A Frauen Bundesliga title race?
Six teams are separated by just three points in the Germany's top women's league
Women’s football in Germany has undergone a huge change in recent seasons. Gone are the days of 1. FFC Frankfurt and Turbine Potsdam dominating one of the most competitive female top flights in Europe as more and more wealthy clubs have invested in the women’s game.
It has seemed, for a while, like any chance of competitiveness would go the way of the men’s game in Germany, where Bayern Munich are closing in on a tenth successive league title.
Wolfsburg picked up 54 of 66 possible points as they won the first of four consecutive Frauen Bundesliga titles in 2016/17. That’d be around 83 points a 34-game season (like the men’s Bundesliga) or 93 in a 38-game men’s Premier League campaign. It’s a very impressive but not ludicrous tally from the champions and the gap to third was just four points.
The following season Wolfsburg won 56 of the 66 points available, then 59 in 2018/19, creating a 17-point gap to third as financial powerhouses Bayern began to invest more in order to keep up.
In 2019/20, Wolfsburg saw Bayern off with a new record 62 points from 66 games and Bayern hit back to win last season’s title with 61 points, 17 more than Hoffenheim in third. It’s impressive but is such dominance the best way to drive progress? Maybe for the top clubs, but for the rest? And to increase audiences in Germany, already sick of seeing one team dominant the men’s side?
Well, maybe things are changing. There is hope that things are starting to look different this season. Heading into the seventh game of the 22-game season, no team is unbeaten. Bayern are top but only on goal difference and have already lost as many games as they did in all of the last season. Just three points separate top and sixth, the entire top half of the table.
Turbine Potsdam are the side in sixth. The former giants of the women’s game have four wins against teams in the bottom six and have lost their two games against teams in the top five. It feels like, for now, they are the best of the rest.
Then come Hoffenheim and Wolfsburg, both competing in the Champions League this season, on 13 points. Hoffenheim boast the youngest squad in the league and have already beaten Wolfsburg this season for the first time ever after losing all 16 of the previous league games between the sides.
Injuries have again been an issue for Wolfsburg, like they were last season, but even against so-called weaker teams they aren’t the dominant force they once were. They dropped points to SC Freiburg in the league and a 3-0 cup win against the same opponents flattered them in midweek.
Hoffenheim have also beaten Frankfurt this season, who in turn beat Bayern last time out. Frankfurt led that one with 11 minutes to go, found themselves behind four minutes later, then scored in the 88th and 90th minutes to win to go level on points with Bayern (and Bayer Leverkusen) at the top of the table.
And the concentration of talent isn’t quite so geared to the top teams as it has been. Laura Freigang, who netted Frankfurt’s equaliser against Bayern, has 41 goals in 59 Bundesliga games for Frankfurt and eight in nine at international level since breaking into the Germany team last year. Nicole Billa was the league’s top scorer last season but opted to sign a new contract at Hoffenheim rather than move elsewhere.
And there are a couple of big weekends ahead. Wolfsburg host Frankfurt on Friday (5 November) before Wolfsburg visit Bayern a week later (Saturday 13 November) in two of the fixtures certain to decide just how exciting the second half of the season could be.
If you’ve not been paying attention to the Frauen Bundesliga, now might be the time.
And if you do, be sure to follow @JasSchweimler, @annike_be, and @hsaltgelt on Twitter.