After a hard-fought quarter-final second leg at Paris Saint-Germain, the FC Bayern Munich footballers missed the third Champions League semi-final in their club’s history. The first leg had already caused a stir because it was the first time that the FC Bayern women were able to play in the large Allianz Arena. 13,000 spectators watched the game in the Munich World Cup arena.
Even if there is currently a lot of talk about English women’s football and the Women’s Super League, German women’s football is still strong and the Bundesliga doesn’t have to hide either, said Bayern sports director Bianca Rech on Dlf. You only have to look at the German clubs in the Champions League. There, Bayern reached the quarter-finals and VFL Wolfsburg is in the semi-finals. Of the English clubs, only Arsenal London made it into the last eight.
professionalization and infrastructure
However, looking at the professional English league makes a lot of sense, said the ex-soccer player: “It shows me what construction sites we have in Germany that we urgently need to fix: We have to offer the players the professional framework so that they can can concentrate 100 percent on football and so they don’t have to work 40 hours on the side. So that you earn enough with what you do!”
In addition, the right infrastructure is still missing. The 41-year-old criticized that the clubs could not yet offer the players the best opportunities and framework conditions for medical care and training. Rech called on the DFB to increase the pressure on the clubs and at the same time warned the DFB to get more financial income for the clubs from the TV contracts.
However, the women of FC Bayern have a huge advantage here, admitted Rech, because they can fall back on the structures of the men at FC Bayern: “We at FC Bayern are very well positioned here!”
More viewers, more attention
Rech also referred to the world record attendance in women’s football at Camp Nou, FC Barcelona’s stadium. 91,553 people watched the Catalan team beat Real Madrid 5-2 in the second leg of the Champions League. “We’re on the right track,” said the Bayern sports director.
In general, women’s football is going in the right direction with good spectator numbers, and the games in the Champions League are also at a good level. This is how you can attract attention and get new people excited about women’s football, said Rech. These are absolutely necessary steps to get attention.
It is true that such world record attempts still require a great deal of effort and low ticket prices. But you have to be careful not to “sell” women’s football, said Rech. “You go to the cinema and pay twelve euros, then you have to take ten or 15 euros for a game in women’s football too. If I buy tickets like that now sell for three euros, that’s not the goal and it can’t be our goal either.”