Frankfurt’s Laura Freigang (M.) has many fans – and their unity, like here against Cologne, more and more spectators.
Photo: imago/Ulrich Scherba
There were still three quarters of an hour until kick-off when the first motorists on Ludwig-Landmann-Strasse became impatient last Sunday afternoon. At the junction to the car park at the Brentanobad in the Rödelheim district of Frankfurt, we only continued at a crawl. Reason for the high volume of traffic: Eintracht Frankfurt’s home game in the women’s Bundesliga against 1. FC Köln. Applause erupted when the audience figure of 2735 lit up on the video wall shortly before the end of the game.
The times were not too long ago when mostly only 1000 faithful lost themselves in the stadium at the Brentanobad for the games of the 1. FFC Frankfurt, which as a pure women’s club was hardly viable anymore. The merger with Eintracht Frankfurt in 2020 proved to be a stroke of luck. The footballers under the Adler roof offer a different kind of live experience: good sport, but smaller, more informal and cheaper.
Not only the popularity of the fans is constantly increasing, but also the interest of sponsors and the media. The interest is promoted by players like Laura Freigang, who are hardly far behind in popularity compared to the male stars. More than 120,000 people follow the Frankfurt goalscorer on Instagram, she is recognized more and more often on the street, at the university, in the café. “That’s absolutely beautiful. There is a perception I never expected. I notice the positive development every day,” says the 24-year-old. She is approachable and down-to-earth, intelligent and funny. A real sympathizer of the club – and a fresh face of football.
Freigang only really became well-known through the European Championships. It’s been 100 days since Germany played England in the final at Wembley Stadium. The eight-time European champion lost – and yet had won a lot on the holy turf: the hearts at home. The women, who score with their honesty and naturalness, showed the men before their World Cup in Qatar how good performances and authentic characters can win the favor of the audience.
Unlike the home World Cup in 2011, this time a legacy for German women’s football should remain. And there are increasing indications that a lasting interest is developing. Holger Blask, Managing Director of the German Football Association (DFB), observes an “image change”. Women are no longer the fifth wheel on the wagon, but a driving force. The chief marketer knows that the greater social weighting of issues such as variety and diversity helps, “but that cannot be the sole driver”. The basic requirement is still good sport, Blask insists.
Otherwise there would hardly have been a new record crowd of 23,200 fans for the opening game of this season in the Frankfurt Arena between Eintracht and Bayern Munich. The same applies to the 22,000 spectators recently at the top game between VfL Wolfsburg and FC Bayern. Incidentally, Lina Magull, Klara Bühl and Co will be playing their home game in the Champions League on December 7th against FC Barcelona in Munich for the second time in the club’s history in the large arena. Finally, by far the most important German club brand is riding the wave.
Interest has increased at all twelve Bundesliga locations, in some cases significantly. With 119,286 visitors on the first seven match days, the attendance exceeded all expectations: it is already almost 11,000 more than in the entire previous season. The average number of viewers is currently 2840, compared to just 840 in the previous season.
A study by the sports marketing agency “Two Circles” published by the DFB on Monday examined the new perspectives. The forecast model promises golden times. According to this, a total of half a million active players will be registered with the DFB for the 2031/32 season, currently there are 187,000. In the Bundesliga there will then be 16 DFL clubs, i.e. licensed clubs, currently there are eight. 60 games take place in front of more than 10,000 spectators. The average number of visitors is expected to increase to 7,500, and total revenue to increase sevenfold to 130 million. For the head of the study, Bettina Baer, these are not dreamy goals. ‘It’s all based on facts. The product can do something and is attractive.« There are clear market signals for this, according to the former Swiss national player.
Doris Fitschen, the overall DFB coordinator for women in football and former manager of the DFB women, says: “We are on the right track. The willingness to invest in women’s football is increasing dramatically. We have to keep at it now.« And Christian Keller, the managing director of 1. FC Köln, emphasizes: »In the future there will be girls’ and women’s football. If clubs want to position themselves holistically and diversely, then they cannot simply leave out an important target group that makes up around half of society.« According to the study, there are 40 million people interested in football in Germany, 19 million of whom are interested in men’s football and pursue women.
This is the group that the new television contract for the women’s Bundesliga is aimed at. Starting next season, ARD, ZDF and Sport1 will share a wide range of live games and summaries together with the payment platforms DAZN and Magenta. Around five million euros are collected each season. For comparison: The 3rd division of the men gets five times as much money. Nevertheless, the women are satisfied with the result, because more television presence is the key to more visibility.
Claudia Neumann is not quite so confident. The ZDF commentator sees that “social awareness of gender equality has also increased enormously in football”, but from her point of view the direction is not correct: “I see big stadiums and the many live TV offers as the core of the new television contracts critically , because I just don’t get a clear idea of who this offer is intended for. Young people in particular are watching fewer and fewer 90-minute live games outside of the big tournaments.«
Neumann – a member of the women’s initiative »Football can do more«, which campaigns for a wide range of concerns for female footballers and for more women in football – would prefer a »contrast to the unapproachable, styled commercial football of men«. “There has never been a better chance of creating women’s football as an alternative to men’s professional football than as a copy.”
When the stadiums in Germany are deserted for around two months because of the men’s World Cup in Qatar, the women should fill this empty space. “I do believe that there is a chance that many fans will want to see football live on site,” believes national coach Martina Voss-Tecklenburg. Your team is now traveling to the USA for two friendlies. The DFB selection first plays in Fort Lauderdale on Friday night and then in Harrison on Sunday against the world champions. The national coach speaks of “two cool games”.
And yet the transmissions at a late hour only run in the live stream from ARD and ZDF. The 54-year-old senses from such details that there is still a long way to go: »The development is going in the right direction, but we still have a lot to do. And we have to keep up our good performances.« It’s not long before the next major event: Germany wants to play for the title at the World Cup in Australia and New Zealand next summer. It will be even more difficult to lure masses in front of the television again because the games are running in the morning due to the time difference. A national player like Frankfurt’s Freigang still has bright eyes today: “The World Cup is our next huge opportunity.”
