After the men's "victory pilots" have preferred to fly past Frankfurt to the federal capital for more than a decade and DFB director Oliver Bierhoff has his national players celebrated by Berliners, at least the female soccer players remain true to the old tradition of a reception in the Römer.

The response, both at the public viewing on Sunday in the arena in the city forest and at the reception on the Römerberg, should be positive for the city that has since brought forth FFC Frankfurt, which has meanwhile merged with Eintracht and is still the most successful club in German women's football be calling.

Even the self-proclaimed capital of German women's soccer can come up with more ideas to get more girls back into soccer.

After a boom in the first decade of this millennium, which brought forth the just so acclaimed talents from Alexandra Popp to Frankfurt native Svenja Huth and youngster Jule Brandt, girls' football has increasingly fallen into a crisis since the 2011 home World Cup.

In Frankfurt, unlike in the countryside, it is still possible to find a suitable team close to where you live.

Meanwhile, village clubs have to plan day trips for away games because of the distance to the next opponent.

This is a stumbling block for the motivation of women footballers, especially as they grow past the age at which they are allowed to play with the boys.

Make room for the bolt

The core of the problem in girls' football is the lack of match practice, both in the big city and in the country.

Girls spend too little time with the ball - for lack of opportunity.

The schoolyard is in the hands of the boys, and the ball-loving girls are not encouraged enough to fight for a territory.

Too few girls dare to go to the soccer field because they often fear the ridicule of the boys when they are on their own.

Years ago, Lina Magull, one of the faces of the national team, told the FAZ in an interview how formative those hours and days "in the cage" had been.

Magull, a real street footballer with typical dribbling and tackling skills, was allowed to play there because her big brother took her with him and didn't let his buddies get macho rejection.

But girls have to come to the bolt without this “escort”.

These hours are in many ways more decisive than the training sessions in the club.

The latter are important, but especially in childhood they are just the icing on the cake.

overcome borders

The Sportkreis Frankfurt strives, for example in the soccer field league, to integrate girls as a matter of course.

Frankfurt could come up with a lot more in a one-two with Eintracht to strengthen girls and encourage them to duel with boys.

With regard to possible Eintracht campaigns during the European Championships, for example, there was absolutely nothing: there were no tournaments, no offers to the schools, which would probably have readily accepted them on the last few days before the holidays.

The potential is there.

Girls are looking for female role models and can also find female soccer players on Instagram or Tiktok, even if there, for example, national player Giulia Gwinn is still more a style icon than a sporting role model.

Parents have a responsibility by taking their daughters to the Eintracht-Frauen games and, like teachers in the schools, showing them the way to fight for their rights.

Frankfurt's cosmopolitanism should also make it possible to overcome reservations about girls' sports among families from some cultures and to support these girls.

This doesn't just apply to football.

This emancipation should also be the goal in other sports.

But football has the greatest appeal to make gender differences forgotten.

That is why it can have the strongest effect beyond the kick in the "cage" and into everyday life.