After near misses in finals, Popp, Germany eye Women's World Cup success

DUESSELDORF, Germany (AP) — Alexandra Popp knows a lot about playing in the biggest games, and about tough losses.

A year ago, Popp had to watch from the bench as Germany lost to England in the European Championship final after getting injured in the warm-up. Last month, she and eight of her teammates from that German squad played in Wolfsburg's 3-2 loss to Barcelona in the Champions League final despite leading 2-0.

At the World Cup, much could depend on the experience of Popp, who battled on after blows to the knee and the neck in the loss to Barcelona, a result she called “brutally bitter.” Germany coach Martina Voss-Tecklenburg was watching from the stands.

Germany was once the undisputed powerhouse of European women’s soccer — World Cup champion in 2003 and 2007 and still the only country other than the United States to be No. 1 in the FIFA rankings. As women's soccer booms around the world, the competition is only getting fiercer for Germany.

A group containing Morocco, Colombia and South Korea should be relatively comfortable for Germany, which has never failed to reach the quarterfinals at a Women's World Cup.

Voss-Tecklenburg’s preliminary squad of 31 players includes 10 from Wolfsburg and five from national champion Bayern Munich. Popp is by far the most experienced, with 127 games and 61 goals for her country. Only three players are based abroad, backup goalkeeper Ann-Katrin Berger and midfielder Melanie Leupolz, both at Chelsea, and Lyon midfielder Sara Däbritz.

Germany will warm up for the World Cup with friendlies against two teams who are heading to the tournament for the first time. The Germans beat Vietnam 2-1 on Saturday and face Zambia on July 7.

The run to the final last year in England brought a boom in interest in women's soccer in Germany, where Bundesliga crowds have tripled to an average of nearly 3,000 this season, though that's still well behind the English league.

The revolution that has made women's soccer an increasingly televised, professionalized sport has also meant Germany's clubs and national teams face ever more pressure from England, Spain and France, not to mention old rival the United States.

Since winning the last of eight European titles back in 2013, the only major tournament win for Germany was the gold medal at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics. Since the last Champions League title for a German club by FFC Frankfurt in 2015, Wolfsburg has reached four finals and lost them all.

Germany was a pioneer of women's soccer in Europe but, after a decade of rapid transformation in the sport worldwide, it hasn't always adapted smoothly.

Bayern Munich and Wolfsburg fly the flag for Germany in the Champions League, and the Bundesliga is increasingly dominated by clubs with established and lucrative men's soccer teams.

That shift has sidelined the kind of independently run women's soccer clubs which used to lead the way in Germany and internationally. Of Germany's first three European club champions, FFC Frankfurt has been merged into Eintracht Frankfurt, MCR Duisburg is long-defunct and Turbine Potsdam was relegated from the Bundesliga this season after only two wins.

Despite the growth in interest and crowds for German women's soccer, it's a long way from financial independence. A report in February by the German soccer federation indicated top-tier clubs lost on average 1.52 million euros ($1.63 million) on their women's soccer operations the season before, a deficit greater than their average income. Much of the difference is made up by cross-subsidizing from men's teams.

That trend is likely to continue, at least in the short term, as more German clubs invest heavily in women's soccer. Leipzig, backed by energy-drink giant Red Bull, will play in the Bundesliga next season, but some big clubs have lagged further behind.

Perennial men's title contender Borussia Dortmund only founded a women's team in 2020 after increasing pressure from fans and criticism from Dortmund-born national team player Lina Magull, but had to start play in 2021 at the bottom of the league system. It has been promoted to the fourth tier for next season.

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Associated Press writer Mike Corder in Eindhoven, Netherlands, contributed to this report.

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AP coverage of the Women’s World Cup: https://apnews.com/hub/fifa-womens-world-cup and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports