Bundesliga: Study: Hardly space for women in soccer top positions

There are still hardly any women in the top positions of the German first and second division teams. According to a report by the organization “Football can” (FKM) (FKM) for the 2024/2025 season, exactly 100 positions were awarded to women from exactly 100 positions on the management levels of the clubs. Only four of the 36 clubs had women in top management at all. It is the same as in the report for the 2023/2024 season: Schalke 04, FC St. Pauli, 1. FC Heidenheim and Werder Bremen.

For the report, the organization interviewed all 36 clubs of the 1st and 2nd league of the previous season. Top management is the highest full-time operational management level, which is responsible for professional football at clubs. The FKM survey is based on the Allbright reports, in which the composition of the board members and supervisory boards is regularly analyzed by DAX groups.

The typical top manager: no ex-professional

According to the FKM, the structure of top management in German football shows a clear picture: “The typical top manager is male, German and around 50 years old. He has an academic training,” says the report. “On average, he has held the current management position for 5.6 years and has been working full -time in the club for 8.6 years.” A previous career as a professional footballer, on the other hand, is not part of the classic profile.

CSU Minister Bär: Bundesliga worse than German economy

“The results show that there is still a lot to do-with 6 percent women in top management, the Bundesliga clubs are significantly worse than comparable small and medium-sized companies in Germany,” said Federal Research Minister Dorothee Bär (CSU).

The control bodies of the 36 clubs, responsible for the appointment of top management, are just as close to women. Of 271 positions, 28 (10.3 percent) are eliminated by female members. The proportion of international profiles (3.3 percent) is even lower.

Football officials want more diversity

Formers of the Bundesliga clubs want football to open more to women. “We need more women in leadership positions in football,” said Axel Hellmann, board spokesman for Eintracht Frankfurt, Presidium member of the German Football League (DFL) and CO advisory board chairman of the FKM. “But we will only achieve this if this is carried and promoted in the clubs, by the members and fans.”

Alexander Wehrle, CEO at VfB Stuttgart, said: “Our numbers show that we are not yet where we want to go.” Bayer Leverkusen’s managing director Fernando Carro said that diversity was “important for our organization and for the entire society”. “There is still a lot of work to do in football.”

Katja Kraus: “No blame”

“This analysis is not allocation, but football is a result sport,” says Katja Kraus, Co-Advisory Board Chairman of FKM. In 2003, the former national goalkeeper was the first woman at Hamburger SV to enter the board of a Bundesliga club. “So far, all the positive conversations and efforts of many decision -makers do not open in corresponding figures.”