Turbine Potsdam is trailed behind by just one point in the women’s Bundesliga. The former successful club is threatened with relegation.
Sven Weigang lends a hand. In the rainy gray of January, he and a few players set up the goals on the training ground in the Sportforum Waldstadt. It is told and laughed at. The turbine coach and his team are in a good mood. But only as long as he avoids one thing: looking at the table. “I’m definitely not going to do that,” explains the 58-year-old, “because that doesn’t make the atmosphere any better.”
“The club missed the jump and lost the innovative”
Once a flagship project, now at the bottom of the table: Turbine Potsdam is in crisis. Former players speak of bad conditions and chaotic structures. There is also said to have been a split in the resigned board. By Tamara Kellermore
Nine points behind the non-relegation zone
Only one point is recorded there for the Brandenburg women. After ten match days, the six-time German champions are last in the women’s Bundesliga and are worse than ever. The former flagship club in women’s football is threatened with relegation. Not thinking about this scenario “would be more than unrealistic,” said President Karsten Ritter-Lang of the Sport Information Service (SID). Turbine is nine points behind on a non-relegation zone. And yet coach Weigang, who has been in charge of the team on an interim basis since coach Sebastian Middeke left in November, is looking up.
The Potsdam women were there last season, only just missing out on qualifying for the Champions League. “If you look at the development in women’s football, it is of course logical that independent women’s football clubs are finding it increasingly difficult, but it came as a great surprise that it happened so suddenly,” says goalkeeper Vanessa Fischer about the crash of her club. With two changes of coach, a change in the team and the collapse of the management level, Turbine can look back on turbulent times.
“If someone begins to doubt, there is no point”
And as if it weren’t difficult enough, in the first game after the winter break on Sunday (1 p.m.), runners-up Bayern Munich will face an apparently overpowering opponent in the Karl Liebknecht Stadium. “Let’s see how far we can hold back. They’re the favorites and we’re the underdogs,” Weigang summarizes the clear division of roles.
“We have nothing to lose. We can’t fall any lower,” agrees Dirk Heinrichs, who has been an assistant trainer at Turbine for 20 years. In view of the situation, he and his coaching team are currently in demand not only as football coaches, but also as mental coaches. “Our job now will be to keep the girls relaxed so they believe they can play football,” explains the 54-year-old, because: “If someone starts having doubts, there’s no point.”
Turbine wants to score points against direct competitors
During the winter preparations, the team was able to continuously increase the intensity and quality of training in order to get the young and inexperienced players used to the stress and level of the Bundesliga. “We’ve trained hard so we’re ready for the fight we’re about to put in,” said goalkeeper Fischer. Turbine gained self-confidence with a 2-0 win in the friendly against Slask Wroclaw (fifth in the Polish league). On the other hand, there was a narrow 1-0 defeat against regional league club Union Berlin.
On Sunday, the Potsdam women will expect a significantly higher level against Bayern, who are currently second in the Bundesliga. “But maybe it’s not wrong that we have nothing to lose in the game, but can play relatively freely,” hopes Fischer and knows: “The important games come after that against Duisburg and Bremen, where we have to take points with us. “
