The year is catastrophic for the DFB. But no, not for the whole football association. The women trump. During the European Championship, they spark a hype that continues. The Bundesliga celebrates unprecedented numbers of spectators, the players are role models – and the World Cup will follow soon.
Is it the moment when Lina Magull quietly says “thank you” to the camera with a tear in her eye, because thousands of fans are standing down at the Römer in Frankfurt and celebrating the vice European champions? Is it the moment when national coach Martina Voss-Tecklenburg sits in the driver’s seat of the DFB bus surrounded by fans after the first post-EM game in Germany in Dresden and hands autograph cards out the window? Or is it the moment when the Werder women celebrate with more than 20,000 fans in the Weser Stadium despite acute relegation problems and tears flow? For each and everyone it will be a different moment that transports the goosebumps, that expresses the impact of the year 2022. Women’s football, it’s back. Emerging from the years of viewer disinterest, they have kindled a new fire.
Actually, it’s only half a year that the life of Alexandra Popp and Co. gets mixed up. The DFB team traveled to England for the European Championship at the beginning of July, accompanied by great skepticism – and returned on August 1st as celebrated stars. Four weeks are enough for a complete image change. From a team of which no critic really knows what it is capable of, to a tightly knit team full of sympathizers who have also become vice European champions.
While the DFB men stumble into a debacle at the end of the year and throw the DFB into chaos, the women have earned their place in the fine threads in the vote for Sportsman of the Year, they come third in the selection of the teams, they swap shirts and socks for glitter pants and blazers. You will be awarded for a strong sporting tournament. “It’s great that our achievements have now also been honored at this gala. We’re very, very proud of it,” said Popp. They are awarded for their success, but certainly also for the fact that they are personalities, approachable, relaxed, opinionated. They manage to enthrall the audience and many can identify with them. They exemplify what is still being discussed during the men’s World Cup: “Topics such as diversity, equality, discrimination have become much more public,” emphasized Voss-Tecklenburg.
Germany always sounds like a leading nation on the women’s soccer stage. But the greatest successes were some time ago. The last title was the Olympic victory in 2016. The team marches through the World Cup qualification before the start of the European Championships, but in April, for example, suffered fatal failures when they went bankrupt in Serbia. Even if individual players make the confident statement that they want to become European champions, even if the team is full of top players with international successes, nobody in Germany really believes in success.
But at the base camp in the London suburb of Brentford, there is a sense of unity that even Popp is new to. “The way we’re standing together on the pitch makes me incredibly proud,” she enthused after the 2-1 win over France in the semifinals. “I’ve been here for ten years – and I’ve honestly never experienced such a team spirit, such a team structure.” Joti Chatzialexiou, sporting director of the national teams, also praised dfb.de at the end of the year: “It was exemplary how the team played together and worked for each other.”
The players may not quite believe the hype they have already sparked at home. From family and friends in Germany, they hear about public viewings, about high TV ratings, about people suddenly talking about their football, about children and adults buying shirts with their names on them and wearing them with pride. Who suddenly want to be like Popp, Lena Oberdorf or Laura Freigang. But they can only understand it when they arrive at the Römer in Frankfurt on August 1st. The surrounding streets are clogged with crowds of fans in black, red and gold – on a Thursday afternoon. They lost about 16 hours earlier, the goose bumps final at Wembley Stadium in front of more than 78,000 spectators against the hosts from England ended 1: 2 after extra time.
Tears flowed in the evening when they had to pass the trophy on stage with only the silver medals hanging around their necks. Tears flowed on the town hall balcony the next afternoon, this time with joy and emotion. The comparison of the TV ratings at the women’s European Championship and the men’s World Cup in December shows how many people were enthusiastic about them. The German final attracts more people in Germany to watch TV than any men’s World Cup game.
There wasn’t much time to process, the Bundesliga starts just six weeks later. And the start of the season already offers new material to work with. 23,200 spectators come to the Deutsche Bank Park in Frankfurt to watch the match between Eintracht and FC Bayern. “Goosebumps”, “a dream”, “great atmosphere” – the players and team leaders let themselves be carried away. The attention lingers. “The spectator numbers and records there speak for themselves. The perception of women’s football has changed: there is an unprecedented level of interest among the population and we feel the support in the clubs,” said Chatzialexiou.
After the ninth matchday, more fans came to the stadiums than ever before in an entire season. More than 20,000 fans even want to see the game against SC Freiburg at table penultimate Werder Bremen. VfL Wolfsburg, who wins every league game for a year, and pursuers FC Bayern ensure that German football is also talked about internationally. Both also qualify early for the quarter-finals of the Champions League – the Munich team even clears the home game against the super team from Barcelona. It was 3:1 in front of 24,000 fans in December. A success and a good game that will attract many to the stadium again.
The Bundesliga benefits from the surprise success of the DFB women at the European Championship – and it will also be vice versa. Because the next tournament is already scheduled for summer, with the World Cup starting in Australia and New Zealand at the end of July. There, the two-time world champion meets Morocco in Melbourne (July 24). This will be followed by the games against Colombia on July 30 in Sydney and against South Korea on August 3 in Brisbane. “We want to keep playing for titles,” Voss-Tecklenburg told the sports information service.
The self-confidence has grown in this six-month period on the wave of success. “It will be up to us at the World Cup to unleash a wave of enthusiasm through good performances.” Or just keep surfing the enduring wave.