Women's team crushes Schalke: A dramatic derby victory that tastes really good to BVB

BVB has a short but very successful history in women's football. This Sunday, in the derby of all matches, they took a huge step toward promotion to the Regionalliga. But that's far from the end.

During the winter break, Borussia Dortmund signed Annika Enderle. The 24-year-old joined from SGS Essen and already had experience in the Bundesliga. Enderle was supposed to help BVB secure promotion again. On this Sunday afternoon, in the 88th minute, the ball landed at her feet. Schalke's opponents had left Enderle alone. With two touches, she set up the ball and curled it past goalkeeper Julia Matuszek into the far corner. A dream goal, 2-1, Black and Yellow ecstasy.

Enderle had opened the door to promotion. A long way. In the derby. Her place in the club's history books has thus been forever secured. For the first time ever, Dortmund had hosted Schalke in a match. And (still) in the lower reaches of women's football, in the Westphalia League. In a match where these two clubs are far too big for the rest of their competition. They had beaten them to the ground in recent months. And now they had earned this "do-or-die" match. In the Revierderby. What a scenario.

BVB had put 10,000 tickets into circulation for the match at the Rote Erde stadium. They couldn't get any more tickets. Because the truly venerable Rote Erde, scene of so many football battles, isn't allowed to accommodate any more spectators. They were sold out after less than a week. The hype surrounding this match was huge. It had so many stories to tell. Yes, it was about promotion. BVB led the table with 61 points, followed by Schalke with 60. Although there are still three matchdays to play after this derby, given the overwhelming dominance, it was clear: whoever wins is as good as through. As good as guaranteed a place in the Regionalliga. That's BVB now.

"There were also fears among some clubs"

But it wasn't just about promotion. It was also, above all, about the derby. Dortmund versus Schalke, they love that here because they dislike each other so much. There have been so many historic duels in men's football, epic ones. Including this stadium, the Rote Erde, which could accommodate up to 42,000 spectators in the 1960s and has long since led a more comfortable retirement in the shadow of the mighty Westfalenstadion. This is where Friedel Rauch was once bitten in the buttocks.

There isn't (yet) a major rivalry in women's football. History is too short for that. The ultras of both clubs weren't there that Sunday. But there were plenty of people wearing jerseys of their old heroes. And they sang the old insulting songs. The names Piszczek, Sokratis, and Bender are still present here. Perhaps soon it will be Enderle, Marquardt, or Grothe. "When we started with BVB in the district league, I was asked: What if the derby comes one day? I said: That would be an absolute dream," says Svenja Schlenker. It came true. And how.

This Sunday, Annika Enderle recounted her heroic story. It's a story that tells a lot about Borussia Dortmund's journey. The club only introduced women's football in October 2020. The goal is to go from the very bottom to the very top. BVB deliberately chose this path. They didn't want to take over the license of a higher-league club in order to quickly reach the Bundesliga. But that is the goal and has been from the beginning. In Dortmund, the football giant received a lot of support for its plans, as Schlenker, Head of Women's and Girls' Football at Borussia Dortmund, told ntv.de.

But not only that: "Some clubs also had fears, which I think were unfounded. They were afraid that we would take half their team away. That's why we also had the premise that we wouldn't take more than two players from a team, to ensure that no team would fall apart," says Schlenker. In order to establish a foothold in the region, they initially only signed players from within a 35-kilometer radius. But now BVB is thinking bigger and bigger. The transfer of Enderle was a statement. As was the signing of coach Markus Högner, who, like the match winner, comes from Bundesliga club SGS Essen for the new season.

New training center for women's football

At the same time, the club's structures are becoming increasingly professional. By building its own training center, BVB is trying to "create the best possible conditions," as Schlenker puts it. This is for the women's team and also for the youth teams, which are to be gradually built up. "It's every club's dream to develop its own talent. That applies to us, of course. We're currently developing a strategy for that."

Women's football at BVB has the ambition and mandate to be self-sustaining. Long-time boss Hans-Joachim Watzke rejected the idea of ​​it becoming a subsidized business early on. "Being self-sustaining as a department within the club is a huge challenge. But we've considered that from the very beginning," says Schlenker. "We're on very solid ground and, of course, have the advantage of being a large club, a large company. We have incredibly well-developed structures and are supported by our marketing partner Sportfive. They've been driving this from the very beginning, just as they have with men's football. Of course, we know that it's incredibly ambitious to become self-sustaining in the long term."

Before the next steps towards professionalization are taken, the present must be shaped. By Thomas Sulewski. He is the man who is supposed to lift the BVB women into the Regionalliga. There, where everything already sounds a bit more like big-time football. Where the opponents no longer come from Iserlohn, Hauenhorst or Freudenberg. Fortuna Köln, Arminia Bielefeld and the second teams of Borussia Mönchengladbach, 1. FC Köln and Bayer Leverkusen play in the Regionalliga West. The traditional clubs of men's football are grabbing ever larger pieces of the pie. Even in the lower leagues. For small clubs that have historically driven women's football, like Turbine Potsdam or SGS Essen, it is becoming increasingly difficult to assert themselves in this big-club environment. Some have already been absorbed by the giants, Frankfurt, for example.

Sulewski had instructed his team to attack in the derby. After just three minutes, the outstanding captain Marie Grothe fired a dangerous shot at goal, but goalkeeper Matuszek was able to save the free kick. BVB was alert, had a presence, and had the gigantic Westphalia League crowd behind them. The visitors were impressed.

"A draw is not an option"

Schalke needed at least 20 minutes to break out of the headlock and show that they had been on equal terms this season. And they took the lead after 39 minutes, when Edina Habibovic lifted the ball over BVB goalkeeper Sandra Schröer from distance. She was standing a bit too far out. The Red Earth fell silent for a moment. It wasn't meant to go this way. But before the feeling of throwing away what was so close to promotion in a derby of all places could take hold, the score was 1-1 (41'). Dana Marquardt headed home against a sleepily defending Schalke team. Everything was back to normal for BVB.

"The goal was conceded too early," complained Schalke coach Stefan Colmsee. In the second half, he had his team increasingly attack. The flow of the game became less and less, and the duel became more robust, but not unfair. Many duels, many whistles. And then, in the 88th minute, Enderle's big moment. Pass, reception, curler, ecstasy. And minutes later, the "derby winner" dance. "In terms of drama, it couldn't have been topped," rejoiced Svenja Schlenker. "The atmosphere in the dressing room was fantastic." Because of the derby win, because promotion was within reach. But, it's just the way it is: "We still have three games to play." The lead is now four points, and the goal difference (plus 23) is significantly better.

Meanwhile, Schalke no longer believes in a sensation, in a BVB collapse in the final meters: "The disappointment is, of course, particularly great among the players," said coach Colmsee, according to "Reviersport," and added: "We said from the outset: a draw is not an option. The worst thing would have been if we had come out of this with a draw and gone through the season undefeated, and still not been promoted." That's not going to happen now. Probably not. Because of Annika Enderle.