Turbine Potsdam's hopes of saving season wearing thin

For decades, Turbine Potsdam had little need for hope – it was largely superfluous for one of the best clubs in Europe. But now, hope is all Turbine have left.

"If we didn't have any hope, we'd have given up. Which we definitely have not," Turbine striker Sophie Weidauer told DW earlier this year.

With the Bundesliga season rapidly coming to a close and Turbine six points from safety, optimism that one of Germany's most decorated football teams can pull off a great escape and avoid their first-ever relegation is waning fast. 

Overnight implosion?

While Potsdam's impressive trophy collection has accumulated a solid layer of dust in recent years, this season's bleak battle for survival is still a shock. Turbine narrowly missed out on qualifying for the Champions League last season, capping off six consecutive finishes in the top four.

The club's struggles "have definitely been a massive surprise," longtime fan Karl told DW.

Though this season has been astonishingly dismal – club President Karsten Ritter-Lang said the team "imploded" during the winter break – the roots of Turbine's immediate plight can be traced back to the summer of 2021 at the latest.

That's when former player Tabea Kemme's campaign to return the club to former glory failed, with Kemme losing her bid to succeed longtime President Rolf Kutzmutz. More than anything, this result demonstrated Turbine's general reluctance towards revitalization.

Since then, the club's foundation has collapsed. Then-coach Sofian Chahed surprisingly left the club shortly after last season and Kutzmutz, who had been at the club for 22 years, followed suit, setting off a dizzying merry-go-round of personnel churn. In addition to various changes at the board level, Turbine have had five head coaches since Chahed's departure.

Unsurprisingly, the turmoil at the top has had an impact on the pitch. More than a dozen players, most of them starters, left the club last summer.

"These days, there are a lot of professional opportunities in women's football. Every player decides which environment they want to play in," Weidauer said.

"Of course it's a shame that so many left even though we played an excellent season last year. But at the end of the day, every player has to choose for themselves the level of professional football they want to play at," she continued.

While turmoil at the board level and in the coaching ranks has been a distraction, a near wholesale roster turnover in the offseason has put immense pressure on the players.

"There’s no need to act like it's a secret, it has been extremely difficult. There are so many players with different backgrounds, origins, and  languages on the squad, it can be a barrier to communication," Weidauer said. "It takes time together on the pitch to figure these things out, but by now we don't really have time." 

Tradition no longer pays

This season's acute crisis is also down to Turbine failing to adapt to the rapidly evolving landscape of women's football.

"If you look at how good they were 10-15 years ago, they had a huge advantage over other clubs when it comes to infrastructure and tactics. But teams have caught up to them, or even passed them," former player Anja Mittag, who won two Champions League titles and a handful of domestic silverware in Potsdam, told DW. 

During Turbine's heyday of the 2000s, Germany's most successful teams were exclusively women's clubs. Potsdam's 2012 Bundesliga title wasn't just the last time the club won silverware, it was the last time a women-only club won the league.

Since then, Wolfsburg and Bayern have dominated the Bundesliga and other men's Bundesliga clubs like Eintracht Frankfurtand Leipzig have also invested heavily in the women's game. These sides boast resources, infrastructure, and sporting expertise that women-only clubs lack.

Turbine briefly partnered with regional neighbors Hertha Berlin, but their three-year partnership will not be renewed after this season as Hertha have opted to launch their own women's team. Potsdam and SGS Essen are the only two strictly women's sides left in the Bundesliga, and it's looking increasingly likely that Turbine’s top-flight days are numbered.

The beginning of the end?

"Personally, it's really sad. Watching the club where I came up on the verge of relegation has not been easy," former Turbine striker Conny Pohlers told DW. Like many of her contemporaries, Pohlers developed into a Germany international in Potsdam.

With players like Pohlers and Mittag contributing to a larger legacy at Turbine that includes two Champions League trophies, six Bundesliga titles and three German Cups, the club will always have their history. Its fans hope that won't soon be all that is left.

"It'd be a blow, especially for football in eastern Germany," Turbine supporter Frank said. "And if they get relegated, they're not coming back to the Bundesliga. To lose such a traditional club would be bitter."

Though not optimistic about the immediate future, Mittag believes shifting strategy could still help ensure the club's long-term survival.

"They (still) have that big name. Maybe they can change how they recruit players and focus on scouting and developing young players. They probably need to change in order to turn things around," she said. 

And while letting go of past glory and retooling into a development club could be a viable way forward for a side with decades of know-how but limited resources, the more pressing concern is battling for unlikely survival this season.

"Sure, there's pressure, but we knew there would be from the beginning of the season. I am truly positive we can do it, I believe in this team," Weidauer said.

Update, March 15, 2023: As a result of their 5-1 defeat at home to Bayer Leverkusen on Sunday, Turbine Potsdam’s first-ever relegation from the Bundesliga has been confirmed.  

Edited by Chuck Penfold.