For the entire second half of the season, it was a close race between Potsdam and Frankfurt. Now on the final matchday, Turbine Potsdam needed a win against Essen to securely clinch the championship. 1.FFC Frankfurt did their part against Bayern Munich and took an early lead by Svenja Huth in the sixth minute, even added a second goal by American Gina Lewandowski, and profited from an own goal for a 3-0 lead after only 12 minutes. But at that point, the championship was already decided. Potsdam converted the first two attacks in the third and fifth minutes for a 2-0 lead by Viola Odebrecht and Anja Mittag.
Conny Pohlers scored halfway through the first half. Afterwards, the Bavarians got better into the game. Swiss forward Vanessa Bürki scored a pair in minutes 38 and 40 for the 4-2 halftime score. At halftime, Turbine Potsdam Coach Bernd Schröder was less than pleased: “After the 2-0 lead, it was our worst performance of the season. If we continue playing like this, Essen will score and then we are trembling.” In the second half, Frankfurt continued scoring. Birgit Prinz made it 5-2 after 51 minutes (it was Frankfurt’s 100th goal of the season). Potsdam seemed to show nerves when Jennifer Zietz failed to convert a penalty kick, but only two minutes later Babett Peter headed a free kick home for the third goal, which proved to be the final one, 3-0. Because of this, the further goals in Frankfurt didn’t matter. Conny Pohlers – with 25 goals top striker of the season – and Birgit Prinz (2) added further goals for the 8-2 final, a truly devastating result for Bayern Munich, which was just minutes away from winning the title themselves only two years ago. Potsdam did not care about it and celebrated their fifth total and third straight title in front of 7.000 in the stadium.
There were two other important games in the relegation fight. Saarbrücken needed a surprise win at Duisburg and simultaneously they required Wolfsburg to defeat Jena to stay in the league. Wolfsburg seemed to do their part. Former Jena player Ivonne Hartmann opened the scoring. Yet when Alexandra Popp and Mandy Islacker cared for Duisburg’s 2-0 lead in the first half, the decision was dropped. Femke Maes and again Popp(2) added goals for a 5-0 win in the second 45 minutes. In the other game, Jena tied. Carolin Schiewe scored twice in the second half. It was a result which truly displays another weak season of VfL Wolfsburg, which ended on rank seventh despite of easily being in the upper third regarding the budget ranking.
In two meaningless games, Bad Neuenahr hosted Leverkusen and Hamburg travelled to Herford. Celia Okoyino da Mbabi was Neuenahr’s game winner, scoring all five goals in a 5-1 win. For Hamburg, Kim Kulig and Ana Maria Crnogorcevic scored in their last league game before leaving to Frankfurt in summer in a 3-1 win. Hamburg finished on a remarkable fourth place ahead of teams like Bayern Munich, VfL Wolfsburg, and SC Bad Neuenahr, who all were expected stronger.
On March 26, 1.FFC Frankfurt will have the chance to take revenge on Turbine Potsdam when the two top teams meet again in the DFB Cup Final in Cologne.