Melanie Leupolz: Germany can learn from English league
Reiss Tigwell
March 3, 2021
Experienced German international Melanie Leupolz swapped Bayern Munich for English side Chelsea in the summer. But the midfielder feels that more needs to be done to change the view of the women’s game in Germany.
Melanie Leupolz has become a regular at Chelsea after joining from Bayern MunichImage: Mike Hewitt/Getty Images
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When Melanie Leupolz was presented with the chance to swap Bayern Munich for Chelsea last year, it was an offer she simply couldn’t refuse. The allure of the Women's Super League (WSL), and the opportunity to experience something new was a dream come true. After finishing the season at Bayern, she packed her bags and headed for London.
"I always wanted to play abroad," she told DW. "For me the English league is the best in the world because it is really equal and there are so many good teams. It was my first wish to go here, and I am really happy that everything worked out."
It had been going so well at Bayern — where Leupolz was club captain. She had joined in 2014 from Freiburg and won back-to-back Women's Bundesliga titles in her first two years in Bavaria.
But Leupolz explained how the German top flight had become repetitive over the years, with the same two teams winning the league over and over again. She had a point. Since 2012, the title has been won exclusively by Bayern and Wolfsburg. The two are by far and away the best in the division, and the rest are left desperately trailing behind season after season.
Exposure important
Sitting in her London apartment on the Zoom call, one issue Leupolz simply couldn’t ignore was the future of the women’s game in Germany.
"It can become better," said Leupolz. "We have to use all of the tournaments that will come in the next few years. We need to show more on television. Here in England, there is the FA Player where you can watch all of the games for free. You don’t have anything like that in Germany. They just show one game per week.
"I think we just need to start by improving the basics, and then people can see women’s football and change their mind because many people just view it in the same way as it was 20 years ago. It’s really changed since then. It’s a lot more physical now."
Despite all the logistical difficulties that come with moving abroad during a pandemic, Leupolz insisted she is enjoying life in London. No sooner had she moved to Chelsea, than she won a trophy, after beating Manchester City 2-0 in the Women’s Community Shield in August.
Since then she has cemented her place in the starting XI, and so far has made 13 WSL appearances, scoring three times – including a recent double against London rivals Tottenham in a 4-0 win.
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Lockdown life in a new city
"I was looking forward to a nice city, but unfortunately then the lockdown came so I wasn’t able to see that many things. But in the beginning I was able to see London quite a few times. The people here are really nice and helpful. I wasn’t used to going to the supermarket and everyone calling me 'honey' and 'babe’ — that’s really not typical in Germany," she said, laughing.
"I think the people here in England love women’s football much more than they do in Germany. When you walk through the street there are always Chelsea fans, and they know our names. We had one game with fans in the stadium and it was really nice and cool to see all of them."
Playing in one of the best women’s leagues in the world is not without its challenges though, particularly when it comes to adapting to the intensity and physicality of the English game.
"Getting used to the physicality was difficult, but luckily, I like that side of the game and got used to it really fast," Leupolz said. "Training is much more intense. At Bayern sometimes we trained twice a day, but here I am so tired after training that I could not think about another session.
Melanie Leupolz, center, has already won 70 caps for her country.Image: Anke Waelischmiller/SVEN SIMON /Imago Images
"The games are more open here, meaning the weaker teams are able to score goals more easily. It’s a lot faster, but it is much less tactical here than it is in Germany. But here at Chelsea we don’t just play the typical style of English football. We have a lot of technically-gifted players."
Taking a leap
Leupolz hopes her move abroad will inspire other German players to make the leap overseas and try the experience. "When they ask me, I have a lot more positive things to say about it than negative ones," she said. "Hopefully it’s a good advertisement for them. It’s really nice to play in another country, see a different style of football. New clubs, new stadiums, everything here is so exciting."
Reigning champions Chelsea are having another excellent season under long-serving coach Emma Hayes. They currently top the table with a two-point cushion over second-placed Manchester City and Leupolz believes The Blues are more than capable of retaining their crown come the end of the campaign.
"We have big goals and I really like this mentality of Chelsea because they know what we can achieve. Of course, it’s always nice to beat the good teams. There are so many big teams and therefore you have to be really clinical to get all the points. I want to win many titles. I believe we can win the title.
"Besides football, I think it’s really important to grow as a person," she added. "It was a big step to come here, but I really like it and I would recommend it to any other player. I also want to improve my English skills as this is really important for life after football."
50 years of women's football in Germany
As incredible as it sounds today, women's football was once banned in Germany. Since October 31, 1970, when the DFB lifted the ban, Germany has become a leading nation in women's football. Here's a look back.
Image: picture alliance / Pressefoto Ulmer
Ignoring the ban
In 1955 the German football association (DFB) issued a ban on the country's football clubs forming women's teams. Football is "essentially alien to the nature of women," it said in a statement justifying the move. "In the battle for the ball, female grace disappears, body and soul inevitably suffer damage." This didn't stop determined women, like this team in Minden, from playing football anyway.
Image: Leonie Albig-Treffers/picture-alliance
Game on in the East
The DFB's ban on women's football only applied to West Germany. In East Germany, the women were free to play. However, in 1969 the SED, East Germany's ruling communist party, decides that only men's football would be funded and promoted as an elite sport. The East German women's national team would play just one game, losing to the Czech and Slovak Federative Republic 3-0 on May 9, 1990.
Image: FSU-Fotozentrum/picture-alliance
Discriminatory ban abolished
Fifteen years later, the DFB's opposition to women playing the beautiful game crumbled. Here legendary Bayern Munich and West Germany striker Gerd Müller (second from right) tosses the coin before officiating a July 1970 women's match to raise funds for the Deutsche Sporthilfe (German Sports Aid Foundation). On October 31, 1970, the DFB officially abolished the discriminatory ban imposed in 1955.
Image: Parschauer/dpa/picture-alliance
A first for Stuttgart's Neckarstadion
It wasn't long before women were playing on the same fields where only men had been allowed. Here, TSV Öschelbronn face Spielvereinigung Weil im Schönbuch in the first-ever women's match at Bundesliga club VfB Stuttgart's home ground, the Neckarstadion. TSV Öschelbronn won the match 3-1.
Image: Michael Dick/picture-alliance
First woman to win German TV's 'Goal of the Month'
However, the DFB still refused to form a women's national team. "This was clearly a setback," remembers West German women's football legend Bärbel Wohlleben. "We were only allowed to play two halves of 30 minutes too." Her club, TuS Wörsstadt won the first official German women's title in 1974. Her goal in the final against DJK Eintracht Erle was voted "Goal of the Month" by viewers of ARD TV.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/B. Roessler
Bergisch-Gladbach: World champions!
SSG Bergisch Gladbach 09 soon emerge as the dominant team in West German women's football, winning nine national titles and three DFB Cup titles between 1977 and 1989. Not only that, but they also represent West Germany at an international invitational tournament in Taiwan, winning what was then seen as the unofficial women's world championship in 1981 and 1984.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/R. Witschel
First match, easy victory
In 1982, the DFB finally gives up its opposition to the formation of a women's national team. On October 10, 1982 the West German women win their first-ever international 5-1 over Switzerland. SSG Bergisch Gladbach 09's Silvia Neid, who would go on to a successful spell as the head coach of the German women's national team, scores a brace.
Image: Sven Simon/picture-alliance
First official international title
In 1989 West Germany hosts the Women's European Championship. The West Germans beat Italy on penalties in the semifinal – the first women's game broadcast live on West German TV. They follow this up with a 4-1 victory over Norway in the final. Here, Julia Nardenbach, Petra Damm and Doris Fitschen (from left) celebrate with the trophy. Germany's women have since won seven more European titles.
Image: Sven Simon/picture-alliance
Siegen win first Bundesliga title
In 1990, the DFB established the Women's Bundesliga, just before reunification, making the 1990-91 season an all-West German affair. Two former East German teams joined the following season. The Bundesliga was split into north and south divisions, with the winners of each qualifying for the final. The first Women's Bundesliga champions were TSV Siegen. The two divisions were merged in 1997.
Image: Imago Images/Horstmüller
German and European domination: 1. FFC Frankfurt
The first European champions were 1. FFC Frankfurt. Here, Nia Künzer (center) is in action against Umea IK in the final of the 2002 UEFA Women's Cup. Frankfurt would go on to win two more in 2006 and 2008. By the time they won the 2015 title, the competition had been remained the Women's Champions League. They also dominated the Bundesliga, winning seven titles between 1999 and 2008.
Image: Frank May/dpaweb/dpa/picture-alliance
Germany's first World Cup champions
In 2003, the German women win their first World Cup title, beating Sweden 2-1 in the final played in Carson, California. Nia Künzer's header in the 98th minute was the Golden Goal that gave Germany the title. As was also the tradition for the men at the time, the world champions were welcomed home with a reception at Frankfurt City Hall, where they were feted by thousands of fans.
Image: Michael Probst/AP Photo/picture-alliance
Birgit Prinz: Three-time Women's Footballer of the Year
The Golden Boot winner with seven goals in six matches was superstar striker Birgit Prinz. She was named World Women's Footballer of the Year three times from 2003 to 2005 and was also named Germany's Women's Footballer of the year eight times. When she hung up her boots in 2011 she had 214 caps and 128 goals to her name, more than any other national team player – woman or man.
Image: picture alliance/dpa
Another first
At the 2007 World Cup in China, Germany become the first team to defend a Women's World Cup title – and do so in impressive fashion! Their record is incredible: Six wins and a draw, 21 goals scored, none against. Led by their captain, Birgit Prinz, Germany beat Brazil 2-0 in the final. The bad news is that Germany's women have never reached a World Cup final since.
Image: picture alliance / Pressefoto Ulmer
First Champions League champions
Prior to the 2009-2010 season, the UEFA Women's Cup was rebranded the UEFA Women's Champions League. Another German team would lift the new Champions League trophy. 1. FFC Turbine Potsdam beat Olympique Lyon in a penalty shootout in the final in Getafe – becoming European Champions for a second time after 2005.
Image: Alberto Martin/dpa/picture-alliance
Striking Olympic gold in Rio
Two years after the German men won the 2014 World Cup in Rio de Janeiro's legendary Maracana Stadium, the German women beat Sweden 2-1 in the final of the women's 2016 Olympic tournament to win the gold medal in the same venue. This was the first time that Germany had won gold, having had to settle for Olympic bronze medals in 2000, 2004, and 2008.
Image: Reuters/U. Marcelino
Silvia Neid: All there was to win
The 2016 Olympic gold medal in Rio is Silvia Neid's crowning achievement. Having won the European Championship three times as a player, Neid took over as national team coach in 2005. She would lead the team to the 2007 World Cup title, European Championship titles in 2009 and 2013 and finally to Olympic gold in 2016. Three times she was named FIFA World Coach of the Year for Women's Football.
Image: Getty Images/F.Coffrini
Dominant Wolfsburg
Currently, the dominant team in German women's football are VfL Wolfsburg. Alexandra Popp (photo) and the rest of the women's Wolves have won the double in each of the past four years. Since 2013, the club has won the Bundesliga six times and the DFB Cup seven times. In addition, the club has won the Champions League twice (2013, 2014) and lost in three more finals.
