Are the Germans in Germany interested in how the Womens national team is doing in the WWC? I heard they are not.
German Women Nantl Team I was born in Germany and lived their for over 10 years before moving to the United States. I still go over at least once a year to visit family and friends and to take in some Bundesliga games. Its Sad But True....... Germans dont really care about the Womens National Team. If you check out Germanys #1 Soccer Magazine KICKER...online at www.kicker.de you will see that their is NO mention about the Womens World Cup at all. Sure a small number of Die Hard German soccer fans will stay up until 2 or 3 am(Due to the time change) to watch the women play...but not many Womens Tennis, Swimming and some other womens sports are WAY bigger than womens soccer in germany. So if Germany loses to the USA tomorrow none will lose sleep over the loss.
I asked the question because my daughter lives in Germany in Berlin. She says no one even talks about it.
It's surely no giant topic here, but it's not without interest. I don't know all ratings, but the first game that was aired on midnight had about 1.5 M people tuning in, which actually is very good. But as Gladbach said, most of them are die hard soccer fans, many others don't find access to women's soccer. Women's Bundesliga is having an average like the male D4's (about 500), the WNT games usually are moved to the early afternoon as the ratings would be too bad in the evening - but that way you can't reach a major number of potential fans of course. kicker btw has the WWC on about half a page in each magazine, but this just contains the German NT and the results from the other games. Their women's Bundesliga coverage is one column per week btw. As for the other sports you mentioned... tennis is having awful ratings since Becker and Graf retired. Individual sports only are popular as long as a German is successful in it (but that's the same everywhere in the world). There is some bigger attention in the public right now, but you can assume that the situation after the WWC will be the same as before.
i recently saw a survey in USA today that said that 30% of german males and 14% of german women will watch at least one world cup match - id ont know if that's live or delayed which eurosport shows a couple times - yesterday's hamburger abendblatt had the WNT on the front page - people around here seem excited to play mia hamm and the americans - when they find out i am from the US it is usually brought up so the answer might be yes, but not when compared to bundesliga... or BII... or regionaliga...
I have absolutely nothing to back this up, but i somehow i think that those numbers sound are very high (especially if you consider that those games are in the night). Anyway, consider me as one of the Germans who isn't very interested (at least not enough to watch a game).
well i'm holding it in my hand - one of those little surveys they put in the lower corner of the sports section - european USA today from monday - unfortunately they don't put their surveys on the webpage, so no link available
i think majority people like to see good quality teams with physical play, like USA, Sweden, Germany etc because the way these teams play are similar to those men
Consider me as one of the Germans who IS very interested ^^ But I moght actually count as one of the mentioned "die hard soccer fans" Or maybe rather die-hard German NT fans...but I have watched several WWC matches without Germany playing, too. Actually, I am interested in the Women's team's efforts, since I saw the legendary semifinal of the Euro Championship in 1989 on TV (probably the first time ever the Women NT was shown live on the tube!). I have seen them live on the pitch too (in 1998 and 2001), so I might be more the exception than the rule among the fans. More to the point of this thread, I basically agree with Olafgb's comments: it's not that much, but there definitely is some interest. The sports sections of the best newspapers, SZ and FAZ, do okay in featuring the German games in WWC. The regional newspapers I have read recently (Thüringische Landeszeitung, Fuldaer Zeitung) are surprisingly sometimes even more focused on ´reporting about it. TV: They were some previews in the usual suspects (ZDF Sportreportage) before it started, after that it was pretty quiet (but the regional programms, like HR3 (where FFC Frankfurt) or RBB (where Turbine Potsdam is located) sometimes surprise you too, with some reports in their minor sports shows). Now after the QF success ZDF presented a pretty large interview with Sandra Minnert in yesterday's Sportstudio. Of course, they show the semifinal... Ratings: I also share Olaf's doubts regarding the poularity of Tennis. I don't see any WTA tournament getting better ratings. And when do you see Women's athletics, Women's swimming on TV? It's the same with all of them: When there is a big event (Grand Slams, European Championships, World Championships, OLympics), they get TV coverage and interest. And that's true for Women's team sports, too. But otherwise, they are hardly better off than Women's soccer.
I'm a german living in sweden and I must say that women's soccer is not big in germany. Most of my friends back there say that it's not as physically and entertaining as men's soccer. They say that they easily could score 5 goals in any WNT match. Since I live in sweden i began to follow women's soccer because it's pretty big over here. The quarterfinal match between sweden and brazil was watched by 1 million people (there are only 8 million swedes). The match made big headlines in the biggest newspapers too.
Did we win?? I watched the match and it was my first time seeing women play football. I must say it's pretty irritating watching them play... absolutely no tactics involved. Just hoof the ball to the half way line and go on from there ... and Perugia wants a female player to play with the men... great marketing but silly idea
The final is Sunday at prime time (7 pm) on ARD, one of the biggest channels. That's probably the first time ever that they get such a big opportunity to present themselves to the country. There'll be between 4 and 8 million people watching, which might cause a little boom for women's soccer in Germany.
It's not as if that's the norm, I think. Looking over the threads at the Women's Soccer board, I see plenty of criticism of that "kick and rush" or "cross and pray" approach by the USA, too. But most US fans blame this as a mistake of their coach who chose the wrong tactical approach and lacked the flexibility to change their style when it didn't work. They want a return to a more technical and passing game, as the US used to play before 99 (I am just paraphrasing some statements from there). I don't think this game already showed all options and potential, tactical and technical, that Women's soccer can perform. In fact, I know it.
i think they are interested now. good game. scored early (like the men). went into defensive posture for the rest of the game (like the men). score multiple times late when other team has forgotten about defense and are trying desperately to score (like the men).
A win may bouy some spirits, but it won't boost the economy. Count on it. Ahh, but you jest! I shoulda known!
I will be there on Sunday in full German attire. While I don't consider myself a diehard women's soccer fan, reaching the finals of the world cup is not something to be taken lightly. Glad to see Deutschland knock out The USA. The Americans were extremely arrogant! Final prediction Germany 3 Sweden 1
From a Bayern fan no less. Hopefully Canada makes the 3rd place game interesting (could be a blowout).
quote: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Originally posted by Treetaliano No they aren't -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- True The german WNT recently lost a friendly against Eintracht Frankfurts U-16 youth team 0-2! The NT played with all their stars like Birgit Prinz and Steffi Jones. Both goals were scored by 13 year old Kirubel Hailu.... I think that saies a lot..... Anyways, comparing womens and mén soccer is like comparing apples and cherrys.... They play a lot less intensive but very technical! I for my part follow the world cup, even though i didnt get up for any game.... I still have a life too....