Lukas Podolski is co-founder of the “Baller League”. He reacted angrily to a query about the absence of women in the league – and received criticism online.
Lukas Podolski is not only an active footballer himself, but is now also the founder of his own football league. Together with fellow world champion Mats Hummels, the 38-year-old founded the so-called “Baller League”. This is an indoor football league in which celebrities such as musician Kontra K, comedian Felix Lobrecht and football celebrities such as national player Jule Brand manage their own teams.
The teams are mainly made up of players from the country’s regional and upper leagues. However, you won’t find any women on the teams. The weekly newspaper “Zeit” visited a Baller League event and spoke to founder Podolski about the lack of women.
Podolski reacts angrily
The 2014 world champion is said to have felt attacked. He was accused of excluding women. “I come from Cologne, there are a lot of gays and lesbians living here. And no matter where you come from, we Cologne residents are always open,” the report quotes Podolski.
Women should still not be in his league. “This is a baller league, not for children, not for women, not for babies, but for men,” Podolski continued. He doesn’t think women have the quality to compete in his “professional” baller league.
The idea of a women’s quota was rejected
Marvin Boachie, himself a player in the “Baller League”, also has his say in the report and talks about women being screened for the teams, none of whom made it into the top. The heads of the Baller League also thought about a quota for women, but ultimately decided against it. Podolski didn’t mention any of that. Instead, Podolski suggested settling the matter behind the hall “like real men,” the report said.
The Podolski excerpt from the report has received a lot of attention since it was published online. On Portal X, some users criticize the football professional for his statements. So one person only shares the excerpt with an annoyed “Ah, okay.” Another finds Podolski’s statements unsurprising: “One could now pretend that it was surprising that Lukas Podolski said something very stupid, but…” he writes.
Yet another writes: “Phew, that’s the most stupid way to put it. It doesn’t surprise me one bit. What surprises me is that the Baller League thought it was clever to present a Lukas Podolski as a face for the media and let him talk. As we all know, there’s not much going around.”