‘We have a clear vision’: Eintracht move closer to bringing glory days back to Frankfurt

Frankfurt remains one of the most prominent and historic names in women’s football in Germany. The old 1. FFC Frankfurt ruled the nation for almost a decade, winning the Frauen-Bundesliga seven times between 1999 and 2008, including five in six seasons, and secured four European titles between 2002 and 2015.

The best of Germany, and sometimes beyond, represented Frankfurt before clubs such as Wolfsburg, and subsequently Bayern Munich, took charge, but now the city’s name is back challenging at the business end of the table.

These days it is under the guise of the city’s main club, Eintracht Frankfurt, and progress since a merger in 2020 has led to regular top-three finishes. Further domestic titles have eluded them and they have only once made it beyond Champions League qualifiers, but things are on the up.

Last month Eintracht beat second-placed Wolfsburg 3-1 and victory at home to Union Berlin in Sunday’s final league game would guarantee third place and another shot at reaching the Champions League proper. Progress on and off the pitch was underlined at the start of the year by the appointment as sporting director of Babett Peter, who earned 118 Germany caps and won a World Cup, European Championship and an Olympic gold medal.

“It’s an attractive club that wants to grow, wants to develop the women’s side, which is something I really appreciate,” Peter says. “It was the most convincing argument for me to join the club. The impression so far has been really good. There are things we do really well, things we need to improve, but the reason I’m here is to work on those things.”

Eintracht have stumbled at the Champions League qualification stage in each of the past two seasons, but this season that led to a run in the inaugural Europa Cup that ended in the semi-finals against the eventual winners, Häcken.

Although qualification for the Champions League’s league phase would achieve one of their goals, Peter is looking at a bigger picture. “The most important part is the process of the team. Last summer we had a big change, a lot of new players, we needed time to find ourselves, and now we are in a way better situation. If you develop those processes, you will see the results.”

One of those key signings was the veteran Swedish defender Amanda Ilestedt, who joined on a three-year deal after leaving the European champions, Arsenal. Ilestedt has played for some of Europe’s biggest clubs, including Bayern, where she had a two-year spell from 2019, and was also struck by Eintrachts project.