The Frauen-Bundesliga is currently on its winter break, and after the Christmas break and New Year, the current leaders, Bayern München, will begin their pre-season on January 11 for training at Sportpark Aschheim, Munich, depending on weather conditions.
On January 31, the team travels to Spain and on February 6 will play a friendly against the current champions of the FA WSL Cup in 2015, Arsenal Ladies. The match will be held in Seville, at 4pm at local time.
The next day, the German team returns to Munich for the February 14 return to Frauen Bundesliga action, where they will face 1. FC Köln in Grünwalder Stadion.
Arsenal Ladies: Planning the season 2016
The English team, coached by Spaniard Pedro Losa, finished third in the 2015 FA WSL 1, for which Chelsea were crowned champions. The team had eight wins, three draws and three defeats all season and just missed out on qualification for the UEFA Women's Champions League, with Manchester City beating them to second.
In the WSL Cup, the team had an unbeaten campaign with their five wins in Group A of the competition coming against Chelsea, Reading, Millwall, Watford and London Bees.
In the quarter-finals, the team beat the champions of the competition in 2014, Manchester City and in the semi-finals defeated Birmingham City. In the final, they beat FA Women's Cup finalists Notts County 3-0, finishing the competition with a total of eight wins in eight games, 21 goals scored and 3 conceded.
In the FA Women's Cup, the team reached the quarterfinals, where they were eliminated by local rivals Chelsea, who would become the tournament champion.
For the season 2016, the team have made two transfers - Dutch midfielder Danielle Van der Donk coming from Goteborg FC and the Irish forward Katy McCabe from Shelbourne FC.
Alex Scott, Emma Byrne, Leah Williamson, Emma Mitchell, Jemma Rose and Casey Stoney have all had their contracts renewed too, with the team losing only two players so far - goalkeeper Siobhan Chamberlain (Liverpool Ladies) and striker Chioma Ubogabu (Houston Dash).
With the FA WSL 2016 season due to start in March, facing Bayern will be an excellent pre-season test for Arsenal as they go into the new campaign hoping to improve on last year's league finish.
Bayern: Keep up good results in the Frauen Bundesliga, even with European failure
The German team, coached by Thomas Wörle, is the current champion of the Frauen Bundesliga. The last defeat of Bayern München in an official match was on 1 August 2014, when they lost to TSG 1899 Hoffenheim by a 3-2 scoreline, with them on an unbeaten run of 34 league games.
Despite elimination in the round of 32 of the UEFA Women's Champions League, where they were defeated by FC Twente on away goals, the team is having a flawless campaign, with the second best attack and the best defense in the league.
Twelve points ahead of VfL Wolfsburg and 1. FFC Frankfurt, the championship looks set to come much sooner than last season, when the team won it only in the last round.
Sara Däbritz coming from SC Freiburg is the top scorer of the competition with six goals scored. Taking advantage of the injury to Lena Lotzen, Däbritz settled in the team and it is difficult to see any game coming without her in the starting 11. The American Gina Lewandowski is another player who has stood out quite early this season too.
The Bavarian team has not announced any new transfers so far, though two American forwards players have left - Katie Stengel joining Washington Spirit and Kristie Mewis returning to Boston Breakers from her loan with Bayern.
Besides seeking their third title in the Frauen Bundesliga, Bayern will fight for the title of the DFB Pokal der Frauen, where they are currently a semi-finalist. The team will face SC Sand in Willstätt on April 3, while in the other tie, Wolfsburg and Freiburg will face in the AOK Stadium - Wolfsburg's home.