imago images / Hartenfelser
In the Frankfurt stadium at Brentanobad: Eintracht beats FC Bayern Munich 3: 2 (17.10.2021)
The biggest bang in the women’s league came before the season, because the DFB, which is often criticized, has managed to bring the television rights for the games of the football league to customers. From now on the transmissions run Magenta Sport, the pay TV broadcaster of the Telekom group, in full length. There is also a Friday game Eurosport to see. With this, the association wants to ensure more visibility. The DFB, which has also been interested in diversity since the last European Championship, as long as it doesn’t hurt anyone, should like the additional income. The idea of separating the women’s division from the DFB recently showed that the relationship between clubs in the women’s Bundesliga and the association is tense. At the next DFB Bundestag in March 2022, the relevant application from the Rhineland Football Association will be decided. Above all, it should be about stepping out of the shadow of the overpowering male profitability. They no longer want to be League 1b. The »revolutionaries« have a well-known advocate: Theo Zwanziger, DFB President from 2006 to 2012. Creating a new perspective can only be done »outside of a large area that casts shadows,« said Zwanziger. It was only recently debated whether the women’s league should not be taken over by the marketing professionals of the German Football League (DFL), who have been exporting the high-gloss product of German men’s football to the world for years.
In the first duel in front of the TV cameras, the teams of SC Freiburg and TSG Hoffenheim dueled. Hoffenheim in particular has big plans for the season and won 2-1. The Kraichgau women, who have always played for third place in recent years, now want more. Bayer Leverkusen can be seen as a surprise team. The »Werkself« have mostly played persistently against relegation, but after finishing fifth last year they also tasted blood and want to move up. Last Saturday she also won 2-1 in Freiburg and is second in the table after the sixth matchday.
In their second season, SG Eintracht Frankfurt can be found in the table again, because names and club colors were exchanged at the Frankfurt Brentanobad. The 1. FFC Frankfurt was dissolved in 2020 and has since moved to Eintracht along with its license. The former industry leader, who competed for the championship year after year with Turbine Potsdam, became more and more a gray mouse towards the end of the 2000s. The last major success was six years ago when the Champions League was surprisingly won. It is now hoped that the merger will create a new radiance. It should go back to old successes with a more stable financial background. After a 3-2 home win over leaders Bayern Munich, Eintracht is currently third in the table.
The women of VfL Wolfsburg, who are going into the new season as reigning cup winners, have a solid financial foundation. At the beginning, small rolls were baked. The departure of various top performers is still difficult to digest, such as the change of two-time European footballer of the year, Pernille Harder, in 2020, who is now on the ball for Chelsea FC. Coach Stefan Lerch also left the Wolfinnen, he will henceforth train the U17 juniors at TSG Hoffenheim – probably for more money and publicity. Now the unknown Tommy Stroot takes on the big task of steering a weakly staffed squad on the right track. A goal is deliberately not given out – you don’t want to build up pressure.
The women at FC Bayern will feel pressure this year. As defending champions, they go into the race as the hunted. Not unlike to be expected, there was a grandiose announcement from Säbener Straße that of course they wanted to defend the title and also play for the title in the cup and the Champions League. At FCB, despite the championship, they ticked off the disappointing season. This time you want to avoid the slump that happened just before the end of the last season at all costs. They lost in both cup semi-finals and had to give up hope for a triple. With the international top stars Glódís Viggósdóttir and Saki Kumagai, the Munich team see themselves as well equipped to have a constant season. The departure of Simone Laudehr, however, weighs heavily. The world and European champion brought a good deal of experience to the team. For Laudehr, it’s over at the age of 34.
As mentioned, there are teams in the upper table that can also show a successful men’s division. Only five teams are not the women’s division of a Bundesliga club. With the rise of Werder Bremen, another light heavyweight was added, because the women of Carl Zeiss Jena are after all connected to a regional league team. Only SC Sand, Turbine Potsdam and SG Essen-Schönebeck are the sole flagships of their clubs. This also creates a financial injustice, because women’s teams have long been cross-subsidized by the big clubs. An ambitious project starts the new season in the district league: the women’s team from Borussia Dortmund. The team is already enthusiastic. After five games, the Dortmund women are unbeaten and still without conceding first place in the district league A. The path is undoubtedly leading upwards. It is therefore possible that in the near future the more professional clubs will dispute the starting places in the Bundesliga with the small clubs. In the second division, the teams from Meppen, Duisburg and Nuremberg are ready to take the plunge into professional football.
