German football women: the challenges at last

NSAnnalor Ratzberg has come a long way in German women’s football. Or even better: all the way. When she played her first game in the Grün-Weiss Amsbüttel jersey – the DFB lifted its football ban for women – “there were 200 men standing on the side of the field, laughing,” said the 70-year-old.

Ratzberg has experienced a time when his game was ridiculed in this country. He has fought as a pioneer in decades when his game was not taken seriously, to say the least. As an incumbent with the seat of the DFB Presidium (as the only female) has seen progress and partially helped. Given nearly 45 years of service to the interests of women’s football, Ratzberg may consider it a success that the DFB mocked one thing above all about the last international match of the year: that the World Cup qualifier in Portugal on Wednesday evening. 7 p.m. was not broadcast on public television, but “only” on the ZDF livestream.

Various other sports will now be extremely happy to be telecasted on such an important platform. In the continuing demands from the scene for greater visibility for women’s football, it is sometimes overlooked that the product also has its weaknesses. And that doesn’t mean the German national team, which has some very good players and a very skilled national coach, although not trusted by the general public. But neither in terms of atmosphere nor in terms of the fighting quality of the game, the women’s national football team has many holidays. This is because the performance gap between the top countries and the rest is still substantial.

Six wins with 31-2 goals

The Portuguese were now praised in the race for the game as a team of ranks, representing a real obstacle for the DFB-Elf. And yet again the only familiar image from qualifying games in front of only 500 spectators at the Estadio de So Luis in Faro (keyword environment): the German team overcame the “toughest” group opponent almost at will from kick-off and finished There were also doubts about who scored three goals in the first 28 minutes as to who would qualify in Group H for the 2023 World Championships in Australia and New Zealand after winning six out of six matches (31:2 goals).

The 3–1 win in Portugal was the result of a strong performance, especially in the first half. But at the end of the 2021 international match year marked with high wins against the international second-class competition, the national coach is looking forward to the new year. There is a preliminary tournament for the summer European Championships to be held in England in February. Martina Vos-Tecklenburg speaks of a “real endurance test” in the wake of games against hosts England, Olympic champions Canada and the strong Spaniards, who are mainly recruited from currently the best club team, FC Barcelona.