Fighting clichés: Volkswagen takes a stand at the Women’s EURO with attitude campaign

‘We have been wholeheartedly promoting women’s football and women in football for many years now. We want to help make women more visible – in football and thereby also in society,’ highlighted Christine Wolburg, Chief Brand Officer of the Volkswagen Brand during the panel ahead of Germany’s Euro match against Denmark in Basel.

The car manufacturer’s commitment not only focusses on the peak, but also targets the breadth: thus, Volkswagen, in addition to being a partner of the UEFA Women’s EURO in Switzerland, also supports the Future Leaders in Football training programme – a platform enabling young women from around the world with a passion for football to share ideas. ‘By supporting this workshop series, we are promoting even greater female involvement in football,’ says Wolburg.

Not least thanks to the commitment of corporations like Volkswagen – whose involvement includes being an active partner of VfL Wolfsburg since 2012 – women’s football has made ‘an incredible leap forward’ within a short period of time, says former long-standing German team captain Alexandra Popp. ‘The progress that the visibility of women’s football has made in recent years is extremely positive. Within a short time frame, professionalism, quality, and awareness have been increased significantly.’

During the panel, Lisa Währer, Managing Director of FC Viktoria Berlin, highlighted the positive fact that no fewer than seven of the 16 Euro competitors have female trainers. ‘This is progress that I would also like to see in the world of work. Women are still often underrepresented in managerial positions even though they make up 50 percent of society.’

The Burda publishing house proves that there is another way: there, two women – Anke Helle and Mateja Mögel – are the editors-in-chief of the magazine ‘freundin’. ‘As a dual leadership, we want to demonstrate how women can better support each other,’ said Mögel during the panel in Basel. ‘We are living out female empowerment.’

At the UEFA Women’s EURO 2022, Volkswagen’s #NotWomensFootball attitude campaign attracted international attention. With this intentionally provocative slogan, the car manufacturer pointed out that the way people speak distinguishes between football and women’s football – as if they were different sports. The attitude campaign for the UEFA Women’s EURO 2025 ‘Your Life. Your Journey. Your Football’ addresses the question ‘Who does football actually belong to?’. It focusses on personal relationships with football. Part of the answer is presented in a video clip in which Germany’s women’s team play an important role.