Hamburg's match against Werder Bremen set a new record attendance for a women's club game in Germany. At a sold out Volksparkstadion, the visitors booked their spot in the German cup final.Never before have this many supporters attended a women's football club match in Germany. A record-breaking 57,000 fans watched visitors Bremen beat Hamburg to seal a ticket to the women's German Cup final. "These are the games that make you start playing football as a child," said Bremen captain Lina Hausicke. "I don’t know how many years' worth of emotions I’ve felt today." The match rose to the occasion in the second half. Despite having Saskia Matheis sent off, Bremen managed to snatch an opener, as Sophie Weidauer pounced on a mistake by the home side’s goalkeeper. But the underdogs rewarded their home crowd with drama, with Sarah Stöckmann grabbing a late equalizer to send the game into extra time. However, last-gasp goals from Weidauer and Verena Wieder sealed a 3-1 victory for the visitors. Even though Hamburg missed out on the final, their captain Sarah Stöckmann will remember this match fondly. "It fills me with pride that we were the first in Germany to play in front of a crowd of this size. It won’t be the last time, and it was amazing what we were able to experience here today. It was a football festival for Germany." Surge in ticket sales for the final The match at Hamburg’s Volksparkstadion was already guaranteed to draw a bigger crowd than Bremen's final against Bayern, which will be held at a smaller stadium in Cologne. That was the venue of the previous record crowd, set during the 2023 cup final with 44,808 in attendance. Hamburg's women's team usually plays its home matches at a training ground within the stadium's complex called "Platz 6" (literally: pitch six). Up to 630 fans can stand on the sidelines there, with the Volksparkstadion looming in the background. Meters away from the venue but miles away from today's big stage energy. Asked what it would be like to play on their usual ground again, Stöckmann told DW, “It’s the reality, I think we all know how to contextualize this. We’ll still be drawing inspiration from this when we’re back on Platz 6.” For many of the 57,000 in attendance, it was the first taste of the women’s professional game. The Volksparkstadion is usually the setting for the men's Bundesliga 2 matches and has only hosted the women's team once before, when 16,529 attended their quarterfinal victory in February this year. The astonishing surge of ticket sales for this match can be partly explained by the men's international break, which means no professional men's club sides were in action this weekend. With tickets starting at €9, the stadium was sold out over two weeks before kickoff. A local grudge match Another factor is the regional rivalry between the clubs and cities of hosts Hamburg and visitors Bremen. The Nordderby between HSV and Werder is one of the oldest derbies in German football, also colored by the historic rivalry between the cities dating back to the Middle Ages. “What’s really positive today is that it’s not dangerous at all,” says Hamburg supporter Alexandra, who regularly attends men’s matches. “Usually when Bremen faces Hamburg there’s lots of police. This is much nicer. It’s peaceful and festive today.” Johannes, a Werder Bremen supporter, arrived with his wife and son in tow. “It’s my first ever women’s football match. To come to a Nordderby with my family is a dream. And to show the women they can do it too. I think it’s great.” With the teams for both gender categories currently not playing in the same league divisions, fans have been starved of competitive clashes. While there was a familial feeling outside the ground, the atmosphere inside the stadium was that of a fiercely contested derby, with both sets of fans raucously urging on their charges. Bremen’s Larissa Mühlhaus, who was born in Hamburg and grew up watching games at the Volksparkstadion, even said she and other teammates were experiencing earache. Moving to the big stage Moving to the big stage In the past few years, clubs have routinely used big matches to stage games at their main stadium. The world record attendance of a women's football match stands at 91,648, set during a UEFA Women's Champions League match between Barcelona Femení and Wolfsburg at the Camp Nou in April 2022. "The atmosphere makes all the difference," says Hamburg supporter Moritz. "If the women’s team played here more often, then I’d be well up for going. I don’t think it’d be my thing watching it with 300 people because I like going to the stadium for the atmosphere and to be part of a crowd." Decisions to hoist women’s matches onto a bigger stage have largely been vindicated but still remain the exception to the rule. The cup competition's other semifinal was held at the FC Bayern Campus, in front of a sell-out crowd of just 2,500, despite the fact that the men's Allianz Arena was vacant on the day. The state of the women's game So does this milestone rank as a one-off or sign of things to come? Since the start of the decade, women's football has surged in popularity. Euro 2022 in England saw over half a million fans stream to stadiums, doubling the previous tournament's numbers. Almost two million fans attended the 2023 Women's World Cup in Australia and New Zealand, an increase of more than 600,000 from the previous record. Germany’s Frauen-Bundesliga is expanding, stocking up from 12 to 14 teams in the 2025/26 season, which could well see HSV join the top flight. And yet, the game's finances still lag far behind those of their male counterparts. Through a survey including 669 clubs from around the world, FIFA found the average salary for players is $10,900, meaning the vast majority of players cannot rely solely on their income from football. Average global attendances have risen to 1,713 but matchday revenues remain low, also due to an average ticket price of $9.30 for adults. For now, records like the one broken in Hamburg are still an outlier, a momentary glimpse of what could be the future of the women's game. But with each of these instances, the viability and visibility of the sport are strengthened. Hamburg’s 33-year-old Jobina Lahr is optimistic, despite conceding she is unlikely to experience such an occasion again in her career. “We’ve taken a big step toward the next generation experiencing this more often. They’re emotions you can’t grasp. Endorphins, adrenaline, you don’t know what to do with your feelings.” Edited by: Louis Oelofse