffmann (RB Leipzig). Returning to the German squad is Bibiane Schulze Solano (Athletic Bilbao), also after an ACL tear. Veteran national goalkeeper Merle Frohms (formerly Wolfsburg) picked up an ACL injury last week in a Champions League match for Real Madrid.
Oberdorf has never hidden her sexuality. In summer 2023 she publicly spoke about her girlfriend for the first time.
