Surprising choice
Bundesliga team gets a new club boss
Updated 12/10/2025 – 9:52 a.mReading time: 2 minutes
Women have so far been a rarity in top positions in the men’s Bundesliga clubs. That changes in Leipzig.
Bundesliga club Rasenballsport Leipzig has filled the vacant management position – with a woman. 59-year-old Tatjana Hänni will start as CEO at the club in January, making her the first woman in the Bundesliga to hold such a position. So far there have only been isolated cases at other clubs of women in prominent positions, for example FC St. Pauli has a female supervisory board leader.
In 2022, second division club Eintracht Braunschweig elected Nicole Kumpis as president, third division club FC Ingolstadt is coached by Sabrina Wittmann. With the Swiss Tatjana Hänni, another woman is now playing a prominent role in German men’s football.
Hänni succeeds Oliver Mintzlaff in Leipzig, who gave up the role three years ago in order to move up in the Red Bull Group. He is also chairman of the Saxony supervisory board.
Hänni used to be a footballer herself, played for SV Seebach and FC Rapid Lugano, and was also a Swiss national team player. After her career as a player, she built a career as an official, for example managing women’s football at the Swiss Football Association and also working at FIFA and UEFA. Most recently, she was the sporting director of the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL for short), the top league in the USA.
In Leipzig she will now head the management team around sports director Marcel Schäfer and further develop the club. Oliver Mintzlaff raved about the new manager: “She impressed us and the committees in the discussions with her expertise and with the combination of specialist knowledge, leadership strength and strategic thinking.”
Hänni himself is looking forward to the task in the new year: “The discussions with those responsible were characterized by a trusting and appreciative atmosphere and I am convinced that we can still exploit a lot of potential with strong teamwork and a focus on the strengths of RB Leipzig.”