Women’s Champions League: five-digit audience numbers are only found elsewhere
VfL Wolfsburg versus Juventus Turin – the second home game of the German women’s football runner-up in the new Champions League group stage will take place in the AOK stadium on Thursday (6.45 p.m.). The first home game brought a sporting success for VfL with a 5-0 win against Geneva – with almost 900 spectators and spectators but a rather moderate backdrop. This is not just a VfL problem: on the first three match days of the premier class, six of the total of 24 games were attended by less than 1,000 people, including all of the home games of the three German representatives. VfL, Bayern Munich and Hoffenheim are far from the record numbers achieved in Paris (18,400 spectators against Real), Juventus (16,800 against Chelsea, 12,800 against Wolfsburg) or Geneva (12,800 against Chelsea).
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“We find out”, says Ralf Kellermann, sporting director of the VfL women, “That this Champions League has a different perception and a different status in other countries, so that it also triggers a different euphoria. We are challenged. After all: The numbers this week are ensuring a positive trend: Over 1,500 fans are expected against Juve in Wolfsburg on Thursday, Hoffenheim had 2,200 spectators on Wednesday evening against defending champion Barcelona.
But five-digit numbers are also achieved elsewhere – including VfL group rivals Juventus and Geneva. There the women play their CL games in the big stadiums of the men. That alone does not explain the great popularity, but, according to Kellermann: “The games there or in Lyon and Paris are hardly treated any differently than the men’s Champions League games in terms of effort, organization and marketing.” You can tell from the number of stewards, for example, or from the fact that Juve President Andrea Agnelli is naturally present in the VIP room in Turin and that in Paris the supporters of the PSG men’s team also created a large number of fans in the stadium. And in Geneva you could see that more than ten times more people came to the premier class game against Chelsea than to a normal league game. “You can then guess what they’re doing there.”
In purely sporting terms, the competition itself offers enough potential. The groups are exciting, games like VfL’s 2: 2 in Turin last week showed women’s football at the top level. At DAZN and Youtube, where all games can be seen live, they have been satisfied with the range so far, the standard of broadcasts is high, and women’s football is increasingly recognized as a very marketable product. Kellermann: “We have to be careful that we don’t lose the next connection – and we should already draw the right conclusions for the season if we are then hopefully back.” Depending on the development of the corona situation, the wish would be: “We should ask ourselves to set two goals. If we as a club really give gas there, then that is feasible.”
And that would not only be important to emphasize the importance of women’s football at the Wolfsburg location – it would also have tangible sporting advantages. “In Turin we saw how crucial home advantage can be with a large, atmospheric backdrop“, Says Kellermann. “In addition, full stadiums with a good atmosphere are always an argument when you want to attract players to the club. If z. For example, if a talented footballer from Scandinavia would have to decide between Turin and Wolfsburg today and then watch the Juventus games in the Champions League, I don’t think we would have the better cards. “
VfL coach Tommy Stroot sees it similarly: “When we see that there were 12,000 spectators at our game in Turin: Then it does something to the players or to potential new players from abroad who are faced with the question: where are they going me? “Be there “Not only we as clubs, but the entire DFB are challengedto develop marketing strategies or event factors. One step has to be taken first with TV broadcasts in order to attract spectators to the stadium. “