Rising Giants: Dortmund add intensity to their rise through the leagues | Women’s football

Lin Austria during the pre-season training camp, the women’s team of Borussia Dortmund, the team and the staff, planned a way to reach 2. Bundesliga after missing out on promotion during their rapid rise last season.

Dortmund finished two points clear of the top spot and a place in the regional playoffs despite a +101 goal difference, and the club wasted no time in signing big names to ensure there were no near misses this time around.

The manager of the team, Svenja Schlenker, says: “We have good young players, we have a good place, Manuela, wouldn’t you agree?” Manuela refers to Manuela Zinsberger, an Austrian goalkeeper who previously played for Bayern Munich and Arsenal. Alongside German legend Alexandra Popp, Zinsberger is one of two major summer signings for the third-tier side, and Dortmund’s statement of intent.

“Absolutely,” Zinsberger said. “I’m looking forward to the new season and the first games, so it couldn’t be better right now.” His decision to leave Arsenal at the end of last season to live in the third tier of German football surprised many, but the 30-year-old had his reasons for doing so. He says: “Partly it was family decisions, but also my conversations with Svenja.

“The vision of the club, where they are now, where they want to be, what my role will be in that, and getting out of my comfort zone was a big part of it, to challenge myself to the next level.

“The discussions were good. We talked about the DNA of the team, what I can bring with my knowledge to the team of players, and how to help achieve what we put on paper. Dortmund is doing very well. The level from the point of view of the club, the staff, the infrastructure, is already high for a club in the third division. We are setting a high standard, it shows what makes the club happy for me, and women’s football.”

Dortmund are not shy about their ambitions, and it is no surprise that a club of their size has ambitions to join Bayern, Wolfsburg and Eintracht Frankfurt in the Frauen-Bundesliga. Their success could also help push women’s football across Germany, as no team in the country has won the Champions League since 2015.

“It means we’re going to have to spend a lot of money, and that’s fine on the one hand, but I don’t know what’s going to happen in the next few years,” Schlenker said. “Other countries have gone further than us, we just focus on the third stage and think about what we have to do in the next few years.”

“When you put Bayern against Borussia on paper people want to watch it, but we have to work hard to get there,” Zinsberger said. “We have taken the first steps, now it is up to us to communicate as a team and get results. We are a little behind England in general, we have to push it.”

The arrival of Zinsberger and Popp, as well as Wolfsburg’s long-time sporting director, Ralf Kellermann, in the same role, are all important signs of the club’s ambitions, according to Schlenker. “We are very happy to have them both, as well as Ralf. They bring a lot of experience to Borussia Dortmund,” he said. “We started in the seventh grade, so we have a lot of starters every year and we don’t have the experience they do, so we use that to improve every day.”

“Svenja and Ralf are really close to the team, which is really good,” said Zinsberger. “They try to have discussions every day about what we can do to improve. It’s very interesting to see, because if you are not close to the team it is difficult to make those decisions.

“We have internal goals, but we look at each game. We have a job to do and that is to win each game, that is the goal of the team. We will not take any game less than the other, we have to go into every game wanting to win, and what comes out at the end is hope.”

Dortmund’s ambitions are broad, as Schlenker explains: “We will build our own training ground next to the men’s centre. I have spoken to many players and [for them] it’s about that – facilities, infrastructure. That’s what I’m working for and I’ve worked hard for it because I want to build a good second home for all our players.”

“We all need money, we all need to pay our bills, but we need the right infrastructure to build for future generations,” said Zinsberger. “I’m very happy to do that here.”

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