At around 3pm on Saturday 13 May, a quiet descended around the Karl-Liebknecht-Stadion. Set in the quaint, leafy Potsdam suburb of Babelsberg, a stadium that has witnessed so many of its residents’ highest moments was now playing host to their worst. As the whistle blew on Turbine Potsdam’s 5-1 defeat to Bayer Leverkusen, the curtain finally came down on their 26-year period in the top flight of German football. The home fans watching on were well aware they were witnessing a moment in history; one they would all probably rather forget. The end of an era, as one of the Frauen-Bundesliga’s last independent teams dropped out of the division.
It was a result that sent shockwaves through women’s football far beyond German shores. While Potsdam’s decline has been on the cards for some time, it is still gut-wrenching to see one of the historic trailblazers finally fall. For Potsdam’s remarkable story is one that is wrapped so intrinsically with its country’s history – a small team in the east defying the odds to become one of its most successful.
