As announced last Friday, the 14 Women’s Bundesliga clubs officially established their own league organization during a meeting in Frankfurt on Wednesday.
Katharina Kiel of Eintracht Frankfurt was elected as the first president of the “Frauen-Bundesliga FBL e.V.” (Women’s Bundesliga Association). Bayern Munich’s Veronica Sass and Florian Zütschler will serve as vice-chairmen. The stated aim of the FBL is to take the marketing and commercialization of the league to a new level and will reportedly be launched in 18 months’ time.
“Today is a historic moment for German women’s football. For the first time, all top-division clubs are uniting and unifying their interests within a single league association,” Kiel said in a statement posted on Eintracht Frankfurt’s website.
“For us, this represents a temporary high point in the process that we, as a club, started together almost 18 months ago.”
Going alone – without DFB
The founding meeting was held in a hospitality suite at the home stadium of Eintracht Frankfurt, as it was moved from its original location, the headquarters of the German Football Association (DFB). The decision to move the meeting came last week, when 14 clubs announced they would go ahead alone in their plan to set up an FBL, which would be similar to the DFL (German Football League), which markets the men’s Bundesliga.
This was the result of a major dispute that emerged between the clubs and the DFB, in which the clubs accused the Football Association of making “unacceptable demands” in relation to a deal which would have seen the two leagues treat the association as a joint venture. The DFB has denied this. In sharp contrast to last week’s harsh words, Wednesday’s tone seemed more cordial.
the door remains open
“At this time, we cannot enter into a partnership because there are still unresolved issues between us and the DFB,” Kiel said.
“Each route has its own advantages and disadvantages. DFL also starts on its own. The project with DFB has not failed. We will examine it with an open mind.”
In another possible sign of willingness to resolve the dispute, DFB president Bernd Neuendorf was present at the founding meeting, although he did not actively participate.
The core of the dispute appears to be a disagreement over which side should have the most say in the FBL, with clubs arguing that they should make the final decision as they are projected to invest somewhere between €300 million ($351 million) and €900 million to expand the Bundesliga. It is unclear what the establishment of this association might mean for the DFB’s commitment to invest €100 million in the women’s game over the next eight years.
One thing both sides agree on is that there is an urgent need for investment in the women’s game in Germany to maintain the competitiveness of both the league and the national team with other top soccer nations such as England and the United States.
Concrete proposals up for discussion include a minimum basic salary for players and minimum requirements for personnel and infrastructure.
The DFB is also hoping to use the 2029 European Championship, for which Germany won hosting rights last week, to help generate momentum for the women’s game in the country.
Edited by: Jonathan Harding