Women’s Bundesliga: A league to go away?

Felicitas Rauch’s departure from Wolfsburg to hitch North Carolina Courage within the US was a shock. That it got here per week after Bayern Munich’s Lina Magull left to hitch Inter Milan was a shock. Two seasoned Germany internationals have left their homeland for the possibility to play overseas. But are the strikes an indication of an even bigger shift in girls’s soccer or simply two gamers searching for one thing new?

When Pernille Harder and Magdalena Eriksson joined Bayern Munich at the beginning of the season, not solely did the ladies’s Bundesliga look set for one more thrilling title race however it additionally appeared Germany’s high league was changing into a extra fashionable place to play. Georgia Stanway had joined simply in the summertime earlier than and instantly the Women’s Super League (WSL) in England was not only a league Bundesliga gamers left to hitch but additionally arrived from.

With the brand new media rights deal arriving this season that noticed round $5.4m (€4.9m) anticipated per yr, a 16-fold improve, the newly named Google-Pixel Frauen Bundesliga appeared destined for it is greatest season but — even when it nonetheless did not have its personal social media channels and the scheduling was a bit unusual.

2024: a yr of change?

Fast ahead to January 2024, and the image seems to be a bit totally different. Granted, the title race remains to be as thrilling as ever however each Bayern and Wolfsburg, two golf equipment who stay amongst Europe’s elite, have extra happening within the departure column of their switch enterprise than the arrival one.

Bayern, who just lately noticed Maximiliane Rall depart to hitch the Chicago Red Stars, signing 36-year-old Swedish legend Linda Sembrant on mortgage was extra of a crucial enhance to a depleted defensive unit moderately than a giant splash. Wolfsburg have solely made one signing, defensive prospect Diana Nemeth.

With the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) sealing a $60m (€55m) a yr media rights deal within the USA (40x greater than the earlier one) final yr, and the WSL in England on the verge of a brand new deal anticipated to be a lot greater than the present one (reportedly simply shy of $10m/€9m per season), the Bundesliga’s new deal instantly seems to be paltry within the large image. Without the funding of males’s golf equipment, stand-alone girls’s groups in Germany are having a more durable job of surviving.

Furthermore, one look on the checklist of the brand new signings within the US and the UK this January is a reminder of what even Bayern and Wolfsburg are fighing towards. Just days earlier than the league restarted after the winter break, “The Telegraph” reported that Chelsea’s Jessie Fleming was set to signal for the Portland Thorns for a league file payment of practically €300,000.

Perhaps it is also simply two gamers who wished one thing totally different of their profession and now that girls’s soccer has lastly developed sufficient internationally such strikes are extra possible. As Rauch just lately instructed “Kicker” in interview, “it’s not just England, Barcelona or Lyon” as decisions today. The 27-year-old leaves Wolfsburg after two league titles and, following an harm, is seeking to regain her type and place within the nationwide facet. Magull leaves Bayern after over 100 apperances and two league titles, and given the midfielder has performed in Germany for 15 years, a change feels completely justifiable.

But it is also laborious to flee some sense of Germany’s league falling behind. After Euro 2022, there was a need for the nationwide workforce’s run to the ultimate to switch into lasting change. With the arrival of a brand new sponsor and extra groups investing within the girls’s recreation, a few of that change has already come, however the league remains to be enjoying catch up. Although better visibility is a extra urgent concern, some big-name arrivals to spice up the Bundesliga’s place in world soccer would actually assist, significantly after a poor World Cup exhibiting in Australia and New Zealand. In the meantime, the league must hope its soccer can do sufficient speaking.

Edited by: James Thorogood