Germany must follow Euro 2022 loss with a sustained national focus, investment for women's game

Interest in women's football in Germany is down -- as per the German Football Association (DFB) -- the number of girls teams has (roughly) halved since 2010, crowd numbers in the Frauen-Bundesliga aren't moving up and even for the women's national team, attendances have been in free-fall for years. The data is helpfully presented in a booklet from the DFB in which the lack of visibility and women in positions of power within the federation are also noted. The booklet ("Frauen im Fussball Fast Forward") lays out a five-year plan to increase the number of women in the sport from players to coaches to referees, and all the way to those in management in the federation.

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While we have seen other governing bodies institute a full-time model for the top tiers of their respective leagues -- the English FA with the Women's Super League, the Italian FA (FIGC) with Serie A and the Spanish FA (RFEF) with Liga Ellas -- the nature of 50+1 means that the DFB can't simply tell all Frauen-Bundesliga clubs that they need to be full-time. Indeed, there is only so much the federation can do beyond incentives and investment.

When speaking to ESPN after the final, director of national teams at the DFB, Joti Chatzialexiou impressed the need for clubs to want to improve their women's programmes. "It's more about the clubs, they have to do it by heart and not by telling you have to do it. This is something my grandfather always told me: if you do something by heart, you will do it perfectly, which is why we can't go to the clubs to tell them they have to do it. We have to find solutions together."

Whether or not Opa Chatzialexiou was a women's football fan is unknown, but for those within the women's football world, far too many have seen clubs forced to run a women's team with players given the bare minimum from their disinterested or put-upon owners. And it is never a recipe for success.

Ahead of Sunday's final, coach Martina Voss-Tecklenburg hammered home the need for a lasting impact from the tournament regardless of the result. Waking up on Monday, the simple fact that Germany lost 2-1 to England at Wembley should make no difference to her petition for "More equality of talent, better stadiums ... more spectators and better kick-off times."

As it is, the games are sporadically available outside of Germany through a subscription service, ata football, with those in Germany able to watch some on Magenta Sport -- which requires a German T-Mobile account -- while others are picked for broadcast. The need for a better broadcast deal that all but slaps the public in the face with the home league is clear.