DFB: women's Bundesliga will be expanded 'in the medium term'

Germany's women's Bundesliga will see an increase from the current 12 teams "in the medium term", managing director Holger Blask from the domestic federation DFB has said amid calls for a swift expansion.

Blask told dpa that "a DFB project team has been working on a growth and professionalisation plan for the Women's Bundesliga.

"Various areas and measures have been identified in which urgent investment is needed in order to avoid being left behind internationally and to further professionalise the structures," he said.

He said that the growth plan was submitted to clubs in December but the DFB has admitted "that there is currently disagreement within the league about the speed of implementation.

"The aim is to get the growth and professionalisation plan off the ground with the broadest possible consensus. The expansion of the league is also included in the DFB plan in the medium term," he said.

Eintracht Frankfurt board of directors spokesman Axel Hellmann had recently criticised the development of the women's game in the country and did not rule out moving the women's league out of the DFB.

There are fears that Germany is left behind on an international level after no club reached the quarter-final of the Champions League and the national team went out in the group stage at last year's World Cup.

"We need to move very quickly to a 16-team league and do more in terms of professionalisation," Hellmann had told the Frankfurter Rundschau paper.

But Blask warned earlier in the week: "If we had 16 teams playing today, the quality would not increase tomorrow."

He said clubs would also initially have one third less money available from TV marketing in the event of an increase due to the current media contracts, because the income would have to be divided among more clubs.