Karin Danner was responsible for women’s football at FC Bayern for more than 25 years. She took the team from second tier to European elite. Now this formative person is leaving the association.
The Karin Danner era at Bayern Munich is coming to an end. Danner headed the women’s soccer department at FC Bayern for more than 25 years. The 64-year-old is now retiring at the end of the season. “Karin Danner did pioneering work in the development of FC Bayern’s women’s soccer department for more than two decades,” said Bayern President Herbert Hainer. “Our women’s football department is her life’s work – and it has been more than successful.”
CEO Oliver Kahn struck a similar note: “Without Karin Danner, FC Bayern women’s football would never be where it is today. She has had a lasting impact on this unique success story as a player and, above all, as a manager. FC Bayern owes her immeasurable gratitude obligated.” Her successor will be Bianca Rech. The 42-year-old was previously the sporting director. Danner will initially help her take over and fill in the big footprint she is leaving behind.
Karin Danner: A strategist on and off the pitch
Danner already had the strings in his hand at FC Bayern on the pitch. “As a strategist, a real 10er,” she once described herself. She came to Munich at the age of 18, put on the red and white jersey and led FCB to the first German championship in women’s football in 1976.
The fact that FC Bayern, almost 50 years after her arrival, has established itself at the top of German and European women’s football, recently attracted more than 20,000 spectators to the Munich Arena and could win the fifth German championship in the club’s history this season – that’s all her merit. Because after the end of her active career, she took over responsibility for the women’s department – and there became something like the female counterpart to Uli Hoeneß.
Danner: A street footballer fights her way to the top
Even as a girl, she learned what it means to assert yourself while playing football: “I started playing football when I was eleven. There was no girls’ team, I started straight away with the adults. Back then, you were only allowed to officially play from the age of twelve , but I had so much talent that the club paid a fine of 20 marks for every game so that I could play. Despite my age, I was one of the best because I was a typical street footballer, from kicking with my brothers,” said Danner once in the club magazine “51”.
And she also had to fight her way through Bayern Munich. In 1993 she left her job as an accountant to devote herself entirely to her heart club. But not as a manager – Danner started out as a fan merchandise saleswoman. “Fans very rarely strayed into this boutique. After three months I said I’m going crazy, just serving time, that’s not a job for me,” recalled Danner, who became head of the women’s soccer department in 1995 and from then on ran things there – initially purely on a voluntary basis.
The architect of the successful era
The department continued to develop under her. In 2000, they were promoted to the Bundesliga. With 100 goals and without losing a point, FC Bayern became Bayernliga champions. The success did not come by chance. Previously, Danner had scouted countless players in the region, worked on them and convinced them to switch. At Bayern, we’re building something, was her argument.
And Danner rose too. From then on she no longer worked as a volunteer. “After promotion to the first division in 2000, I then said: Either we do it cleverly from now on or not at all, my free time is too good for me. This promotion was the basis for everything,” said Danner. Because now the players were also getting paid. 200 marks and 50 marks for each point won.
The championship as parting gift?
And the conditions have also become more professional: from the Aschheim sports park, to the Dante Stadium and finally the move to the FC Bayern Campus – the training and playing conditions for the team have improved significantly in recent years. But Danner has completely different visions for women’s football in Germany: “A complete professional league must be one of the top goals. Players should be able to concentrate fully on football. This is where the clubs that play for the Champions League places go , in advance, so to speak,” Danner told Sportschau.
And she also has ambitious plans for her club: women’s football should be one of the pillars on which the great FC Bayern stands. But first, it’s up to their players to provide the perfect parting gift. They still have to win four more to win the fifth German championship in the club’s history. There could hardly be a nicer and more appropriate farewell gift for Danner.
