Analysis Highlights: Limited Representation of Females in Senior Football Roles
In the realm of German football, a call for change is echoing across the Bundesliga and 2nd division clubs. A comprehensive survey by the organization "Football Can Do More" (FKM) has revealed a stark disparity in gender diversity, with only 6% of top management roles occupied by women [1].
The survey, based on data from all 36 clubs in the first and second divisions, paints a picture of a predominantly male-dominated landscape. Only four clubs – Schalke 04, FC St. Pauli, 1. FC Heidenheim, and Werder Bremen – have women in their top management [1]. VfB Stuttgart's chairman, Alexander Wehrle, acknowledged that his club is not yet where it wants to be regarding the representation of women in top management [1].
Addressing this issue requires targeted strategies. Proactive recruitment and promotion, support and mentorship programs, cultural and organizational change, addressing systemic barriers, leveraging the growing market of women's football, and activism and role modeling are key measures to improve gender diversity [1][2][4].
Katja Kraus, the first woman to join the board of a Bundesliga football club, Hamburger SV, in 2003, has highlighted the need for action. Despite positive discussions and efforts for change by many decision-makers, the numbers have yet to reflect this [3]. Federal Research Minister Dorothee Bär (CSU) has also weighed in, stating that Bundesliga clubs perform worse than comparable small and medium-sized enterprises in Germany regarding the representation of women in top management [5].
Axel Hellmann, board spokesman of Eintracht Frankfurt, and Fernando Carro, managing director of Bayer Leverkusen, have both emphasized the importance of diversity for their organizations and society as a whole [6]. The control bodies responsible for appointing top management in the 36 German football clubs have 28 (10.3%) female members out of 271 positions [7].
The FKM survey is modelled on the AllBright reports, which analyze the composition of the supervisory boards of DAX corporations. The typical top manager in German football is male, German, around 50 years old, has an academic education, has held his current leadership position for 5.6 years, and has been working full-time at the club for 8.6 years [8].
As the 2024/2025 German first and second division football season approaches, the call for change is gaining momentum. The survey serves as a catalyst for action, pushing the industry to address the imbalance and work towards a more inclusive future for German football.
- The dominance of male managers extends beyond the Bundesliga, as seen in European football leagues, where a scarcity of women in top management roles continues to persist.
- To ensure a more equitable representation of women in top management roles, it's crucial that German football clubs adopt proactive strategies found successful in other industries, such as the DAX corporations, as outlined in the AllBright reports.
