Bundesliga: women’s football: sad crash from Turbine Potsdam

Yesterday Madrid, tomorrow Milan – that’s the life of Josephine Henning. As a Champions League expert for a pay TV station, the former international jets between the cities that are playing for the final. When she starts talking, Mario Gomez and Matthias Sammer stand by her in amazement. After all, she has a lot to show for herself as a footballer: the 33-year-old won the Champions League four times alone, the first time in 2010 with Turbine Potsdam. The crazy penalty shoot-out against record winners Olympique Lyon was one of their most emotional successes.

There are beautiful pictures of the Potsdam women storming across the pitch in Getafe in their bright red jerseys – many straight into the arms of legendary coach Bernd Schröder, who achieved a remarkable amount with a hard hand. The association from Brandenburg has produced numerous influential figures – and mostly lost them quickly. But now Turbine Potsdam’s relegation from the Bundesliga could be sealed after this weekend. A real traditional brand, beaten last before the home game against Bayer Leverkusen on the third to last match day, has missed the connection.

Someone like assistant coach Dirk Heinrichs has a hard time nibbling on it. “It is sad. Of course, mentally it’s incredibly difficult for the girls,” said the 54-year-old after the recent 6-1 defeat at TSG Hoffenheim. Heinrichs has worked for the club for two decades and watched helplessly as the competition became more and more professional, while the structures at the former flagship remained amateurish.

The team couldn’t cope with the big upheaval last summer. Players from 17 nations are in the squad, but it doesn’t fit together either on or off the pitch. “Things didn’t go well for us in the first half of the season,” says Israeli international Noa Selimhodzic in the magazine “Elfen” about the turbulence with two changes of coach: “It was sometimes difficult for me to stay positive.” At times it was six times GDR and all-German champions without a leader.

The crash also hurts national coach Martina Voss-Tecklenburg, because the 125-time national player has a soft spot for purely women’s clubs from her playing days – when Siegen, Bergisch Gladbach, Heike Rheine, KBC Duisburg and Bad Neuenahr shaped the appearance. She would regret it if Turbine “disappeared from the Bundesliga for the first time on the soccer map. I hope that they have the energy, the desire and the willingness to get back to the top.« But the 55-year-old also knows: »The path is much more difficult than for a club that has an existing infrastructure.« For example, the club RasenBallsport Leipzig, from the new federal states, is moving in for Potsdam, and they want to be among the best for women very soon.

After all, according to Heinrichs, “many players still have a contract at Turbine – for the first and second division”. But economically, times are not getting any easier. The approximately 300,000 euros from the central marketing of the DFB are eliminated. “You shouldn’t underestimate the second division,” warns Heinrichs. Whether you can aim for direct promotion again is only decided after a thorough examination. “Turbine Potsdam is an association, but it has to be run like a medium-sized company,” demands Karsten Ritter-Lang, the president elected in the fall. The doctor living in the Potsdam area requires clear structures and competencies. But it wasn’t just that that was lacking in the recent past, but also the financial resources.

To make matters worse, real competition is growing in Berlin: Hertha BSC is merging with Hertha 03 Zehlendorf in the Regionalliga Nordost, and 1. FC Union, second in the Regionalliga, is also striving for the top with its women. Even Potsdam’s former rival, 1. FFC Frankfurt, would soon have disappeared if there hadn’t been a merger with Eintracht Frankfurt in 2020, Siegfried Dietrich said recently when he left. “Mr. Women’s Football” risked his health for the merger. Nothing works at the top level without a license club behind you.

On average, a women’s Bundesliga club currently makes a loss of around 1.5 million euros, the entire proceeds are eaten up by personnel costs. Men’s football clubs can easily afford it, but this development is ruinous for women’s clubs. DFB general secretary Heike Ullrich believes that the field of participants in both women’s Bundesliga will “change again significantly” in the next five years. However, she also recalled that the SGS Essen, which will soon be the last women’s association, is doing it “with creativity, a good focus and a functioning network” to keep up even with fewer resources. She finds Potsdam’s relegation “a great pity”, this association was “unique” for the region and “significant” for the development in Germany.

Nevertheless, the regret seems a bit played. The DFB likes to talk about the loss-making operation of the women’s Bundesliga and calls for even more investment. The DFL has recently stipulated in the licensing regulations that professional clubs must promote women’s football or at least maintain a cooperation: soon a dozen places for the women’s Bundesliga will not be enough. When Ullrich was still in charge of the responsible DFB directorate, VfL Wolfsburg and Bayern Munich were already dominating. The Champions League, reformatted in 2021, looks like a decal for the men at the latest in the quarterfinals. Trendsetters are FC Barcelona, ​​Chelsea and Arsenal, Paris St. Germain and Olympique Lyon – as well as Wolfsburg and Bavaria. Turbine Potsdam will probably never see Champions League games in large arenas again.