Borussia Dortmund women derby against Schalke record attendance, Digi Mart USA News: Dortmund against Schalke is always a special fixture, and when the two clubs meet in the Frauen Regionalliga West on Sunday, it is expected to be historic. Borussia Dortmund is pursuing promotion to the 2.
Bundesliga as well as a notable record.
Hertha BSC set the current benchmark for attendance in the third tier of German women’s football in May, drawing 14,500 spectators to the Olympiastadion against Erfurt. Dortmund intends to surpass that figure.
The Stadion Rote Erde is normally limited to 10,000 spectators, but in recent weeks the club developed a plan to attract more fans.
A crowd manager developed a concept, escape routes were analyzed, and an engineer prepared a new fire safety plan. Borussia Dortmund, the fire department, police, the stadium operator and a security service worked together to meet the requirements for approval from the city.
The city has authorized up to 17,555 spectators for future women’s matches at the venue, provided no parallel match takes place at the larger stadium and the fixture is not classified as high risk.
If all ticket holders attend, Dortmund would break its previous record. The club is also planning a family event at which former stars such as Dedê (48) and the injured Emre Can (32) will sign autographs, adding a highlight away from the pitch.
On the field, Dortmund wants to show that it has improved compared with last season, when the club missed promotion and lost to Schalke in the round of 16 of the Westfalen Cup. Dortmund currently leads the league by eleven points, has won every match, scored 59 goals, and conceded its first goal of the season at the weekend.
Alexandra Popp (35), the former national team captain, leads the league’s goalscorer list with 17 goals, more than any player in Germany’s top two women’s divisions. She has scored six times in twelve matches to give Dortmund a 1:0 lead.
For Popp, the match will be her first derby, a fixture that has long been significant in her life because her late father was a passionate Schalke supporter. In a recent interview with WELT about her move to Dortmund, she said her father would have teased her good-naturedly, noting that a Dortmund-Schalke combination within a family is a familiar part of life.
