Borussia Dortmund's women's team are in Austria for a pre-season training camp as they plot a path to the 2. Bundesliga after a near-miss last season. The side finished two points short of top spot and missed out on regional playoffs despite a goal difference of +101.
The club have responded by signing high-profile players, including Austria goalkeeper Manuela Zinsberger and Germany legend Alexandra Popp. Both have joined the third-division side, alongside former Wolfsburg sporting director Ralf Kellermann.
Star signings and ambitious plans
Managing director Svenja Schlenker said: "We have great new players, we have a great environment, Manuela, wouldn’t you agree?" Zinsberger replied: "Definitely. I’m looking forward to the new season and the first matches, so it couldn’t be better right now."
Zinsberger explained her decision to leave Arsenal for a third-tier club: "They were partly family decisions, but also my conversations with Svenja. The vision of the club, where they are now, where they want to be, what my role would be in that, and coming out of my comfort zone was a big part of it, to challenge myself on another level."
"The conversations were good. We spoke about the DNA of the club, what I can bring with my experience to the group of players, and to help achieve what we’ve literally put on paper. Dortmund is doing really well. The level from a club perspective, staff, infrastructure, is already high for a third-division club. We’re setting the bar high, it’s showing what the club is putting into women’s football, and that makes me happy."
Infrastructure and long-term goals
Schlenker acknowledged the financial demands: "It means we will have to spend a lot of money, and that’s OK on one end, but I don’t know what will happen in the next few years. Other countries are a bit further on than we are, we just concentrate on the third division and then we think about what we have to do in the next few years."
Zinsberger added: "If you put Bayern versus Borussia on paper people want to watch, but we have to work hard to get there. We’ve made the first steps, now it’s down to us to connect as a team and get the results. We are a little behind England in general, we have to push it."
Schlenker highlighted the arrivals of Zinsberger, Popp, and Kellermann as markers of ambition: "We’re so happy to have both of them, as well as Ralf. They bring huge experience to Borussia Dortmund. We started in the seventh division, so we have a lot of firsts every year and we don’t all have the experiences they do, so we use that to improve every day."
Zinsberger noted the management's closeness to the team: "Svenja and Ralf are really close to the team, which is really nice. They try to have conversations on a daily basis about what we can improve. It’s really nice to see, because if you’re not close to the team, it’s hard to make those decisions."
On internal goals, Zinsberger said: "We have internal goals, but we look game by game. We have a job to do and that’s to win every single game, that’s the aim of the club. We can’t take any game less seriously than the other, we have to go into every game wanting to win, and what comes out at the end is hopefully positive."
Dortmund also plan to build a training facility next to the men's campus. Schlenker said: "I’ve spoken to so many players and [for them] it’s about that – facilities, infrastructures. That’s what I’m working for and have worked really hard for it because I want to build a great second home for all our players." Zinsberger added: "We all need money, we all need to pay our bills, but we need the right infrastructure to build for the next generations. I’m so happy we’re doing that here."
