German clubs set up their own women’s league grouping in split with football federation
Just a day after Germany was picked to host the 2029 European Championship in women’s football, its top clubs have split with the national football federation over how to run the women’s league.
In a surprise announcement, the 14 clubs in the women’s Bundesliga said they would go ahead with founding an association for “ensuring the modern, professional, and sustainable development of the Women’s Bundesliga and strengthening the commercial potential of professional women’s football.”
They’re doing it without the federation, known as the DFB, which currently runs the league. It comes despite long-running talks that had aimed to create a joint venture between the DFB and the clubs. Last month, the DFB said it would invest around 100 million euros ($117 million) in the league over eight years.
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Club officials accused the DFB of trying to go back on already agreed-upon points.
“It was all the more surprising for us clubs that the cornerstones negotiated are now being called into question — even though the clubs will be investing significantly more in the Women’s Bundesliga in comparison,” Bayern Munich chief executive Jan-Christian Dreesen said in a statement.
The clubs are moving ahead without the DFB “to avoid wasting any more time,” Dreesen added.
Eintracht Frankfurt board spokesman Axel Hellmann said he was “disappointed” to find that some points the club believed had been agreed upon with the DFB were then not included in contracts.
The clubs said it is “still open at the current time” to whether the DFB could be involved in the future.
Germany was a pioneer in developing women’s football in Europe, but recent years have seen its clubs struggle to compete with wealthy, fast-growing teams elsewhere on the continent. No German team has won the women’s Champions League since 2015, as teams from France, Spain, and England have dominated.
Published on Dec 04, 2025
