For the third time in 2022, VfL Wolfsburg Women will hold a home match at the Volkswagen Arena. This time it’s for a top-of-the-table FLYERALARM Women’s Bundesliga fixture, with the defending German champions hosting FC Bayern Munich this Sunday, 23 October (kick-off 14:00 CEST). 16,300 tickets have already been sold in advance, and Dr. Tim Schumacher, managing director responsible for women’s football at VfL Wolfsburg-Fußball GmbH, is also looking forward to the big game.
Dr. Schumacher, the eight-year-old attendance record for a VfL Women home match will be consigned to history in a few days’ time – the figure of 12,464 has already been surpassed. Did you expect such popularity?
Dr. Tim Schumacher: “Of course we were hoping for a five-digit attendance, but to be honest I was positively surprised by how quickly we broke this mark in the advanced sales. It’s just great to see how much our team is mobilising fans, both in the region but also far beyond.”
The new Bundesliga attendance record was only set a few weeks ago with 23,000 fans at the season opener between Eintracht Frankfurt and FC Bayern Munich. Do you think that’s also an achievable target for VfL in principle?
Dr. Schumacher: “Yes, very much so. We already made a clear statement with over 22,000 against Barcelona, although we shouldn’t ignore the different underlying circumstances. In a big city like Frankfurt, with the Rhine-Main area behind it, there’s a much greater potential than in many other locations in the league. We’re thoroughly satisfied with the development of our attendance figures. For many years now we’ve had the best average attendances in the Women’s Bundesliga at the AOK Stadion. We’re proud of that.”
Attendance figures in the stadiums are one thing, TV ratings are another. At club level at least, there’s been no noticeable improvement yet in women’s football.
Dr. Schumacher: “But there has also been progress here, and FLYERALARM Women’s Bundesliga games are increasingly being broadcast on public television. It’s important that there’s a good balance between pay and free-to-air TV. That’s been achieved with the new media rights distribution from the 2023/24 season.”
Coming back to the match against Bayern: what are you most looking forward to?
Dr. Schumacher: “I’m sure it’s going to be a great event with a great setting for this showpiece match.”
