It was twelve years ago that the German football players most recently celebrated the European Championship title. Now it should finally work again. The team has plans a lot for the tournament in Switzerland. And the DFB offers you a special wage for the success.
When the first preliminary round game against Poland will kick off next Friday, Germany will start as a record winner. No other nation has won a football European Championship as often as the women’s selection of the German Football Association: eight times in 13 editions. And yet the title saturation of the late 1980s to early 2010s has given way to a success. Because for the last time the last time, German players in 2013 put the European Championship cup into the air. The last title gain in total so far was already nine years ago, the 2016 Olympic victory.
“It does not take twelve years for title, two are enough. The longing is great. We compete for this at tournaments,” says Nia Künzer, 45, who headed the DFB team in 2003 for the World Cup profit and experienced the best years of German women’s football on the pitch. Today, as the association director of women’s football, she is responsible for the fact that the coming years will be more successful again. “We were able to set positive exclamation marks again and again. We qualified twice in a row for the Nations League final Four, bronze at Olympics 2024. But of course it is something completely different to get home with the title,” says Künzer.
Last summer, she had the idea of signing Christian Wück, 52, as a national coach, who had previously been very successful with male junior teams. Maren Meinert, 51, and Saskia Bartusiak, 42, who were both world champions on the pitch, assist the franc.
The leadership style within the team is also new. The kind of captain Giulia Gwinn, 25, deals with teammates is more sensitive than the sometimes very direct address from predecessor Alexandra Popp. “We now have other personalities in the team,” says Künzer. “The players have an awareness of how important a harmonious mood is.”
It becomes exciting how the top talents beat
In addition to Bavaria defender Gwinn, goalkeeper Ann-Katrin Berger (34, New York), defense chief Janina Minge (25, Wolfsburg), midfield driver Sjoeke Nüsken (24, FC Chelsea) and the Munich strikers Lea Schüller, 27, and Klara Bühl, 24, the scaffolding of the team. There are also Laura Freiang (27, Frankfurt) and Linda Dallmann (30, Munich), who are supposed to share the position of the game designer. It becomes exciting how the top talents also beat. Above all, Jule Brand – for many the potentially best German player in this generation. After the European Championship from VfL Wolfsburg, the 22-year-old will switch to the top club Lyon and will rise there with an estimated annual salary of 700,000 euros to the best paid German player.
Like Julian Nagelsmann at the men’s national team, Wück stated with the women- from regular to supplementary player, from responsibility to the mood. “The decisive factor is that everyone puts their own goals back and gives everything for the team,” says Künzer.
In the training camp in Herzogenaurach, all players raved about an atmosphere that they had never experienced. All are on the same wavelength. The team is doing well to address and solve problems together. So the German women should and want to appear at the European Championship. However, it will be shown in more difficult situations whether this succeeds.
And this has already existed since Wück’s takeover. Hardly any international match was consistently good for over 90 minutes. “We implemented a new philosophy with the new team of coaches – in the style of play or positioning. In October it was new for many players,” says Künzer. It bumped, but in the end there were mostly victories. “The results have helped to create great openness and a desire to play football,” says Künzer. The team took the big steps, especially in the past few weeks. The two youngest appearances, 4-0 against the Netherlands and 6-0 in Austria were more than sovereign.
When winning the title, each player would receive 120,000 euros per person
The title candidates at the tournament in Switzerland include world champions Spain, defending champion England, the in 2025 still undefeated France and Sweden, Germany’s third group opponent. For the DFB-Elf, after the embarrassment and so far unique preliminary round at the 2023 World Cup in Australia, it is first about surviving the group phase, in which it still meets the difficult to render Denmark on the 2nd matchday.
Künzer is convinced that the EM will be worth seeing. “It will be a great tournament, with great response in the stadiums and at home,” she says. “For many, the EM 2022 in England was an eye opener when it comes to the quality of women’s football. We offer great, attractive sport at a high level.”
And the DFB offers women a lucrative incentive to reach the highest level after almost a decade of title. Compared to the European Championship three years ago, when Germany lost only in the extension of the final against host England (1: 2), the success premiums for the players were doubled. When winning the title in Switzerland, Gwinn and Co. would get 120,000 euros per capita. “So I would be happy if the premium had to be paid out,” says Künzer with a smile. “I think we have found a good agreement.”
The organization also promises more than with the failed World Cup. There was a lot of trouble about the neighborhood in Wyong – somewhere in nowhere, with little diversion options for the players, but with a lot of frustration potential. This time the Germans move into a luxury hotel near Lake Zurich. From this basis, the venues of St. Gallen, Basel and Zurich can be reached in little more than an hour, which makes the neighborhood even more attractive.
“It is important that the framework conditions are good,” says Künzer. “We drive back to the team hotel after every game. Most players cannot sleep immediately after a game. And it is more comfortable for them not to travel again the day after the game.”
The hope of the German players is now that the trip takes by July 27th when the final is held in Basel.
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