Arminia Bielefeld and Kaizer Chiefs join forces as women’s football grows

Arminia Bielefeld are exploring a partnership with Kaizer Chiefs as the expansion of women’s football creates new opportunities for clubs in Germany and South Africa.

The German club have been sharing ideas and experiences with The Glamour Girls while looking for ways to reach new audiences and develop links in each other’s markets.

Their collaboration included ‘United for women’, an initiative in which Arminia Bielefeld and Kaizer Chiefs worked together to mark Women’s Month in South Africa in August.

The partnership comes after the increasing success and professionalisation of women’s teams connected to established men’s clubs, including Wolfsburg and Bayern Munich Ladies. Arminia Bielefeld are seeking to build their own profile in the women’s game while also learning from clubs operating in a different football environment.

At an online roundtable discussion attended by KickOff, Arminia midfielder Margherita Laura Santamaria discussed the progress of women’s football in Germany. She said the growth of teams beyond the traditional leading clubs was inevitable and important for the visibility of the sport.

“I would see it as inevitable that women’s teams are growing, whether there are traditional men’s clubs behind. It definitely helped grow for visibility. I think it is very nice that teams like Frankfurt, Schalke are also growing and are being professionalized,” Santamaria said.

She added that greater investment was helping more players gain exposure and giving young footballers ambitious examples to follow.

“Everyone wants to do it as professionally as possible and it definitely helped players to get the stage. Also young players at Frankfurt, Bielefeld, they look up to those teams, so it definitely helped.

“Teams like Wolfsburg who play at the bigger stage are not the (main) focus anymore. It’s a good thing that it is not just one or two teams at the top of the log (all the time). A lot of teams are sharing the stage, which is a nice thing,” the Italian said.

Arminia team-mate Sophia Thiemann also pointed to the changing competitive landscape in Germany, particularly in the Frauen-Bundesliga.

“Before it was only Wolfsburg but now we have Bayern, Frankfurt and different teams that are becoming successful. It makes the Bundesliga a little bit more interesting. (Borussia) Dortmund, Schalke are trying to build women’s teams to compete at the international level and it will obviously take them a couple of more years to reach that level but it’s no secret that they will achieve that,” Thiemann added.

Arminia Bielefeld are currently competing in the Regionalliga West, Germany’s third tier, after being relegated from 2 Bundesliga in 2021.

The Arminians have challenged for promotion in recent seasons, but have so far remained in the third tier. Their discussions with Kaizer Chiefs add an international dimension to the club’s efforts to grow its women’s football presence as the sport continues to develop in both countries.