The women’s Bundesliga should receive more attention and will therefore be increased by two teams. Is the hoped-for boost in professionalization coming true?
A cold Friday evening, properly occupied stands in the stadium at the Alten Försterei: Although the women of 1. FC Union Berlin were eliminated from the DFB Cup after a 0-2 defeat against Eintracht Frankfurt, over 8,000 fans remained in the stands and applauded the players the playing field. The team, which was promoted from the Regionalliga to the 2nd Bundesliga undefeated in the previous season, was able to keep up with the top team from the German upper house for almost 83 minutes.
The Union team previously beat first division team RB Leipzig and they are also playing big in the league: after twelve match days, the team is in second place. The scenes that took place on cup evening could soon become commonplace – thanks to a technical change in the league.
At the end of June, the board of the German Football Association (DFB) announced that the Bundesliga would be increased by two teams from the 2025/26 season. With 14 teams and the following season as a qualifying season, the three best placed teams from the 2nd Bundesliga will be promoted. The Unioners currently have a good chance of competing with the top clubs VfL Wolfsburg and FC Bayern in the future.
A step that is seen by many as groundbreaking for the development of women’s football in Germany – and at the same time brings with it challenges.
Women’s football has become more and more of a trend in recent years. Starting with the Women’s European Championship in England in 2022, when the German women’s national team became European runners-up. The sport boomed in Germany and broke all attendance records. Suddenly women’s football was in the spotlight and professionalization was pushed.
The decision of the DFB, which, unlike men’s football, organizes the operation of the top German league, is welcomed by most of those involved as “overdue”. Sabine Mammitzsch, DFB Vice President for Women’s and Girls’ Football, emphasized that the expansion would increase the visibility of women’s football and enable talent to be promoted. Ralf Zwanziger from TSG Hoffenheim made similar comments, seeing the four additional games as an opportunity to put smaller clubs more in the spotlight.
Zwanziger called the increase an “immensely important and essential step for the entire league in order to further advance the professionalization of women’s football in Germany. The four additional games alone from the 2025/26 season will strengthen the visibility of all clubs and especially for those who are not are represented internationally.”
For ambitious clubs like Union Berlin, who are currently on the path to promotion in the 2nd Bundesliga, the increase could be a way to get onto the big stage more quickly.
More teams simultaneously mean more visibility for (previously) undiscovered talents. With additional rivals, the supposed boredom in which Bayern and VfL dominate could suddenly change. The four additional games will also increase visibility. Zwanziger said: “The gaps between home games are sometimes extremely long, and even 14 clubs shouldn’t be the end.” He received encouragement from Frankfurt’s board spokesman Axel Hellmann: “We have to get to a 16-player league very quickly and do more to professionalize.”
Ex-Turbine coach Dirk Heinrichs, who achieved promotion with Potsdam last season, sees the development as positive. “It was time to not just talk about it, but to take action.” For smaller clubs it is a “huge deal” if it creates additional marketing opportunities, for example through sponsorship money or broadcast rights.