RB Leipzig’s footballers are on the verge of promotion to the Bundesliga. They want to grow organically instead of causing a stir with large transfers.
RB Leipzig’s sports director Viola Odebrecht sees the current upswing in women’s football as sustainable only with appropriate investments.
“You have to see women’s football as a kind of start-up. At some point it should be a sure-fire success, but I hope that it will still be seen as an investment in the next two to three years,” said the 40-year-old in the dpa interview. The ex-world champion has been head of the Leipzig women’s soccer department since May 2019. The team is in the second division on Sunday (6.30 p.m. / Sky) in the semi-finals of the DFB Cup against SC Freiburg and is about to be promoted to the Bundesliga.
In the recently published season report for the 2020/21 season, the German Football Association (DFB) stated that the twelve Bundesliga clubs made an average loss of 1.5 million euros. At the same time, revenues increased to a total of 17 million euros, which corresponds to 1.4 million euros per club.
Leipzig wants to grow organically after promotion and not immediately be at eye level with Bayern Munich or VfL Wolfsburg. Due to salary increases, the budget for the coming season has to be increased. “However, there will be no extreme jumps, nor will the budget be doubled,” said Odebrecht. “We will sign players who have already played in the Bundesliga. But we won’t sign Alexandra Popp or Pernille Harder.”
In the first two seasons, it’s all about staying up in the league. “Of course we have a different name than previous climbers, but it won’t be easy,” said Odebrecht. You don’t want to replace the whole squad. “Perspectively, we are pursuing the goal of qualifying for the Champions League.” (dpa)