Located in Austria during a pre-season training camp, the Borussia Dortmund women\u2019s team, squad as well as staff, are plotting how to reach the 2. Bundesliga after missing out on promotion during their rapid rise last season.<\/p>\n
Dortmund finished two points off the top and a place in the regional playoffs despite a goal difference of +101, and the club have wasted no time in signing big names to make sure there is no such near-miss this time around.<\/p>\n
The team\u2019s managing director, Svenja Schlenker, says: \u201cWe have great new players, we have a great environment, Manuela, wouldn\u2019t you agree?\u201d Manuela refers to Manuela Zinsberger, the Austria goalkeeper who played previously for Bayern Munich and Arsenal. Alongside the Germany legend Alexandra Popp, Zinsberger is one of two major summer signings for the third-division side, and a statement of Dortmund\u2019s intent.<\/p>\n
\u201cDefinitely,\u201d Zinsberger says. \u201cI\u2019m looking forward to the new season and the first matches, so it couldn\u2019t be better right now.\u201d Her decision to leave Arsenal at the end of last season for life in the third tier of German football was a surprise to many, but the 30-year-old had reasons for doing so. \u201cThey were partly family decisions, but also my conversations with Svenja,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
\u2018We have great new players, Manuela, wouldn\u2019t you agree?\u2019: Svenja Schlenker is pleased to have Manuela Zinsberger at Dortmund. Photograph: Alexandre Sim\u00f5es\/BVB<\/p>\n
\u201cThe vision of the club, where they are now, where they want to be, what my role would be in that, and coming out of my comfort zone was a big part of it, to challenge myself on another level.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe conversations were good. We spoke about the DNA of the club, what I can bring with my experience to the group of players, and to help achieve what we\u2019ve literally put on paper. Dortmund is doing really well. The level from a club perspective, staff, infrastructure, is already high for a third-division club. We\u2019re setting the bar high, it\u2019s showing what the club is putting into women\u2019s football, and that makes me happy.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dortmund are not shy in their ambitions, and really it is not a surprise a club of their size have aspirations of joining the likes of Bayern, Wolfsburg and Eintracht Frankfurt in the Frauen-Bundesliga. Their success can also help push women\u2019s football in Germany as a whole, with no team from the country having won the Champions League since 2015.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt means we will have to spend a lot of money, and that\u2019s OK on one end, but I don\u2019t know what will happen in the next few years,\u201d Schlenker says. \u201cOther countries are a bit further on than we are, we just concentrate on the third division and then we think about what we have to do in the next few years.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you put Bayern versus Borussia on paper people want to watch, but we have to work hard to get there,\u201d Zinsberger says. \u201cWe\u2019ve made the first steps, now it\u2019s down to us to connect as a team and get the results. We are a little behind England in general, we have to push it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Borussia Dortmund are eyeing a meeting with Bayern Munich one day. Photograph: BVB<\/p>\n
The arrival of Zinsberger and Popp, as well as that of the longtime Wolfsburg sporting director, Ralf Kellermann, to the same role, are all key markers of the club\u2019s ambitions, according to Schlenker. \u201cWe\u2019re so happy to have both of them, as well as Ralf. They bring huge experience to Borussia Dortmund,\u201d she says. \u201cWe started in the seventh division, so we have a lot of firsts every year and we don\u2019t all have the experiences they do, so we use that to improve every day.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSvenja and Ralf are really close to the team, which is really nice,\u201d Zinsberger says. \u201cThey try to have conversations on a daily basis about what we can improve. It\u2019s really nice to see, because if you\u2019re not close to the team, it\u2019s hard to make those decisions.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have internal goals, but we look game by game. We have a job to do and that\u2019s to win every single game, that\u2019s the aim of the club. We can\u2019t take any game less seriously than the other, we have to go into every game wanting to win, and what comes out at the end is hopefully positive.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dortmund\u2019s ambitions are wide-ranging, as Schlenker explains: \u201cWe will build our own training facility next to the men\u2019s campus. I\u2019ve spoken to so many players and [for them] it\u2019s about that \u2013 facilities, infrastructures. That\u2019s what I\u2019m working for and have worked really hard for it because I want to build a great second home for all our players.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe all need money, we all need to pay our bills, but we need the right infrastructure to build for the next generations,\u201d Zinsberger says. \u201cI\u2019m so happy we\u2019re doing that here.\u201d<\/p>\n
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If you have any questions or comments about any of our newsletters please email moving.goalposts@theguardian.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n