Buoyed by an excited 23,200 strong crowd at the Waldstadion, Eintracht Frankfurt were only denied a season-opening victory against Bayern Munich because goalkeeper Maria Grohs pulled off a couple of impressive saves late on.

On first showing, it offered some hope that Frankfurt might be able to push current Bundesliga champions Wolfsburg. But, given Wolfsburg and Bayern have traded title wins between themselves exclusively since 2013, Frankfurt defender Verena Hanshaw is more realistic of the challenge Frankfurt can offer.

"The first game showed that we are able to win matches like this," Hanshaw told DW. "My hope and wish is that we get third place. For the team our wish really is when we play against the big teams. like Bayern or Wolfsburg, that we can get points from them."

"It is our biggest hope but first we also need to play well against all of the other teams because if we mess that up then the chance will be gone."

Hanshaw, who is playing in her ninth consecutive season in the Bundesliga, has seen big changes during her time in the league but unfortunately was on the losing side again on Saturday, as Bayern beat Frankfurt 2-1.

The Austrian joined when the club was still FFC Frankfurt, a standalone women's side with a rich pedigree both domestically and internationally, including four Champions League wins. However, big investment in Wolfsburg and Bayern across the past decade forced Frankfurt to make big changes, namely merging with the men's side in July 2020.

Fan support biggest change

Even then, it took until November 2022 for the team to be afforded the opportunity to use the practice fields that their male counterparts do, directly opposite the Waldstadion, instead of the public playing fields around the city.

"Every day for the team when you're training on these types of pitches it's amazing," Hanshaw said of the move to properly curated practice grounds. "We had big troubles with where we were practicing but we are thankful that we now have the ability to train here every day and it means a lot to us."

It's the turnout in the stands that remains the biggest change for Hanshaw across the last decade.

"There's not a lot that's still the same [since I made my debut]," Hanshaw added. "Everything was completely different. With the crowd it's amazing how much support we get. It's such a nice thing for me to see because when I started in the Bundesliga when I was 16, we had 10 people and when I look now it's super cool."

Despite a 5-0 defeat to Wolfsburg in December that was a painful reminder of the gap between the top two and the rest, Nike Arnautis' side looks strong this season.

While Hanshaw and the rest of the Frankfurt group are still focused on the grind of weekly Bundesliga games, the looming presence of the World Cup this summer is hard to ignore.

"The league is good training for the World Cup for the players who will be going," said Hanshaw, whose Austrian team lost to Scotland in the first round of the playoffs. "There's a high level of competitiveness in this league and of course it'll be even higher in the World Cup. I can't wait to see so much of this team play there."

Edited by Jonathan Harding