For Siegfried Dietrich, who has been manager of women’s football for many years, the quarter-finals of the European Championship between Germany and Austria are “also all about the Bundesliga”.
“I expect an emotional encounter at a high European level, in which Germany is definitely the favourite, but Austria will have a lot of confidence with the nation behind it,” said the chairman of the women’s federal leagues committee at the German Football Association of the dpa.
Before the knockout game on July 21 (9 p.m. CEST/ARD and DAZN), Austria has 13 players from the German upper house in the squad, plus former players like long-time FC Bayern player Carinna Wenninger (now AS Roma).
Dietrich, as sports director for women’s football at Eintracht Frankfurt, also pointed out that there is a quartet from his club on both sides. The 65-year-old expects “a media spectacle with high ratings in both countries in the quarter-finals, which will have a lasting effect and generate new fans for our leagues”. In the German team, all field players except Sara Däbritz (last Paris Saint-Germain/future Olympique Lyon) belong to a Bundesliga club.