German Team Unite for Gender Equity

Squad will support inclusive girls' football projects in Germany

Ahead of the start of the FIFA 2023 Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand, the German squad have come together to support gender equity across Germany – with the players pledging 1% of their tournament prize money to inclusive girls’ and non-binary football projects in their home country.

The squad have also called for investment in equal participation opportunities for women of all social and cultural backgrounds in football and will back this call with action in collaboration with Common Goal.

Following a strong showing at last year’s European Football Championships the team ignited an unprecedented level of interest in women’s football in Germany – narrowly missing out on the title to England. The squad are determined to build on that legacy and, as well as challenging for this year’s World Cup, want to ensure their actions on and off the pitch can accelerate the momentum of growth at all levels of the women’s game.

Following last year’s Euros the clubs affiliated to the German Football Association (DFB) recorded a significant increase of young players (with an increase of almost 12% of girls up to 16, from 87,120 in the 2021/22 season to 97,500 in 2022/23).

Despite this positive trend, girls, women, and non-binary people from socially disadvantaged backgrounds in particular still face numerous barriers in Germany that deny them an equal opportunity to participate in football.

With this commitment the German squad – in collaboration with Common Goal – want to specifically support girls’ football projects and advocate equal participation in football for women of all backgrounds and, in particular, actively support girls from minority backgrounds to find their way into organised sport.

The girls’ football projects ‘Futbalo Girls’ an ‘Girl Power’ – which are active throughout Germany have been selected as the first partners in this initiative.

Midfielder Svenja Huth said: "As players of the national team, it is important for us to contribute on and off the pitch to supporting the next generation of women in football. We are very proud that we were able to trigger a wave of euphoria for our sport with our performances at last year's European Championship, which is now also reflected in the growth rates of girls playing football in the clubs.

"With our personal commitment as players and our cooperation with integrative girls' football projects outside of organised sport such as Futbalo Girls and Girl Power in Germany, we want to help ensure that women from all social and cultural backgrounds have the same opportunities to play and coach football."

Her club and national team teammate Lena Oberdorf added: "As a team, we are aware that due to the increased media attention for women's football, there are now many young people who look up to us as role models - that is of course a special privilege. With our commitment, we want to send a clear signal that we understand diversity not only as part of our own identity as a team, but also as an opportunity for the advancement of our sport and our society as a whole."

Hannes Teetz, programme manager of Futbalo Girls said: "The reasons why socially disadvantaged girls and women do not have an equal chance to participate in football are complex. They range from traditional gender stereotypes to a lack of infrastructure (lack of volunteers, too few clubs in the area) to a lack of female role models. This is exactly where we come in with our Futbalo Girls programme."

In the context of the Women's World Cup in Oceania, Common Goal is accompanying more than 100 players from eight participating national teams in their social engagement.

In addition, the German Football Association (DFB) supplier and World Cup sponsor Adidas is supporting selected Common Goal partner projects with a focus on promoting gender equity in football with one percent of all proceeds from the worldwide sale of the official World Cup match ball "OCEAUNZ".

Common Goal co-founder Thomas Preiss said: "The collective commitment of the DFB women is not only a further expression of the special character and leadership qualities of the team, but also offers a great opportunity to further develop football in Germany in the coming years in cooperation with all parties involved to become a place of equality and inclusion for all population groups.”