In the lead: Linda Dallmann (10) and FC Bayern Munich. Wolfsburg and Alexandra Popp (below) are left behind.
Photo: imago/Eibner-Pressefoto/Jenni Maul
Of course, Horst Hrubesch and Nia Künzer cannot be missed. The interim coach and sports director of the German women’s national team are almost officially obliged to make the trip to eastern Lower Saxony at the weekend. The summit meeting between VfL Wolfsburg and FC Bayern (Saturday 5.45 p.m. / ARD) with the meeting of the best German footballers can bring a preliminary decision in the championship fight. More than 21,000 tickets have been sold for the VW Club arena. Lured with the provocative slogan: “Mia san hia at home”.
The champions from Munich arrive with a bold announcement from the highest club level. “We have great respect for VfL Wolfsburg, which has made enormous contributions to German women’s football, but we are well on the way to a changing of the guard here,” says President Herbert Hainer. His sports director Bianca Rech sounds a little more cautious in view of Bayern’s disastrous record in the Autostadt – the last victory dates back to 2008: “The history in Wolfsburg doesn’t necessarily work in favor of FC Bayern.” Even in the event of a defeat, they would still get a point are ahead – and would have an almost unassailable seven point lead if they won.
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If things go badly, the “Wolfs” will remain without a trophy for the first time since 2012. Bayern could also break into the Wolfsburg phalanx in the DFB Cup final on May 9th in Cologne. In the semi-finals, Wolfsburg against SGS Essen and Bayern against Eintracht Frankfurt are clearly the favorites. It is otherwise unmistakable that VfL is losing its previous supremacy. Using data analysis, NDR found that goalkeeper Merle Frohms, defenders Marina Hegering and Kathrin Hendrich, but also Lena Oberdorf and Popp are playing worse than last year. Things are no longer going so well under coach Tommy Stroot, as the unimaginative performance at TSG Hoffenheim (1:2) showed. On the other hand, the Norwegian Alexander Straus manages to ensure that Bayern, with their German figureheads Giulia Gwinn, Klara Bühl and Lea Schüller, operate highly efficiently, at least nationally.
It must be noticeable that manager Oberdorf justifies her move to Bayern by saying she wants to become “a complete player”. Apparently this is no longer possible on the Mittelland Canal, where the chemistry is no longer supposed to be right everywhere. And while Bayern are able to keep Sydney Lohmann, who is highly sought after from abroad, Wolfsburg is losing a defender of international stature in Dominique Janssen. Goal scorer Ewa Pajor is also said to be saying goodbye.
The player agent Jasmina Covic says: “Bayern is the coming series champion.” The Munich-based networker also looks after Laura Freigang from Eintracht Frankfurt, where the efforts are also being increased. When the club recently announced the signing of new international player Elisa Senß from Bayer Leverkusen, the midfielder herself said that they wanted to “play for titles in the next few years.”
According to a Deloitte study, Eintracht, which is fighting for third place, earns 3.6 million euros, more than any other German club with its women. The fact that the budgets in Munich and Wolfsburg are significantly higher and five-figure monthly salaries for the stars are more the rule than the exception is due to the high subsidization of the women’s department. The result: Wolfsburg and Bayern have shared all titles since 2015.
The German Football Association (DFB) deliberately scheduled this duel on an international match weekend in order to enable a live broadcast on public broadcasters. The ARD placed Popp and Co. in the program like a “prelude” to the men’s international match between France and Germany.
The hope is for a record quota for a women’s league game. The record so far is the 1.83 million from the previous year with the same constellation. For comparison: Almost 5.6 million recently watched the decider between Germany and the Netherlands on ZDF when the DFB women won their Olympic ticket. They have now been drawn into a group with Australia, the USA and Morocco or Zambia. By the way, Hrubesch and Künzer were very happy with it.
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