In the first game after the European Championship, the women's team of the German Football Association (DFB) completed the last missing step that was still necessary on the way to the World Cup next year.

In Turkey, the team of national coach Martina Voss-Tecklenburg prevailed 3-0 and before the end of the qualifying round this Tuesday in Bulgaria (6.30 p.m., ARD One) is uncatchable with 24 points ahead of Serbia (19) in Group H in first place.

Marc Heinrich

sports editor.

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It was the eighth win in the ninth game for Germany, who lost the European Championship final against England 2-1 after extra time at Wembley at the end of July.

Felicitas Rauch (57th minute, VfL Wolfsburg), Klara Bühl (59th) and Lea Schüller (77th, both FC Bayern) scored the goals in Bursa.

The four-week World Cup begins in June 2023 in Australia and New Zealand. The pairings will be drawn and the venues determined in October.

Voss-Tecklenburg gave a pragmatic assessment of the outcome of the performance in front of 2,000 spectators: “It was difficult.

You could tell that at the beginning of the season we didn't have the quality of play that would suit us in a game like this.

But in the end there is a win – that's what counts," said the national coach.

On October 7, she will present herself to the German audience with the players in a friendly match against France during TV prime time (8.30 p.m.);

17,000 tickets have already been sold for the game in Dresden's Rudolf Harbig Stadium.

A trip to North America will follow in November, which will be used for a showdown with the world champions from Team USA.

Before the kick-off on Saturday, the Germans, who were playing for the first time in the new uniform jersey for all national teams, sent symbolic greetings to their goalkeeper Ann-Katrin Berger, who again had cancer: Alexandra Popp held up the jersey of the 31-year-old, the message was emblazoned on the warm-up shirt "We for you, Anne!"

The audience rating was far from reaching the EM level.

While 18 million viewers watched the final five weeks ago, only 1.56 million people saw the performance in Turkey live on ZDF.