Wolfsburg eye another treble after decade of dominance

Treble-hunting Wolfsburg have long cemented their status as one of the best sides in women's football. But their impressive trophy collection — which includes two Champions League titles, seven Bundesliga victories, and nine German Cups — obscures that their reign has been reletatively short. Though it feels like they've always been a fixture at the top of the table, Wolfsburg's first taste of silverware was just a decade ago, when they unsuspectingly won the treble.

Their surprisingly-dominant 2012/2013 season didn't just announce Wolfsburg's arrival among Europe's elite, it helped alter the course of women's football, especially in Germany. Ten years on, and Wolfsburg's impact on a radically-different footballing landscape is palpable. And while much around them has changed, they've largely held course. 

Investing Early

Wolfsburg launched a women's team in 2003, but the early teams would be largely unrecognizable today.

"I used to play against Wolfsburg and they were more of a midtable side," former Germany international Conny Pohlers told DW. In the early 2010s, Wolfsburg and owners Volkswagen saw the potential of women's football and stepped up their investment, signing a handful of German internationals, including Pohlers.

"[Then-coach] Ralf Kellermann brought in Nadine Kessler, Josephine Henning, Lena Goeßling and myself. And then came the breakthrough [...] from there, there was really no looking back once we were on top," Pohlers continued.

According to Kellermann, who coached from 2008-2017 and now serves as Wolfsburg's Director of Women's Football, strategic thought had been put into the spending spree.

"I think Wolfsburg serving as a host city for the 2011 Women's World Cup got things going. It demonstrated that women's football could really fit at the club, and we started to truly push it," Kellermann said at a recent press conference. 

The influx of stars saw Wolfsburg morph into title contenders, and in the 2012/13 season the She Wolves squeaked past Turbine Potsdam in the Bundesliga and narrowly defeated them in the Cup final before shocking reigning titleholders Lyon in the Champions League final.

Setting the trend in Germany

Wolfsburg haven't just gone on to win six Bundesliga titles following their treble-winning salvo of 2013 — their dominance has totally reshaped women's football in Germany. They were the country's first major men's club to seriously invest in women's football.

In the last decade, countless other clubs have followed Wolfsburg's lead, largely crowding out the women-only clubs that had previously dominated the game. The outsized resources of big Bundesliga sides was immediately apparent, and didn't just boil down to wages.

"We always had training pitches available [in Wolfsburg]," Conny Pohlers, who had stints in Potsdam and Frankfurt before joining Wolfsburg, told DW. "We had our laundry done for us. When I played for Frankfurt, although we were a top club, we all had to wash our own training gear. The infrastructure, the collaboration with the men's team, it was all great. And still is,” she said.

Top-level infrastructure remains key to Wolfsburg's success. Given their early investment, they also boast unrivaled institutional knowledge and continuity as proven by Pohlers, who now works as a youth coach with the men's team.

The Bundesliga elite is unrecognizable from before Wolfsburg's breakthrough though. Bayern Munich, who are currently a hair ahead of Wolfsburg in this season's title race, are the only other team to have won the league since 2013. Clubs like Eintracht Frankfurt, and Hoffenheim are trying to crack the duopoly, but there's still a long way to go even if most Bundesliga sides now have a women's team.

"I hope clubs don’t want to set up women's teams just to have one, and that they really see something in it and want to help it grow," Wolfsburg attacker Svenja Huth told DW.

"Because that totally changes how players approach football and that they won't have to work 30-40 hours on top of playing, as is sometimes the case. They'll earn enough to focus 'only' on football," she continued.

Keeping pace internationally

The women's game has also changed dramatically on the continent even if Wolfsburg's impact is more measured in Europe. Lyon's towering success has cast a long shadow over the competition with Wolfsburg's two titles making them the most successful club besides the eight-time winners in the last 12 seasons.

Here too, big spending from men's clubs like Barcelona and Chelsea has recast the Champions League elite.

"The level of play has only improved, there's more money involved and the competition is getting ever tighter. Winning it all won't get any easier going forward," Wolfsburg coach Tommy Stroot told DW.

And though Wolfsburg can outspend their domestic competition, disruptive newer sides on the continent have taken a flashier approach to squad building.

"I get the impression that at the moment a bidding war over the most prized players is taking place in Spain, England, and partly France as well, where at some clubs, cost isn't a factor…. That's not how we do things," said Ralf Kellermann.

Instead of taking turns rewriting transfer records, as Barcelona and various English sides have in recent years, Wolfsburg focus remains on sensible spending. The club relies on free transfers to bring in both experienced vets looking for a crack at Champions League glory and youngsters who may see the club as a stepping stone to a side with deeper pockets. 

Dueling philosophies

For now, sticking to the tactic that landed Wolfsburg the treble in the first place has kept Wolfsburg competitive. They've qualified for eight of the last 11 Champions league semifinals.

"We've come close in recent years. We've reached finals and semifinals. Based on that, I think Wolfsburg belong to the top four or five clubs in Europe," Huth told DW.

Yet the final step has been evasive and Wolfsburg haven't lifted the Champions League since clinching back-to-back titles in 2014. The upcoming clash with Barcelona is a chance to reestablish themselves at Europe's pinnacle and determine if adhering to their well-worn blueprint will be enough to keep pace with an ever-changing women's game.

Edited by James Thorogood