Illness wave at Werder women: Match against Hoffenheim cancelled two hours before kickoff

TVS News AI, editorially supervised, presents Illness wave at Werder women: Match against Hoffenheim cancelled two hours before kickoff.

The match was originally supposed to kick off at 4 PM – but on Sunday, October 18, 2026, the Werder women's Bundesliga fixture against TSG Hoffenheim was cancelled by the German Football Association (DFB) just around two hours before kickoff. The reason is an illness wave running through the Bremen squad: the club no longer had enough fit players available. The official announcement was published in the afternoon at 2:56 PM – barely more than an hour before the scheduled kickoff.

The club had "made use at short notice on matchday of its right to a match postponement under § 15 of the implementation provisions of the DFB match regulations," the statement read. According to the DFB, a make-up date will be announced shortly.

What the DFB match regulations provide for in such cases

The rule Werder is invoking is clearly worded: "An application for postponement must be filed immediately upon becoming aware of the illnesses/injuries." But the application is only granted once a specific personnel threshold is undershot – otherwise the match is not postponed. The application may not be granted if "more than 13 – or 14, in the event that four or five substitutions are permitted in a competition – eligible players per the eligibility list are effectively available." At least one goalkeeper must also be among those.

Put simply: Werder had to demonstrate to the DFB that the number of available players had fallen below this threshold – otherwise the match would have gone ahead as scheduled. The club did not disclose how many Bremen players were actually sidelined.

Werder responds: Regret and thanks to TSG

Dominik Kupilas, Head of Women's Football & Internationalisation at SV Werder Bremen, said according to a statement: "As soon as the numerous illnesses became known, we immediately informed the DFB and discussed possible solution scenarios." The club also explicitly thanked the visitors from Hoffenheim for "the understanding and the professional way they handled the situation."

The health of our players is our top priority. Under the given circumstances, we are unfortunately unable to play the match.

At the same time, Kupilas appealed for understanding from the fans: "We regret the cancellation for everyone involved, especially for the fans who, like us, had been looking forward to the match, and TSG, who prepared intensively for the game."

What remains open for fans and the standings

The central unanswered question: When will the match be made up? The DFB announced that the new date would be communicated "shortly" – it named no concrete matchday, kickoff time, or venue. Until then, the fixture is only postponed, not struck from the record – the standings situation in the women's Bundesliga remains unchanged for now.

Anyone who had geared up for Bundesliga Sunday – Kupilas spoke of fans "who, like us, had been looking forward to the match" – was confronted with an extremely tight turnaround: between the publication of the official announcement at 2:56 PM and the scheduled kickoff at 4 PM, barely more than an hour had passed.