“There was women’s football before FC Barcelona, we’ve been playing it here for years”Ada Hegerberg recently said in an interview with the French sports newspaper “L’Equipe“explained. The World Player of the Year 2018 scores on Saturday (05/21/2022). Olympique Lyon in the Champions League-Final in Turin on FC Barcelona.
It is the repeat of the 2019 final, when Lyon won 4-1 for the fourth time in a row Champions League. Another success came the following year. But this year, the defending champions FC Barcelona are the favourites. Already last season they generated a wave of enthusiasm, which was followed by a full Camp Nou and live broadcasts of all matches this year has become even bigger.
Professionalization through repression?
Hegerberg’s statement is therefore also an indication of the shift in the balance of power at the top of European women’s football. However, with the exchanged club names, it could just as well refer to a larger and more long-term change that seems to have taken place in many leagues a long time ago. Both clubs in the final are part of large and successful clubs whose resources come from financially strong men’s football.
In the big leagues of Europe with the exception of the Swedish Damallsvenskan the commitment of large men’s clubs is now the standard. A double-edged development. On the one hand, such a commitment from the big clubs has been required for years. Borussia Dortmund and Schalke 04, for example, are repeatedly criticized by former and active players for starting their new women’s sections in the district class. On the other hand, traditional women’s football clubs are being increasingly crowded out by the entry of higher-level licensed clubs. 1. FFC Frankfurt was formally dissolved, and Eintracht Frankfurt took over the right to play.
In Germany’s 1st Bundesliga, only SC Sand and SGS Essen were not yet affiliated with a licensed club in the past season. Although Turbine Potsdam operates as an independent club, in June 2020 it entered into a cooperation with Hertha BSC, initially limited to the summer of 2023. Potsdam again narrowly missed third place this season, which entitles them to participate in the qualifying round for the Champions League.
Solidarity payments for the associations
SGS Essen managed to stay up by beating Carl Zeiss Jena 3-0 on the last day of the game SC As a result, Sand was relegated after eight years in the first division. “I don’t think it gets any easier if you only put the growth of women’s football in the hands of licensed clubs. You also have to support those who have been living women’s football for several years or decades.”says Florian Zeutschler, manager of the SGS Meal. “The UEFA solidarity funds are a bit in that direction.”
The solidarity payments are one of the innovations in the current form of the Uefa Women’s Champions League. According to UEFA, as of this season around €5.6 million or 23 percent of the total amount distributed is earmarked for all top division clubs whose national associations register teams for the competition. The sum is broken down according to the success of the best club in an association, whoever gets ahead brings in more money for their own league. “Everyone in women’s football can be happy that UEFA has upgraded the Champions League competition, both financially and in terms of presence. It’s something we’ve been waiting for too.”according to Zeutschler.
Will there be a gap like in men’s football?
Most of the money from UEFA Women’s Champions League But it goes to the clubs represented in the competition, and here too, whoever gets the furthest gets more money. These are already almost exclusively clubs that have the better conditions for success anyway due to the connection to a men’s department. Already in the Champions League-In this season’s group stage, Ukraine’s Zhytlobud-1 Kharkiv was the only all-women’s team, eliminated in Group B by four points.
So there is a risk of an ever-widening gap between the internationally represented clubs and the rest – similar to men’s football. In addition to this, there is the divide between the traditional women’s clubs and those with a large licensing club behind them. According to the DFB season report for the 2020/2021 season, salaries in the “personnel expenses for match operations” are increasing. But there is “great heterogeneity in this area” between the clubs. However, the report lacks a breakdown by club.
Women’s football as the “new men’s football”?
That’s why there are always critical voices within the fan scenes and the concern that women’s football could become more and more unequal in terms of sport in the medium term. This concern about a so-called “new men’s football”, an ever-widening gap between the clubs, which influences sporting competition, also applies to the licensed clubs.
“I don’t think there is a golden path. I can understand that big clubs are interested in women’s football, but I also believe that it’s not good for women’s football to just become a copy of men’s football.”says Essen’s manager Florian Zeutschler. “Of course, as a club, we have an obligation ourselves. We work on developing ourselves every season. But of course it’s not comparable to the investments that come from a licensed club. Whether the fan wants to see that in the end only they play against each other , I can’t say, I believe that the heterogeneity that we have in the league has always been good for it and can continue to be good for it.“
Second teams in the 2nd Bundesliga
The topic of club diversity also includes a look at the distance to the second women’s Bundesliga. There, in recent years, the same clubs have usually alternated between promotions and relegations, so he is still playing SV Meppen for the direct resurgence. In addition, four second teams from first division clubs were represented in the 14-team league last season. Apart from Germany, there are only second agencies at this level in Spain. There are five of a total of 32 teams. The second division is two-pronged there.
The problems that can arise from this are also known from the regional league and the 3rd league for men. “If you want to increase competition and enable clubs to make their way to the Premier League, you need their own competition. On the other hand, I can understand clubs who want to keep their second representation as close to Premier League level as possible, to be able to participate from your own offspring”according to Zeutschler.
In view of all these structural problems, women’s football is faced with the question of which path to continue: its own path, which has been made more difficult by historical bans. Or in a way that looks like a decal of men’s football, including many of its problems. This question is urgent and is aimed not only at the clubs themselves, but above all at the associations.