Women's Bundesliga: 14 top-flight clubs form FBL e.V.

Over the past few months, the 14 Bundesliga clubs have driven forward a joint process to strengthen German women's football. Following the successful collaboration in the Women’s Bundesliga business plan ‘Geschäftsplan Frauen-Bundesliga Projekt GbR’, the "Frauen-Bundesliga FBL e.V." has now been created. Bayer 04 and the other clubs are joining forces in this organisation to ensure the modern, professional and sustainable development of the league and to further increase the economic performance of professional women's football.

The clubs are pursuing the goal of investing significantly in women's football, promoting it in sporting terms and further increasing its social visibility and relevance. It remains to be seen whether the German Football Association (DFB), which was originally also involved, will continue to support the process in the future. The association will initially be founded without the involvement of the DFB.

Fernando Carro, Bayer 04 Leverkusen CEO, said: "The founding of the FBL is an important milestone for our club and for women's football in Germany. The fact the act of foundation will now initially take place without the DFB is very regrettable and, given the circumstances, also disappointing. I would like to emphasise that the clubs' negotiators enjoy our full confidence and can be sure of our support. We remain hopeful that the challenges that have arisen can be overcome in the near future."

The official founding ceremony of the Frauen-Bundesliga FBL e.V. will take place on 10 December at 14:00 CET at the Adler Business Club at Deutsche Bank Park in Frankfurt am Main.