Bayern Munich & Germany's Lena Oberdorf set for another long-term absence after cruelly suffering a second ACL tear in just 15 months

Bayern confirmed the news on Monday, after Oberdorf had been forced off in Sunday's 5-1 victory over Cologne in the Frauen-Bundesliga. The versatile midfielder will undergo surgery on Tuesday and likely miss the rest of the 2025-26 season, despite it only just beginning.

"This news has affected us all deeply and our thoughts are with Lena," Bianca Rech, the club's director of women's football, said. "After her first injury, she worked tirelessly and with great determination on her comeback. It is incredibly tough that she now has to face another setback like this. We are fully behind Lena and will support her in every way we can and be there for her in all matters."

Oberdorf has received incredible support from the women's football world in light of the news. After posting an image on Instagram of her in action for Bayern at the start of this new season with the caption "until we meet again", team-mates past and present and even opponents, such as three-time Ballon d'Or winner Aitana Bonmati, commented with well wishes for the Germany star.

"Stay strong" wrote Bonmati, with former Wolfsburg colleagues Ingrid Engen, Jule Brand and Alex Popp among those to join a whole host of Bayern stars in offering their support for Oberdorf as she prepares to face another gruelling recovery.

Speaking to Bayern's '51' magazine back in August, the 23-year-old opened up on how hard it was to come back from the ACL tear she suffered for the first time in July 2024 while on international duty with Germany. It would rule her out of the Olympic Games that took place just a few weeks later, where her nation won a bronze medal, and also Euro 2025, despite that tournament taking place a year after the injury. That was telling of how hard recovering from an ACL injury is. "Very tough," Oberdorf said of the rehab process. "And I've never been a patient person. It was hell."

Coming back from a second tear is the challenge now facing Oberdorf and coping without her is something that Bayern and Germany will have to do again. The good news is that there is not another major international tournament for almost two years, when the 2027 Women's World Cup takes place in Brazil. But there is still plenty of football to be played, with Germany sure to harbour ambitions of winning the Nations League finals which begin this week. They will have to do so without Oberdorf, a key player.

Bayern, meanwhile, will be looking to continue their run of three successive Bundesliga titles while also taking steps forward in Europe, with them only ever having made one Champions League semi-final - that being back in the 2020-21 campaign. It's already clear that the German champions have a long way to get back to that point, as their 7-1 humbling at the hands of three-time winners Barcelona this month showed, but it will be even more difficult without one of the best holding midfielders in the world.

While Oberdorf described her previous rehab as "hell", she did admit that there were some positives from the enforced break from football, the kind of which Giulia Gwinn had told her about but that she didn't believe until she experienced them herself. "I never really believed it," she said. "I always thought, 'I just want to play again'. After last year's experience, I think the break was actually a good thing in a way.

"I defined myself almost exclusively through football," she said, explaining further. "But I'm not worth any less as a person just because I made three bad passes in a game. I've definitely learned a lot about myself. For example, that I've neglected many parts of my personality over the years."

The hope will be that Oberdorf can find positives in what is an extremely difficult time again, as she focuses on completing another long recovery.