When saying goodbye to Siegfried Dietrich, the Eintracht boss designs gloomy scenarios for the women’s Bundesliga.
Frankfurt – It took until just before midnight before Siegfried Dietrich really realized who had come to the professional campus of Eintracht Frankfurt for his official farewell. There could not have been a bigger station for “Mr. Women’s Football”: The DFB leadership with President Bernd Neuendorf, General Secretary Heike Ullrich and Vice President Celia Sasic, national coach Martina Voss-Tecklenburg and Nia Künzer had come. The former Eintracht maker Fredi Bobic traveled all the way from Berlin, and of course – apart from President Peter Fischer – the Frankfurt management team was not missing either.
Women’s Bundesliga: Eintracht boss Hellmann complains about “three-class society”
Eintracht board spokesman Axel Hellmann took the opportunity to critically question the current state of the women’s Bundesliga when honoring Dietrich’s life’s work: “We are experiencing a three-tier society: Wolfsburg and Bavaria at the top, followed by Hoffenheim and us and then nor the rest.” For those interested, that means a “lack of excitement”.
Hellmann sounded like Heribert Bruchhagen once, when he warned against “cemented conditions” in the men’s Bundesliga. Now the 51-year-old spoke of a “concretion” for the top women’s league, which ultimately endangered the attractiveness of the product. Women’s football will not develop as desired at its various locations in these structures, according to the gloomy forecast of the Eintracht official who is interim in charge of the German Football League (DFL). You have to give serious thought to introducing a ‘salary cap’ or other restrictions.
The fact that VfL Wolfsburg, which is both sportingly and economically far away, and then FC Bayern have been sharing all national titles for a decade and are also the only clubs that seriously play a role in the Champions League, cannot stay like this. “I see this with concern!”
Women’s football: Bigger league required
Both Frankfurt mayoral candidates Mike Josef and Uwe Becker, the former Prime Minister of Hesse Volker Bouffier and Peter Beuth, Hesse’s Minister of the Interior and Sport, also listened to the admonishing words. In his last speech, Dietrich, who has already left all offices due to health problems, wished that all first division players “become professionals and be able to make a good living from their salaries”.
In addition, the 65-year-old called for “at least 16 teams in the women’s Bundesliga” from 2027 to increase visibility. In five or six years, the founder of 1. FFC Frankfurt believes it is possible for the licensed clubs to break even.
But this requires a few more alliances, especially between sponsors and the media. Dietrich mastered the weaving of overarching networks to anchor women’s football in society. Hellmann credited him with the fact that before the merger with Eintracht he took considerable economic risks. When he then pressed the man for a few minutes who had rendered outstanding service to women’s football like no other, the guests, including all of Eintracht’s Bundesliga players, seemed quite moved.
