by Liberty Simons (23/6/23)
Above: Germany star Alexandra Popp celebrates scoring in the Euros Semi-Finals last year – whilst she is a well-known international name, so many more of her team-mates should be as well. Photo: Euro 2022.
It’s strange to think that the two-time world champions, eight-time European champions, and 2016 Olympic gold medallists in Rio would be ‘underrated’ in the world of women’s football. With such a successful history, you’d assume that they’d be more highly recognised, both with the national team and in their individual club outlooks.
With only one German player in FIFA’s best players list this year, despite last summer playing some of the best football seen in the European Championships, as well as consistent performances in the Frauen Bundesliga and abroad, we seem to have a nation performing incredibly on the pitch, but not receiving the equal amount of hype.
Even after being runner ups to England in the 2022 Euros, Germany find themselves as somewhat of an underdog in the game, and even with the FIFA ranking placing them as second, just behind the USA, and in front of European rivals Sweden, I wanted to consider some factors that aid to this lack of recognition surrounding the players heading to Australia to represent Germany this World Cup.
Streaming rights and access to club football
In a world where the women’s game is on the rise, it is unsurprising that it is still difficult to access international domestic leagues outside of their ‘home’ countries. (I speak from someone in the UK for context for the 2022-23 season exclusively) Whilst La Liga F games are streamed on DAZN’s youtube channel for international viewing, if you don’t know where or how to access the Frauen-Bundesliga, it can be more difficult.
Whilst Champions League matches from the German League’s best, Bayern Munich and Wolfsburg were also streamed for free on DAZN’s youtube, domestic league games are harder to watch outside of the country. Whilst some games were available to watch on ATA Football, easy access to all of the league’s games is still a challenge to more international fans than it should be.
Whilst these games were available, they were almost exclusively limited to Wolfsburg and Bayern Munich games, the two big hitters in the league. The other teams, including third-place Eintracht Frankfurt, are almost impossible to watch outside of Germany, and even if international fans want to get involved, it means many holes must be leapt through to simply watch a game.
On the last day of the season, both the Wolfsburg and Bayern games were almost impossible to watch on ATA Football until about halftime, as there was a massive delay in streams. In this case, Bayern fans missed a sensational first half to the game that saw them 11-1 winners and win the title. Many people, myself included, simply couldn’t be bothered to fight a streaming provider to get their streams to work, meaning we just didn’t continue watching the games, or even trying to get them to work.
In some places in addition to this, whilst streams are sometimes accessible, they need a German VPN to actually watch the game. This lack of domestic accessibility, which is a wider issue in all of women’s football, translates to a lack of accessibility. With the exception of the recent friendly with Sweden, it is seemingly impossible to watch the German national side outside of Germany.
Whilst next season, the Frauen Bundesliga will be shown on DAZN, from an English viewer’s point of view, it has been incredibly hard to watch German games of any capacity, and for causal viewers who aren’t prepared to go to further lengths just to watch the games, it becomes increasingly isolated and shut off to international fans.
There are issues that will continue. Unfortunately, it isn’t going to be solved by a new broadcaster next season, there has almost been a missed opportunity in the wake of the Euros to promote the German league in line with their European rivals, and where people were getting invested in Spanish teams (for example), they couldn’t. And now will be playing catch up to be invested. Dedicated fans of the game will put in the work, but the casual fan train has probably been missed along the way.
International containment
Where international fans couldn’t access the league, they miss a large bulk of the international German talent. Similar to other European leagues, most of Germany’s national team play for the big clubs in Germany. When you can’t access games, you miss the opportunity to watch the talent on offer within the league.
Of course, there are some players playing outside of Germany, including the duo of Ann-Katrin Berger and Melanie Leupolz at Chelsea in the Women’s Super League (not including the Blues’ new signing of Sjoeke Nüsken), but when the majority of players are contained in a league that is unwatchable for the most part, talent is missed, or misinterpreted.
Whilst the big names are always going to be noticeable and seen, mainly Wolfsburg’s duo of Popp and Oberdorf, other talent is left behind or unseen. Eintracht Frankfurt’s Nicole Anymoi last season had an 8/4 G/A’s contribution in the 20-game season, compared to Manchester United’s Alessia Russo who had a 10/1 G/A, and yet one is almost unknown to fans outside of Germany. It’s in part because of the inability to watch games, to see players like that shine who haven’t neccessarily broken fully into playing in big tournaments that are more accessible to watch, but it is also because the attention from outside attention isn’t on these teams.
Whilst English interest in the league has peaked because of English international Georgia Stanway’s transfer last summer to Bayern Munich, the other teams do not have the same accessibility to fans. In her best scoring season in her professional career, more buzz should be surrounding Aynomi, but after only playing 98 minutes last summer as well as her very young age, she hasn’t received the international hype she deserves, but it is only a matter of time for these younger players.
Whilst the exception to this argument is Oberdorf, who continues to shine and collect ‘young player’ awards, most of the younger generation in the German team live in the shadows of players who have played this game before. Players like Popp, who have been professionally playing for 15 years, have created a name from nothing in a time where attention wasn’t on women’s football.
Whilst Popp deserves all the ‘hype’ that surrounds her and continues to prove her worth, it may take the end of the reign of players like that to let the youngsters truly shine through. The lack of international minutes, where access in other countries is much easier, as well as containing their names to Germany means they aren’t being spoken about in the same way or enthusiasm those in their age ranges are from international leagues are.
Awards
Now, awards are definitely not the be-all and end-all of sports. Especially individual awards. But, when they are awarded, they highlight names that aren’t necessarily on everyone’s radar. Both tournament individual awards, presented as part of the final celebrations of a tournament, and the ‘outside’ awards that are presented traditionally in the Autumn months, highlight talent chosen by the experts that aren’t necessarily the stand-out stars, or the big winners from these games.
However, as we discussed before, from the German perspective, these aren’t unsung heroes being highlighted. It is the names already known. Now, I’m not saying Popp and Oberdorf don’t deserve their individual praise, they have been stars for both Wolfsburg and Germany alike, but when you already know the names, the interest in the new ones isn’t the same.
Despite her immensely young age, Oberdorf has been probably the most key player for club and country alike for a while now and has become one of the most recognisable names in the game (and of course, Popp is Popp, need I say more). I think, as I write, specifically about players such as Trinity Rodman.
The same age as Oberdorf, and also on the Ballon d’Or list for 2022, Rodman is pushing into the USWNT, in ways Oberdorf is not for Germany. With the NWSL and Bundesliga taking up roughly the same international viewership, the inclusion of Rodman pushed her name further than Oberdorf, because she was unknown.
Whilst I’m not saying more Germans deserved to be included in these lists, I am saying that, whilst individual awards are a bonus to many players, they do push names that are less seen by the general viewer of the game, especially when they aren’t seen or highlighted by the popularity of a team or country. The actual award is a bonus to a player, and the inclusion in a list like these does more than just highlight the player’s ability and talent.
Whilst I have mainly focused on things holding the success of the German teams back, I’d also like to highlight the things boosting them forwards. With the national team runners-up in the Euros last summer, as well as giants Wolfsburg recently beaten finalists to FC Barcelona in the UEFA Women’s Champions League, the talent itself is endless.
Not stopping at the pre-mentioned players, German talent excels across the pitch. With plenty of goalkeeping talent, because being able to sub-off Merle Frohms for Ann-Katrin Berger is completely insane, as well as gifted midfielders, attacking options, and defensive excellence.
With talent like that on paper, comes performances that back it up. Whilst it is common that Oberdorf runs the show for club and country in the defensive midfield, other midfield such as Bayern Munich’s Sydney Lohmann and Eintracht Frankfurt’s attacking midfielder Laura Freigang, create a dangerous trio.
With players like Freigang highly rated and sort after by many clubs internationally, the propelling of the names and brands of German players into the spotlight more. With all three set to play Champions League football next season, as well as Freigang’s talented striker teammate Anyomi and Lohmann’s talented winger teammate Klara Bühl, players like these will continue to impress and create names for themselves from places where this has been stunted.
The physicality of the German game will also continue to impress, both for club and country. No matter whether they are in a German shirt or a club shirt, the identity of German play shines through in their play and creates a powerful team that not only gets results but pushes for the best trophies around, even if they happen to fall short on the day.
With the World Cup on the horizon, which could see the Germans seeking revenge on last year’s Euros winners England in the Quarter-Finals, it is only a matter of time before the German players are recognised across the board for their immense talent and ability, both for their country and into the next season, for their club. For a country so dominant in terms of trophies and success, it is only time before their ‘hype’, as it were, and rating from the outside.
This is Liberty Simon‘s debut article for Impetus. To read her writers’ biography and details about all our contributors, click on this link: https://impetusfootball.org/about-our-contributors/
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