Interview with Bianca Rech from FC Bayern before the Champions League – Sport

When the FC Bayern Munich footballers meet Arsenal this Tuesday (6.45 p.m., DAZN) in the Champions League quarter-finals in the Allianz Arena, it can no longer be compared to the games that Bianca Rech played as a player for 1. FFC Frankfurt and the women of Munich experienced. Back then the stage was far less spectacular, the stadiums were far less crowded. Rech has been the sports director of the women’s team since July 2019. And as nice as the 42-year-old finds the development, she warns that everything could go too fast.

SZ: Ms. Rech, for the first time in the history of the Women’s Champions League, each quarter-final will take place in the large stadiums of the participating clubs. What does that mean?

Bianca Rech: That is the result of developments over the past few years. At this level, international women’s football deserves these stages. It shouldn’t be much discussed anymore.

So big games in a big stadium as a matter of principle, regardless of the response?

It depends on many factors. But if the framework fits and there is no overlap with the men, it is definitely FC Bayern’s goal to go to the arena with the women’s team at highlights.

When you played in the arena for the first time about a year ago, 13,000 spectators came against Paris Saint-Germain. In December against FC Barcelona it was 24,000. That is a record number for the women’s team, but the arena is not even half full. Faced with attractive opponents, cheap tickets and a lot of advertising, do you sometimes ask yourself: What do we still have to do to fill the arena?

The game against Arsenal is only our third in the arena. We’re in the middle of a development, it’s all a process from which we’re still learning a lot. The number of spectators depends on many factors: time, weather, attractiveness of the opponent. A few years ago it would have been unthinkable that all quarter-finals would take place in the stadiums that otherwise fill the men’s teams.

Moving to the arena costs a lot of money. You will hardly be completely free of this.

The Allianz Arena is a stadium that can hold 75,000 spectators and requires a correspondingly large number of staff. But each of our games there has been a great experience so far. Let’s take the game against Barcelona: It was a magical night, and those responsible didn’t go unnoticed. Seeing what is possible also shows what can be possible.

Last season ended in the quarter-finals against PSG – how do you rate the chances this time?

At that time, some players were infected with Corona, which weakened us. Luckily that’s no longer an issue, but we weren’t spared injuries and have to do without a few players in this important phase. But we have great confidence in our team and are convinced that we can go one step further.

Arsenal won the Champions League in 2006/2007, then called the Uefa Women’s Cup. Since then, no English club has been able to win this title. Although the league has been lauded for a couple of years, the most recent success has been Chelsea’s 2020/21 final appearance. How can this be explained?

That’s an exciting question that I’m sure many are asking themselves. With Arsenal and Chelsea, two clubs from England are in the quarter-finals again after a long time. That shows a development. On the other hand, the dominance of French and German clubs in recent years may simply speak to the quality of the respective teams, regardless of the strength of the league.

Is the gap between the English, the only professional league in Europe, and other leagues as great as many make it out to be?

Personally, I don’t quite see it that way. In terms of sport, we don’t have to hide from the English. Basically, in Europe, two to three teams always play in the respective leagues for the championship. Barcelona is certainly an exception in Spain. There are completely different topics where we should compare: professional framework conditions in terms of infrastructure and salaries, for example.

At the beginning of the season you demanded a minimum wage for players, which could be regulated by means of the appropriate admission requirements. Lina Magull has also already demanded a fixed salary of at least 2,000 euros per month.

We’re all talking about professionalization, so it can’t be that a player with such a high training workload has to work 40 hours to be able to finance her livelihood. From my point of view, there is nothing wrong with doing something on the side. With a view to the career after the career, this should also be promoted, but to a reasonable extent.

It is rumored that earnings range from a few hundred euros to a mid-range five-digit amount per month. What amount do you have in mind as a minimum?

The spread between salaries is not the problem. It’s no different in men’s football. But an income must be in an area where the players can cover their costs and make a living from it.

The discussion about this came up again when it came to Monday games.

I think Monday games aren’t a bad approach. Of course, that’s a little sub-optimal, considering the fans and the eventing of the games. But the arguments that the players still have to work and take an extra Monday off cannot be real. The pressure on the clubs should be increased. The goal must be: We as a league want to use Monday, you have to keep your players busy so that they don’t have to take time off from another employer first.

Are you surprised that the admission criteria have not yet been adjusted accordingly?

We want more visibility, also through corresponding TV contracts, at the same time several games were recently canceled, sometimes at short notice, because the pitch was frozen. That doesn’t go together, something like this mustn’t happen again in the future. Undersoil heating, floodlights and an appropriate infrastructure must be basic requirements for teams in the first Bundesliga.

To what extent has the hype about the European Championships in England last summer already had an impact on professionalism?

More viewers means more revenue, more visibility means more sponsorships. This has potential and must be used.

And how much do you feel the effect in everyday life at FC Bayern?

We notice that enormously. The trend in spectator numbers at our home games is clearly upwards. So many people came to the warm-up games that we had to move from our training ground to the campus stadium. That goes through the entire season. Interest in the players on the part of fans and the media has increased significantly.

In the Bundesliga, the previous record of 156,355 spectators from the 2013/2014 season was broken halfway through this season. There were more than 20,000 visitors in the stadium for three games. The number of spectators has also increased in the Champions League. Is that part of the general development or does it rather show the dependency on the successes of the national teams and on European and world championships?

For me that is a clear indicator. This euphoria is certainly a result of the European Championship. Whereby the success of the national team is in turn also a success of the clubs and leagues, this is where the players are trained. As it stands, we can actually take this momentum with us. It is important that the development is sustainable.

Karl-Heinz Rummenigge said in the SZ interview: “The success at the European Championships must not have been just a flare-up.”. It is therefore a necessary condition “that the macho sport of football now also invests in women’s football”. Large clubs would have to be obliged to build a team. This also sets standards internally. How much has recently changed for the Bayern women?

Completely independent of the European Championship, the club invests more and more in the women’s department every year. This is the basis for implementing our strategy. It’s not just about the Bundesliga team, but also about promoting talent as a whole. It requires well-trained trainers and good medical care. In addition, the market is developing at breakneck speed, salaries are rising and the needs of the players are changing. Of course it’s a nice development, but it’s important that we always remember the values ​​that women’s football embodies and that we don’t lose our groundedness.

In 2019 you announced a four-year strategy with the aim of establishing yourself at the top. What’s the balance sheet?

We haven’t won the Champions League yet. (laughs) But it is remarkable what could be implemented within this strategy. We just want to be number one in Germany in the long term, so we still have a lot of work ahead of us.

Your biggest competitor in this endeavor is VfL Wolfsburg. The Bundesliga’s top game is on Saturday, and because Wolfsburg surprisingly lost to Hoffenheim, the championship is open again. Do you believe in winning the title?

I have a lot of respect for Wolfsburg. They have a strong and balanced squad this season and few injuries at the moment. The 1:2 against Hoffenheim was the first league defeat. Now the title is within our reach again – but there are still a few games left in the league.

More than 21,000 spectators came to Wolfsburg. FC Bayern has now opted for the 2,500 spectator campus stadium, the tickets were sold out within half an hour. That brought you criticism of the decision against the arena.

That also means that the fans are dealing with the topic. We are also discussing this internally. There were many reasons for doing this this time. Next time we will reassess the situation.

Because the probability is still low that two women’s games will fill the arena within five days?

That’s not realistic yet. The question is how many more tickets would have been sold in the end. Such a decision is not made in the short term. In the quarter-finals of the Champions League, we could have been drawn to Wolfsburg, then we would have played VfL three times within a week, twice in the arena. Would tens of thousands have come both times?

On April 15th they will face VfL again in the cup semifinals. And if both win in the Champions League, Wolfsburg and Bayern will also meet here in the semifinals…

…which will most likely take place in the arena in Munich. (laughs)