Hellmann: Women's Bundesliga clubs no closing the door to DFB

Eintracht Frankfurt supervisory board spokesman Axel Hellmann said clubs should be careful with far-reaching consequences amid the dispute between the women's Bundesliga clubs and the German Football Federation (DFB).

"We must be careful that such an approach doesn't lead to an irreparable loss of trust," he told the Frankfurter Rundschau newspaper in an interview.

The 14 women's Bundesliga clubs will found their own league organization FBL without the DFB, several clubs said in a statements on Thursday.

The FBL was originally planned to be set up together with the DFB at the DFB campus on December 10. Statements said that it will now be founded in Frankfurt's stadium on the same day.

The Bild paper said that the reason for the surprise move were "unacceptable demands" by the DFB after the contract talks had been completed.

Hellmann said that the DFB's position is disappointing and "it raises the question of whether this can be the right basis for a long and successful partnership."

"It means that the clubs now have to focus on their own path again without the DFB. Of course, this does not close the door to the DFB," he added.

However, the association will have to "take a different approach. Ultimately, the clubs will decide which path to take."

According to Hellmann, the clubs are planning to invest "an astonishing sum" of between €300 million ($349.7 million) and €700 million over the next eight years so professional women's football doesn't economically depend on the DFB.

The DFB said in a statement that it had "received with surprise the comments from the women's Bundesliga."

While the men's Bundesliga has long been organized by the German Football League, the women's league continues to be administered by the DFB.