AUDIO: Quo vadis, Bundesliga for women’s basketball? (3 mins)
basketball
As of: June 1, 2026 1:09 p.m
The Final Four for promotion to the women’s basketball Bundesliga offered first-class sport – but it did not produce a first-class team. Several possible candidates are foregoing the jump from the second to the first league because many clubs cannot afford it financially.
Two semi-final thrillers, a final with overtime, pure emotions and lots of praise for the hosts BG 74 Göttingen: Basketball heart, what more could you want? The Final Four for promotion to the Women’s Basketball Bundesliga (DBBL) actually had all the ingredients, but in the end there was no new DBBL club to show for it.
Neither winner Wings Leverkusen nor second-placed VfL Bochum exercise their right to promotion, which they fought for in sport. And the third-placed Violets Göttingen would also have forgone the jump to the upper house. Only the Bascats from Heidelberg wanted to come fourth, but they are out of the question.
DBBL requirements overwhelm the clubs
All three clubs primarily cite the higher requirements in the DBBL as the reason for the waiver. Such as a playing field on which only basketball lines and no “foreign lines” can be seen, a permanent employee or even LED advertising boards on the side of the playing field. “We simply don’t have the money for that,” says Richard Crowder, who is responsible for the women’s team from Göttingen.
The acquisition costs for technology, parquet or adhesive tape to mask the external lines are too high. “And then you still need someone to set up the parquet or tape off the field,” said Crowder. Finding a corresponding number of volunteers on every match day is extremely difficult. And paying all the helpers for an entire season only exacerbates the already precarious financial situation.
“Difficult to get the budget together”
The hurdles are also too high for champions Leverkusen. “It is very difficult, especially for women’s basketball, to get the budget together,” explains Grit Schneider, sports director of the Wings. It is certainly right to go the route of higher standards in order to make the league more professional. However, the difference between the leagues is getting bigger and bigger.
She also can’t understand all the requirements: “For me, LED boards worth 120,000 euros have nothing to do with the professionalization of women’s basketball,” says Schneider. In Leverkusen they prefer to concentrate on a female junior Bundesliga team, which is more sustainable for women’s basketball at the location.
DBBL boss: “Professional sport consists of two components”
In the long term, it is of course unsatisfactory that the sporting newcomers cannot seize their opportunity, admits DBBL managing director Anton Hefele: “At the same time, professional sport always consists of two components: sporting quality and structural competitiveness.”
The league therefore needs teams that can work at first league level not only in terms of sport, but also organizationally, economically and medially. The league doesn’t want to exclude anyone, but rather has what it believes is the necessary demand to sustainably professionalize women’s basketball.
First division clubs also have to fight
However, the ten clubs in the upper house are also struggling with the standards introduced two years ago. “Every team has its own location advantages and disadvantages,” says Dorothea Richter-Horstmann, sports director of the TK Hannover Luchse. She thinks the new requirements could also act as a positive means of pressure for the clubs. For example, when halls, for which the cities are usually responsible, need to be repaired.
This is also why she advocates sticking to the requirements. Throwing everything overboard is just a step back in the wrong direction: “Having only ten teams in the league is not good, but we have to accept that if women’s basketball wants to progress.”
Ten years ago the league neglected to gradually increase the requirements, so the hard change had to come two years ago. “We imposed this on ourselves and democratically decided to go this route,” says Richter-Horstmann. You shouldn’t forget that the league and the clubs are actually the same thing: “We, the clubs, are the league.”
Easier transition between leagues
“The question is not about the direction of professionalization, but rather how we can best support the clubs on this path,” says DBBL managing director Hefele. The most sensible option is probably not to make the jump from the second to the first league too big. “In this way you could better work your way up to the level of the league, both in terms of sport and organization,” said Göttingen’s Crowder.
“You would have to raise the standards of the second division so that it is not such a big jump for teams.”
Dorothea Richter-Horstmann, sports director of the TK Hannover Luchse
Transition times for newcomers is the suggestion from Leverkusen. Because even from the regional league to the second league there would be a lot of new things for the clubs. “It has to be together, the clubs have to grow and the league has to see that it is possible for clubs across the board to meet the standards,” says Wings sports director Schneider.
At the end there is the money
“Nobody expects equality with men’s sports,” explains Crowder. But the economic situation in women’s basketball must improve. Women’s sports are still underrepresented. “In many clubs, the old image still applies that everything at club level has to be possible with volunteer work, but that sets limits,” says Richter-Horstmann. “It’s a vicious circle.”
DBBL wants to have 14 teams
So can only the liquid teams play in the women’s Bundesliga? “Sports qualifications remain the prerequisite for promotion,” emphasizes Hefele. With a replacement process, the DBBL is working towards its goal of having 14 teams in the long term.
The Heidelberg Bascats, who placed fourth at the Final Four, could therefore apply for a wildcard worth 15,000 euros, which the DBBL general meeting will decide on. Maybe the final tournament from Göttingen will ultimately produce a newcomer. Albeit in an unconventional way.
