“Playing in the Dreisamstadion has always been a dream of mine,” says soccer player Sandra Starke. This dream came true for her on Monday, but first she had to move from SC Freiburg to VfL Wolfsburg. After eight years in Breisgau, Starke faced Freiburg with VfL on Monday, and when she raved about the Dreisamstadion, her former teammates were celebrated by the audience despite being out of the cup. More than 3000 spectators came to the first home game in the new venue, which with around 24,000 seats is now the largest stadium in the league.
On Sunday (4 p.m. / Magentasport), SC Freiburg will play away in Potsdam. Turbines Isabel Kerschowski doesn’t like to remember the old Möslestadion in Freiburg. She didn’t like it at all. “The pitch and everything around it was huge, there were only spectators on one side.” The 33-year-old, who returned to Potsdam in the summer, has seen many stadiums in her career, in the Bundesliga, the Champions League and with the national team .
“The Karl Liebknecht Stadium is the most beautiful stadium in the Bundesliga for me,” says Kerschowski, and that has nothing to do with the fact that she played for Potsdam and started her Bundesliga career here 16 years ago. “It’s tight, it’s nice and small.” Turbine shares the old stadium with the hinged floodlight masts with regional league Babelsberg 03, the owner of the stadium. It is the rule in the women’s Bundesliga that clubs share a venue.
Shoes with iron studs and cowbells
Isabel Kerschowski likes old stages with character. In Wolfsburg, she saw the move to the new stadium. “Of course that’s nice too. But it’s all new and sometimes so cold because it’s all made of concrete. ”And she likes narrow stadiums without a tartan track, so that the fans are close to the pitch. That is why she has a clear favorite in Berlin: “For me, the stadium An der Alten Försterei is the most beautiful stadium ever.”
In the team, too, it is an issue where the game is played, but above all because of the space available. “If you know it’s going to be sand, then you better pack your shoes with the iron studs.” In the arena, which is framed on three of four sides by corn fields, you quickly feel like you are on the training ground, says Kerschowski . “When they then ring the cowbell, then you really know you’re in the village.” Nevertheless, the average number of spectators in sand is stable above that of Munich’s Bavarians.
Too few spectators
Kerschowski experienced the contrast program to everyday life in the Bundesliga with the national team. In 2016 she won Olympic gold in Rio at the legendary Maracana Stadium. “The atmosphere was incredible. I will never forget that, ”says Kerschowski. The fact that she only sat on the bench in the final did not detract from it. “It was enough. I was in the squad and was able to warm up to the bottom. 52,000 spectators doing a La Ola and singing, that’s amazing. “
There are seldom full stadiums in the league. “It’s a big problem in the women’s Bundesliga that generally not many spectators come,” says Kerschowski. She knows that especially from her time in Leverkusen. Only the two traditional locations Frankfurt and Potsdam have a four-figure average attendance this season. “I’ve also seen a full stadium here in Potsdam. That’s something completely different, and you sometimes get goose bumps. ”
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