From cup winner to champion, from one top club to another: Lena Oberdorf’s move from VfL Wolfsburg to Bayern Munich, announced on Thursday, is making waves in German women’s football. Because of its (financial) dimensions and the clear signal it sends: Bayern are serious about equipping their women’s team with top players; the long-time dominators from Wolfsburg can obviously no longer keep up.
They cannot prevent their best midfielder from moving to the best Bundesliga competitor. Because she really liked “the club’s vision of what they want to achieve in the next few years,” as Oberdorf is quoted in the FCB statement.
The 22-year-old has made use of an exit clause in her contract, which runs until mid-2025, in order to join Munich for four years from next summer (contract until June 2028). According to information from the FAZ, the fixed transfer fee was 450,000 euros – a new dimension in this country. Such a sum has never been paid for a German player.
The next transfer record beckons
However, compared to the amounts paid due to the upswing that international women’s football has had since the 2022 European Championship, the compensation for VfL does not seem excessive. A new global transfer record could soon be achieved. The planned transfer of Zambian Racheal Kundananji from Madrid CFF to the newly founded Bay FC in the American professional league is said to have a volume of around 800,000 euros.
From a local perspective, one can at least say about the Oberdorf transfer that the defensive midfielder in the Bundesliga will remain. Because she didn’t accept any offer from the economically stronger English league or the American NWSL, whose TV revenues have recently multiplied. It is certain that Oberdorf was able to choose from several offers from top clubs.
“Lena Oberdorf is one of the most talented players in Germany and has a great future ahead of her,” says Bayern’s sporting director, Bianca Rech. An extremely strong duo with Georgia Stanway seems possible in the midfield center next season. The England international moved to Munich in 2022, followed last summer by Pernille Harder and Magdalena Eriksson. The scene assumes that the Scandinavian stars would have broken the salary structure in the Munich squad. Top players in Munich are now said to be able to earn more than twice as much as in Wolfsburg.
Alex Westhoff Published/Updated: Alex Westhoff, Frankfurt Published/Updated: Alex Westhoff Published/Updated:
Oberdorf played her first World Cup at the age of 17, reached the European Championship final with Germany in 2022 and, at the age of 22, already has 44 international matches. The Gevelsberg native, who is currently having a rather weak season and recently cited mental difficulties for this, has won the championship once and the cup three times with the “Wolves” and was also in the Champions League final twice. Now more titles are to follow in Munich.
