The Frauen-Bundesliga (English: Women's Federal League), currently known as the FLYERALARM Frauen-Bundesliga due to sponsorship by FLYERALARM, is the top level of league competition for women's association football in Germany. In 1990 the German Football Association (DFB) created the German Women's Bundesliga, based on the model of the men's Bundesliga. It was first played with north and south divisions, but in 1997 the groups were merged to form a uniform league. The league currently consists of twelve teams and the seasons usually last from late summer to the end of spring with a break in the winter.
In the UEFA Women's Champions League, the Frauen-Bundesliga is the most successful league with a total of nine titles from four clubs, with 1. FFC Frankfurt winning the most titles of any club.
Format
The Bundesliga consists of twelve teams. At the end of a season, the clubs finishing 11th and 12th are replaced with the respective top-placed teams of the two 2. Frauen-Bundesliga divisions. A Bundesliga season consists of two rounds, with 22 games combined. In a round every club plays against each other, having a home game against a specific club in one round and an away game in the other. The seasons typically start in August or September, with the first round finishing in December. The second round typically starts in February and ends in May or June, though sometimes the first games of the second round are held in December. In World Cup years, the league might alter its schedule to accommodate the tournament.
The Bundesliga ranking is determined by points a club has gained during a season. A win is worth 3 points, a draw 1, and a loss 0. The tiebreakers are in descending order goal difference, goals for, and head-to-head results. If the tie in the league table cannot be broken, a tie-breaking game is held.
The team in the top spot after the 22nd (last) day of play is the champion, gaining the title of Deutscher Meister. The champion as well as the second-place finisher qualifies for the UEFA Women's Champions League. As the winner of the UEFA Women's Champions League is automatically qualified for the UEFA Women's Champions League in the next year, in 2009–10 the Bundesliga had three teams in the Champions League.
2019–20 teams
Past winners
For German football champions prior to the Bundesliga see the List of German women's football champions.
Winners by team
After 2018–19:
1 Two runners-up finishes as SG Praunheim. 2 One runners-up finishes as FC Rumeln-Kaldenhausen.
See also