The board of the German Football Association (DFB) has decided in a meeting to expand the women’s Bundesliga. The league is to be expanded from 12 to 14 teams starting in the 2025/2026 season, the DFB announced. The majority of club representatives have spoken out in favor of an increase.
Qualification for this is set to start in the coming 2024/2025 season. There will only be one team relegated from the Bundesliga next season instead of two, and the best three teams from the 2nd division will be promoted instead of two. If one of the clubs promoted decides not to participate in the new women’s Bundesliga, there will be no relegation.
Greater competition also leads to criticism
“Broader competition and more visibility for all teams will continue to focus on the league,” said DFB Vice President for Women’s and Girls’ Football, Sabine Mammitzsch. “The appropriate framework should promote the development of our players and strengthen the loyalty of the fans.”
The DFB has been working on expanding the league for months. The original idea was to expand the women’s Bundesliga to 16 teams. “Various areas and measures were identified that urgently need to be invested in in order not to be left behind internationally and to further professionalize the structures,” said DFB managing director Holger Blask in February. However, there were also critical voices within the league against the plans.
At the beginning of May, Ralf Kellermann, the director of women’s football at runner-up VfL Wolfsburg, was critical of such an increase. The 55-year-old warned, among other things, that this could lead to scheduling problems for internationally playing clubs such as Wolfsburg or FC Bayern. In addition, the income from the TV contract, which runs until 2026/2027, must be shared by more clubs.
No reform in league two
Meanwhile, the 2nd division remains unaffected by the reform of the Bundesliga. As before, 14 teams will make up the field of participants, three of which will be relegated to the regional leagues. For the 2024/2025 season, in which there will be three teams promoted to the Bundesliga but only one relegated from the Bundesliga, this means that all champions from the five regional leagues will be promoted directly to the 2nd division.
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The Bundesliga reform is not the first in the history of German women’s football. After the Bundesliga was founded in the 1990/1991 season, there was initially a northern and a southern division with ten teams each. It was only since the 1997/1998 season that there was a pan-German women’s Bundesliga with twelve teams.
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The board of the German Football Association (DFB) has decided in a meeting to expand the women’s Bundesliga. The league is to be expanded from 12 to 14 teams starting in the 2025/2026 season, the DFB announced. The majority of club representatives have spoken out in favor of an increase.
Qualification for this is set to start in the coming 2024/2025 season. There will only be one team relegated from the Bundesliga next season instead of two, and the best three teams from the 2nd division will be promoted instead of two. If one of the clubs promoted decides not to participate in the new women’s Bundesliga, there will be no relegation.
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