Accusations against the association
Dispute with DFB: Women’s Bundesliga founds its own association
12/10/2025 – 5:53 p.mReading time: 2 minutes
The 14 clubs from the women’s Bundesliga are taking the conflict with the German Football Association seriously and founding a new association. The first chairwoman has also been determined.
Despite the dispute with the German Football Association (DFB), the 14 women’s Bundesliga teams were in on Wednesday Frankfurt/Main launched their league association. Katharina Kiel from Eintracht Frankfurt was elected as the first president of the “Frauen-Bundesliga FBL eV”. Veronica Saß (Bayern Munich) and Florian Zeutschler (SGS Essen) act as vice-presidents.
The founding was influenced by the dispute with the DFB. The “Women’s DFL” was actually supposed to be formed on the DFB campus, but nothing came of the desired unity when moving towards professionalization. Instead, a power struggle is raging. The clubs are angry with the association and started alone in the Frankfurt stadium.
The clubs accuse the DFB of not sticking to agreements despite an alleged agreement. This is the heart of the cooperation. After the league association was founded, it and the DFB wanted to set up a joint venture. Both should each hold 50 percent shares in the organization for the purpose of professionalization. But a dispute over decision-making authority within the joint venture put paid to these plans for the time being.
While the clubs wanted to call the shots, the DFB reportedly demanded more say. The DFB wanted to invest 100 million euros and gradually pump the money into the league within eight years. The clubs will have to spend a total of 300 to 900 million in order to significantly advance the elite class.
There is at least agreement on the necessity of investments. The professionalization, marketing and development of the Bundesliga is crucial in terms of international competitiveness. Content topics include a minimum basic salary for the players as well as requirements for personnel and infrastructure, such as training conditions and stadiums.