With just one game to go until the end of the 2009/10 Bundesliga season, the city of Wolfsburg is already looking forward to next year. On Wednesday 5 May, around 300 guests arrived at the VfL Wolfsburg Stadium for the sixth FIFA Women's World Cup countdown event.
"This is the number-one football city in Lower Saxony. VfL are still the champions of the men's league and our women's team are fourth in the Women's Bundesliga," said Karl Rothmund, chairman of the North German Football Association (NFV). "No other German club has two teams as strong as VfL Wolfsburg. Our A and B youth teams are also doing very well," he continued.
Former Wolfsburg striker Roy Präger and Britta Carlson, also a former VfL player and Germany women's international, have set the women's team the challenge of emulating the title success the men enjoyed in May 2009. Both are FIFA Women's World Cup ambassadors for Wolfsburg, the most northerly host city at next year's tournament.
"It might take two, three or four years, but the women's team are definitely capable of winning the title," said Präger, who is responsible for the marketing of the women's team among his numerous other duties.
Wolfsburg women can secure a fourth-place finish in the league with victory against newly-crowned champions Turbine Potsdam on Sunday 9 May, though the squad are hoping that will be just the start of a sustained era of success. Meanwhile, the VfL men's team play their final match as reigning Bundesliga champions a day earlier on Saturday 8 May at home to Eintracht Frankfurt.
Preparations for the four FIFA Women's World Cup 2011 matches are well underway, with Britta Carlson hard at work promoting both the event, as well as the FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup 2010, which is also being held in Germany. "I did 90,000 kilometres over the past year visiting many clubs and schools. We want to stir up the excitement as much as possible," she said.
The Wolfsburg countdown event itself brought together numerous representatives from the worlds of politics, business and sport and the all-round enthusiasm for the FIFA Women's World Cup was palpable among all the guests. And Wolfsburg could well be the venue for the host nation's quarter-final tie, should they make it that far.
"We're very proud that our city is going to be a part of the Women's World Cup. Wolfsburg is a very sporting city," said mayor Rolf Schnellecke. "After the 2006 World Cup, we're well aware of how intense the euphoria can get. We want to send a positive message to the world again next year, with the only difference to 2006 being that Germany win the tournament," said Uwe Schunemann, Home Secretary of Lower Saxony.
Wolfgang Niersbach, General Secretary of the German FA, also underlined the importance of the tournament taking place between 26 June and 17 July 2011 while the domestic season is on its summer break. The German FA asked FIFA specifically after the last FIFA Women's World Cup in China was held in September. "The Women's World Cup is arguably the biggest football event of 2011. We'll be in the international spotlight and want to show our best side," said Niersbach in reference to the FIFA Women's World Cup 2011 official slogan 'The beautiful side of 20ELEVEN'.
Vice President Hannelore Ratzeburg, the highest-ranking female representative at the German FA, outlined the significance of the tournament. "There are always going to be comparisons with the men's World Cup in 2006, but there is one similarity in particular: It will be a long time before we get the chance to stage another Women's World Cup in Germany."
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