UEFA Women's Champions League: Big sport with real champions

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Have you ever wondered what it's like to go to the stadium at a women's soccer game?
Who goes there like that? Is there beer there? What is the atmosphere like...? Because let's be honest: When we look at the number of spectators in women's soccer, too many of you couldn't have been there yet.

We dared to do the daring experiment and started an expedition to the campus in the north of Munich. We, that were 15 boys (yes unfortunately we were really only men), employees and friends from B42. Everyone is active themselves, sometimes even “in higher class”, of course still professionally connected to soccer and therefore also bringing a certain level of soccer expertise with them. And one or two 1860 fans were there too.

The occasion: FC Bayern Munich versus Olympique Lyon. Champions League, Wednesday evening, floodlights. It was set up for a perfect soccer night.

How to get there: by subway and bus - it's just a little outside, the new Bayern campus. Too well connected to say it would be cumbersome, but we weren't really in Munich anymore. Almost like in the Allianz Arena...

But here too, fans flock towards the entrance. According to the first impression, they are on average more feminine, younger and less drunk than in men's soccer. The downside: Nowhere is there really loud singing, the acoustic warm-up program is limited. The advantage: it really feels a bit like a living room. Hardly any police, all friendly and relaxed, not a bad atmosphere for a relaxing Wednesday evening trip.

Admission is expected to be uncomplicated and after five minutes we enter the small stadium on the Bayern campus. The ranks are already well filled and even an entire coach from Lyon has spread into one of the corners. Bonsoir!

On the way to our seats, we also pass by the first refreshment stand. There is beer, mulled wine, soft drinks and popcorn. A somewhat unusual mix, but the most important thing for us was included. Equipped with the lifeblood of soccer fans, it's off to the courts.

Red and white tabloids are waiting for us there. This only arouses subdued enthusiasm among the soccer purists among us, but the choreo that we create with it on the back straight looked very appealing. And by halftime, we had also discovered the big kiosk for beer AND bratwurst.

The game starts and what we then get to see for the next 90 minutes is not fireworks of goal room scenes, but it is extremely high-class. Two disciplined top teams don't give each other an inch; logically, the only goal is scored according to a standard. And as was aptly remarked on TV: “The stadium is shaking a bit! ”

The atmosphere in the stands is very good throughout the game anyway. The fans do their best to cheer on the teams for 90 minutes. Everything seems a bit looser and less aggressive than in men's soccer. Sport is simply in the foreground and the almost 2,000 spectators are fully involved and having fun.

In the last seconds of injury time, Lyon almost equalized, and the final whistle sparked cheers in the stadium. We'll stay for the Bayern players' lap of honor, finish our last beer and slowly make our way out. There, for the first time, a short team meeting and a final round.

The tenor: That was a really good soccer game and was just a lot of fun.

Our brand ambassadors Lina Magull and Julia Simic have repeatedly spoken about the lack of appreciation here in recent weeks and months. How much we can learn in part from other countries and why these constant quality comparisons with men's soccer make little sense.

This evening has clearly shown that they are 100% right about that. If you drive out to campus, you see really good soccer. High-quality, technically and tactically one of the best things we see in Germany.

The biggest catching up to do is in the categories of attention and fan culture. Just as women's soccer has yet to earn its place in our society, its fan culture must first be found and developed. But this soccer, which was presented to us on Wednesday evening, definitely deserves more attention and viewers.

For whom hate songs, disrespect and the third half are a fixed accompanying program of every soccer game, he or she is of course in the wrong place outside on campus. But for all real soccer fans who like to go to the stadium regularly, want to watch good soccer with beer and bratwurst in a positive family environment in a relaxed atmosphere: German women's soccer, both nationally and internationally, is a first-class option.

Go and see for yourself!

We, soccer fans, have the opportunity to support this fantastic sport and win back some of the soccer that we thought we had lost in recent years. An honest, exciting sport, tangible, emotional and close to people.

Be fearless. Be focused. B42

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