Around 70 industry experts gathered at NIO House in Frankfurt last Friday evening to celebrate the first meet-up of ‘The Rise of Women’s Football’. With exciting talks and masterclasses they enjoyed an informative evening, discussing the future of women’s football.
These days, it’s rare to have people in the same room at an event who are all passionate about the same topic and largely agree on the central issue. Friday was one of those days.
Industry experts COME TOGETHER for first meet-up
‘The Rise of Women’s Football’ attracted an impressive guest list to the first Meet Up at the NIO House in Frankfurt. Nadine Angerer, World Player of the Year 2013, Doris Fitschen, Kay Dammholz (both DFB), representatives from the Frauen-Bundesliga such as Markus Högner (SGS Essen), Dr Karsten Ritter-Lang, Stephan Schmidt (both Turbine Potsdam) or media experts such as Haruka Gruber (DAZN) did the honours and took part in the lively discussion and Q&A session moderated by Farina Fichtner-Zenker (SKY, among others).
All participants were united on this evening by the following question: How can women’s football in Germany take the next step and what should its future look like? Naturally, opinions on this differed.
Women’s football must break new ground. But which ones?
On the one hand, there was a desire for more content production, while on the other, club representatives in particular were concerned about protecting the players. Despite the relevance of social media, the decisive factor is on the pitch. And this is where the gap between the top teams and the rest of the Frauen-Bundesliga is widening.
But there’s no need to worry in Essen and Potsdam. SGS head coach Högner answered questions from the audience and promised that they would ‘keep going’, even in the face of renowned competition from the lower leagues. Nadine Angerer, Högner’s dialogue partner, spoke at length about her experiences in the USA, where she worked as a goalkeeping coach at Portland Throns for eight years. Angerer, now on the coaching staff of the Swiss national team, enthusiastically spoke about packed stadiums and creative fan choreographies. Aspects that are not yet commonplace in Germany.
More TV providers ARE showING the FRAUEN-Bundesliga
But how do you get more fans in front of the TV and into the stadium? Gruber and Kay Dammholz from the DFB reported on the tender for the TV rights and the problem of matchday scheduling. Of course, they also discussed Monday, which has been abolished as a matchday in the second and third men’s divisions and is now – exclusively – available to the women.
Some say this is an opportunity for women’s football. Others say it’s a gap filler. As is so often the case, the truth probably lies in the middle. On this evening in Frankfurt, it became clear that there is still a lot to do in women’s football. The development, however, is positive. “Five or six years ago, not every Bundesliga match was shown live”, said Gruber. And this season, four TV partners are on board. Dammholz and Gruber agreed that this is an unusual approach.
And that is probably also the roadmap for the DFB and the clubs: unusual, breaking new ground. So that, as everyone agreed, the stadiums in Germany will be full.
After the expert talks and masterclasses, the evening ended with networking in a relaxed atmosphere. So what is the feedback from the first event in Frankfurt? “The event was a complete success. Powerful, inspiring and with a great atmosphere. It impressively demonstrated how much passion and strength there is in women’s football” Nadine Angerer stated afterwards.
And Gruber added: “I particularly enjoyed the diverse and varied plenary session. Some high-calibre representatives from all relevant groups were present: associations, clubs, coaches & ex-professionals, brands, media, NGOs. This made the dialogue particularly valuable.”
Text: Florian Rümmele
