“Goosebumps” in the Allianz Arena
FC Bayern is finally letting women play for the big ones
3/21/2022, 3:39 p.m
The women at FC Bayern are German champions, play regularly in the Champions League and are among the best clubs in the world. But one thing has been denied them so far: a game in the Allianz Arena, instead they play on the tranquil campus. For at least one game, that’s over now.
Robert Lewandowski and Co. banged the drum on social media, now the women of Bayern Munich own the big football stage. The German champions are playing in the Allianz Arena for the first time and have been looking forward to the quarter-final first leg of the Champions League against Paris St. Germain for weeks.
“It will be a real highlight that we deserve,” said national player Giulia Gwinn before Tuesday’s cracker (6.45 p.m./DAZN). Coach Jens Scheuer got goosebumps while jogging past the 75,000-seat arena.
Bayern women usually play their home games on the tranquil Bayern campus. But the club wanted to set an example, as CEO Oliver Kahn explained: “We are very happy about this milestone in the more than 50-year history of our women’s football department.” Over 10,000 fans are expected for the duel with the French champions, and just over 1,000 watched the most recent Bundesliga home game on campus against Eintracht Frankfurt (4:2). “We want to soak up the atmosphere in the arena and will do everything we can to ensure that the spectators see an attractive game,” Gwinn promised in “Münchner Merkur” and “tz”.
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When they meet ex-Munich Sara Däbritz again, the second leg will also rise on March 30th in Paris’s Prinzenpark. “In general, almost all quarter-finals take place in the big men’s stadiums, which is just wonderful for women’s football,” enthused national player Däbritz.
So does the German runner-up VfL Wolfsburg on Wednesday (9 p.m./DAZN) in the Emirates Stadium for his first leg at FC Arsenal, the two-time title winner contests his home game in the VW Arena. And at the Camp Nou, a record will even be broken in the upcoming one. Over 80,000 tickets have already been sold for the quarter-final Clasico between the defending champions FC Barcelona and Real Madrid. The previous record for women’s club football also comes from Spain: In 2019, Barça won at Atlético Madrid in the Estadio Metropolitano in front of 60,739 fans.
Munich is still a long way from these numbers, but that doesn’t stop the players from dreaming of the title. In the Champions League, the Bayern women were up to the semi-finals at the latest, this year the treble is still possible. “We have worked as a club over the past few years so that we can keep up with the best in Europe,” said Gwinn: “I firmly believe in my team and trust us to do everything.”