The Beginnings of Women’s Football in South-Western Germany: From a Spectacle to a Sport Event

Herzog argues that football organized by the German Football Association (DFB) became such an integrative force for all groups of society because it was able to remain largely outside political and ideological conflicts over time. Accordingly, the pioneers of women’s football conquered the game for genuine sporting motives. Women’s football increasingly gathered steam in the 1960s. This chapter analyses the main obstacles women’s football was confronted with and sheds light on the main driving forces who asserted women’s football as a socially accepted game. The geographical focus lies on South-Western Germany, as the efforts of officials from this region decisively contributed to lifting the 1955 ban on women’s football in 1970. After a decade-long struggle for recognition, women’s football was finally integrated into mainstream football.