When the last matchday of the 2024/25 season is kicked off in the women’s football Bundesliga on Sunday, the only more than points for VfL Wolfsburg and Eintracht Frankfurt. For them it is about direct Champions League qualification and a lot of money.
VfL is currently ahead in the remote duel for second place, but with Leverkusen the more difficult task. With a vice title and the direct Champions League qualification, the wolves could at least have a bit over the first title of season since 2012.
For the Frankfurt women, it goes away against RB Leipzig, the second place would mean the first end of the season as vice champions under the flag of Eintracht and thus a further increase after three third places in the past seasons despite the temporary lead. At Eintracht you already know how difficult the way from the Champions League qualification round to be played in the final round of the Champions League is. The Frankfurt women have already failed twice. Wolfsburg also had to experience this experience in 2023/24.
Second place: Frankfurt or Wolfsburg in the Champions League
From the coming season, failure in qualification would at least not mean the international end, the UEFA has created a new competition with the Women’s Europa Cup. The third-placed team from the Bundesliga would take part if it fails in the Champions League qualification round.
In the Champions League qualification round, 7.7 million euros are divided into all 68 participating clubs, staggered according to the sporty cut. The final round of the Champions League starts from 2025/26 with the newly created league phase, each club is guaranteed six games and at least 505,000 euros, places for athletic success. After that, the quarter -finals and depending on the cutout, further funds would follow.
Alternative: UEFA Women’s Europa Cup
The Europa Cup, on the other hand, consists of co-rounds with first and second leg. For the BundesligaDress, the path would lead to the 2nd round of the cup if the champions League qualification is left out of the Champions League qualification, after which the round of 16 would come. The financial difference is great: In the Europa Cup, a total of 5.6 million euros are distributed to all participating clubs according to their performance, in the Champions League there are a total of 37.7 million, more than six times as much.
Most recently, there was around 400,000 euros for reaching the group phase of the Champions League and both Katharina Kiel, Frankfurt’s head of professional football, as well as Ralf Kellermann, sports director in Wolfsburg, had criticized in the past that the travel expenses could be covered, but no investments were possible. Despite the increase in premiums, this should not have changed significantly, after all, according to the DFB season report, the average salaries continue to increase.
Competitions with different Prerequisites
According to the UEFA, the Europa Cup was created to enable European leagues outside of top seven more international games and money flows, which is why only certain national leagues are given guaranteed starting places. The financial differences between the two competitions are likely to influence the squad and season planning accordingly.
On the one hand, a Bundesliga club in the Cup would have a comparatively good chance of an international title, and there could be longer travel routes to Iceland, Cyprus or Kazakhstan compared to the Champions League. Four other games in the Bundesliga, which comes about by the top -up with two other teams, plus at least six guaranteed games in the Champions League can be planned more easily than the hanging from round to round for far less money – for stress control, but also discussions with potential new new ones. A broader squad is needed, but at least in the Europa Cup there would be no money necessary through the competition.
There will be larger squad breakdowns in the coming season in both Frankfurt and Wolfsburg, Eintracht has already said goodbye to six players, on the last match day there are ten, already known names, Lynn Wilms, Sveindís Jónsdóttír and Anneke Borbe.
Soon with 14 clubs in the Bundesliga
Otherwise, there is no decision for this Bundesliga season: Turbine Potsdam gets off, Bayern Munich wins the league for the third time in a row and the double for the first time. For most other clubs, it’s about nothing more. Only those who have sympathy for Frankfurt or Wolfsburg are still feverish.
Bayern Munich’s Bianca Rech sees it as follows with a view of the title fight: “Ultimately, we achieved the right results at the end of the season. But it could have run differently and then it would have been very exciting. We chose the games in the important moments and others have left points, which in turn also speaks for the league.“
Bianca Rech, Bavaria Munich Director Women’s Football.
The situation that in the end there was little in terms of sport, there was always in the past, the 2023/24 season was much more clear in that regard. Ultimately, 2024/25 is a transition season before it will soon continue with 14 clubs. It will then be exciting how the changed international competitions and the enlargement of the Bundesliga have an impact.