AUDIO: Bundesliga clubs vs. DFB: Bang in women’s football – what happened? (1 min)
As of: December 4th, 2025 7:36 p.m
In December, the German Football Association wanted to found a new league association together with the women’s Bundesliga. But now the women’s football Bundesliga is going its own way: the 14 first division clubs announced that they wanted to found the league association FBL eV “initially” without the DFB. The DFB reacted with surprise.
“The establishment of the league association by the 14 clubs is a prerequisite for the planned joint venture. The DFB’s participation in the league association was never planned,” said a statement from the German Football Association on Thursday. The DFB continues to strive to work with the clubs to advance the professionalization of women’s football in Germany, the association said.
No contracts ready to be signed?
DFB General Secretary Holger Blask said: “The DFB remains committed to the commitments and investments made as part of the planned joint venture. We are convinced that the joint establishment of an FBL GmbH is the right path for everyone involved.” According to Blask, there have not yet been any contracts ready to be signed.
DFB wants to continue discussions “constructively and objectively”
“The clubs’ negotiators had submitted extensive additions and requests for changes to the DFB, to which the DFB responded as usual in negotiations. We will continue discussions with the clubs in the coming weeks – constructively and objectively,” said Blask.
“On the part of the 14 clubs, we are disappointed that, in our opinion, agreements that have already been made with the German Football Association are not reflected in the contractual materials. For this reason, the founding act is now being carried out without the involvement of the DFB.”
Board spokesman Axel Hellmann from Eintracht Frankfurt
The 14 clubs in the Bundesliga jointly announced on Thursday that the clubs would initially independently establish the “Frauen-Bundesliga FBL eV”, in which the DFB was actually supposed to have a 50 percent stake. The merger is intended to take the marketing of the league to a new level and promote professionalization.
Clubs upset about the DFB
“In the discussions with the DFB, the essential points for establishing a joint FBL GmbH had already been agreed upon, which made it all the more surprising for us clubs to question the negotiated key points at this point in time – even though the clubs will invest many times more in the women’s Bundesliga,” said Bayern Munich’s CEO Jan-Christian Dreesen: The decision was made “unanimously” “so as not to waste any more time.” According to NDR information, the clubs only informed the DFB of this step shortly before the announcement was published.
Neuendorf spoke of a “strong and courageous signal”
The joint founding of the league association was originally supposed to take place on December 10th. At the beginning of November, DFB President Bernd Neuendorf spoke of a “strong and courageous signal, which in my view is urgently needed”. The project was also formally launched at the meeting. The date for founding remains the same. According to the clubs, this will no longer take place on the DFB campus in Frankfurt, but 1.5 kilometers away in a box at the Eintracht Frankfurt stadium.
Director of women’s football Ralf Kellermann from VfL Wolfsburg spoke of a great disappointment “that, in our opinion, central agreements with the DFB were not sufficiently taken into account and that the foundation was therefore carried out without his participation.” However, the clubs are “decided to continue constructively on the path they have begun – whether in the future together with the DFB or in an independent structure.”
What will happen to the announced investments worth millions?
The league association, which was recently called the “Women’s DFL”, is supposed to take over, among other things, the marketing of the Bundesliga. In their own words, the clubs also want to “organize themselves together in this way, with the clear aim of ensuring a modern, professional and sustainable development of the women’s Bundesliga and strengthening the economic performance of professional women’s football.”
“The basis for the merger of the clubs is the intention to invest significantly in women’s football, to promote it in sport and to make it more socially visible and thus to raise it to a new professional level.”
From the press release from the women’s professional clubs
It was announced at the Bundestag that the DFB would invest 100 million euros in women’s football over the next eight years. The first payments should therefore begin to flow from 2026 – i.e. before the next season. The clubs had also announced that they wanted to invest several hundred million euros in staff and infrastructure.
With a view to the 2029 European Championship, which was awarded to Germany and the DFB on Wednesday, it all seemed to fit together very well. But now the impetus that the award for the final round should develop has been dampened for the time being and the clubs and the DFB are apparently at odds.
