SGS Essen will soon be the only club in the women’s Bundesliga that does not have a men’s license club behind it. How can this work?
Getting an appointment with Florian Zeutschler is not that easy these days. The managing director of SG Essen-Schoenebeck has a tight schedule when the season is about to end. For four years, the former service manager of an automobile manufacturer has been working full-time for the club, which, after Turbine Potsdam was relegated, soon became the last bastion of the women’s Bundesliga: the last club that “has no name in men’s football” (Zeutschler). The majority has long had a strong licensing club behind them.
Zeutschler does not shy away from this challenge. “We’re sticking to our stance that we promote women’s football honestly. We’re also evolving – just not as fast as the professional clubs, who have different equipment.”, he says in an interview with the sports show. The 38-year-old, who has played in Essen-Schoenebeck since childhood, is proud of the fact that the sports community at the Ardelhütte in Essen has been playing first-class for 20 years, despite all the prophecies of doom. And a lot is being done to ensure that this remains the case in the future.
A fan festival at the last home game against MSV Duisburg
For the derby against MSV Duisburg in the last home game on Sunday (May 21, 2023), another 3,500 spectators are to come to the jewelry box on Hafenstrasse as part of a fan festival, where, like at other locations, the popularity of women’s football has developed positively. The boom fueled by the European Championships in England has not avoided the north-west of the Ruhr metropolis. “The doors of companies open faster and stay open longer”says the SGS managing director responsible for sponsorship acquisition.
Again and again the club management considers how the perception can be increased. In the run-up to the World Cup in small-sided soccer, the women’s Bundesliga team is now organizing a tournament on such a small-sided field on artificial turf for the first time on June 1 on Kennedyplatz in downtown Essen: 3,000 people can be accommodated on the temporary stands.
Don’t be afraid of BVB marching through
The soccer players from Borussia Dortmund are also invited. Zeutschler doesn’t want to see their march through as a danger at all, “a metropolitan area like the Ruhr area offers enough space for more than one club”. But the cut-throat competition in the women’s Bundesliga with only a dozen places is growing. RB Leipzig has already been confirmed as the climber for the traditional brand Turbine Potsdam. Soon the women under the Red Bull umbrella should also be among the top three, in the DFB Cup, SGS Essen got badly crushed by the leaders in the second division.
Can the niche club survive at all in this increasingly competitive environment? Heike Ullrich, General Secretary of the German Football Association (DFB), reminds that Essen “with creativity, a good focus and a functioning network” pretend The DFB has promoted professionalization with various licensing requirements, the German Football League (DFL) has recently stipulated that its 36 men’s clubs must promote women’s football or at least maintain a cooperation. Black figures are not (yet) to be expected in the women’s Bundesliga. On average, a club makes a loss of around 1.5 million euros.
food Managing Director recommends looking at Sweden or the USA
This is where Zeutschler intervenes: “It doesn’t help us if the women’s Bundesliga becomes a men’s decal.” In Sweden or the US, a healthy 50:50 mix of women’s clubs and clubs under a men’s roof would show up: “I would wish that our role in this country would be appreciated more in the course of heterogeneity.” It’s about social, media and sporting appreciation.
After all, Essen has produced German internationals like Lea Schüller and Linda Dallmann (both FC Bayern), Marina Hegering and Lena Oberdorf (both VfL Wolfsburg) or Nicole Anyomi (Eintracht Frankfurt), but now loses with Vivien Endemann (moving to Wolfsburg in the summer). the next talent. Zeutschler knows: “When Bayern or Wolfsburg make offers, it’s almost impossible to keep the players – especially when they appeal to international prospects. And of course it’s also about the money.”
Coach Markus Högner warns that the cycle doesn’t work forever
For the 21-year-old Endemann, who came from SV Meppen two years ago, a low fee in the low six-digit range flows one year before the contract expires. “The development that Vivien has made with us over the past few months clearly speaks for our work and for our entire club philosophy”explained SGS trainer Markus Högner. “We can hold our own if we’re smart”says the football coach, who has been working for one of the best training companies since 2010 with a three-year break.
The 56-year-old also knows that the improved infrastructure with a new functional building and a hybrid turf were important to remain competitive. At the same time, he warns that the cycle – finding talent, forming talent, losing talent – does not work forever: “Only training young players and then giving them away is not enough in the long run.” Zeutschler would also like them “four, five years” see in food.
Even 1. FFC Frankfurt had to merge
The times when TSV Siegen, SSG 09 Bergisch Gladbach, Heike Rheine, KBC Duisburg or SC 07 Bad Neuenahr shaped German women’s football are long gone. Even the record champions 1. FFC Frankfurt could not have survived in the long term without the merger with Eintracht Frankfurt that took place in 2020, said the longtime doer Siegfried Dietrich when he said goodbye.
The sharply increased expenditure side due to personnel costs is becoming a problem for those clubs that want to work to cover their costs. While VfL Wolfsburg and FC Bayern, who have shared all the titles in German women’s football since 2013, recently effortlessly increased their investment thanks to the backing of the group and the club, according to Zeutschler, Essen will stick to its principle: “There is no alternative to solid management: we only spend as much as we earn.” According to reports, the budget is around 1.5 million euros – less than half the league average.
The appearance of the women’s national leagues will change
Ullrich, who used to head the DFB directorate for women’s and girls’ football, believes that the field of participants in the two women’s Bundesliga will change over the next five years “change again significantly” become. In a future model for the 2031/32 season, the association expects at best 16 (!) licensed clubs, but it would finally have to expand the first division, but wants to do this after the end of the next TV contract with the 2027/2028 season at the earliest. It is uncertain whether the SGS held Essen as the last bastion until then. Florian Zeutschler will probably have a lot more to do in the next few years.