Arunava about Football A look at football & the world through my eyes!
Related Articles
FSV Gütersloh and FC Gütersloh aim to join forces in the future. Both boards have held discussions regarding a merger and decided to bring about a consolidation of both clubs under the umbrella of FCG, subject to the approval of respective members. This initiative is supported by the main sponsors of both clubs, Tönnies Gruppe and Hagedorn Unternehmensgruppe. The merger would create a strong football club with over 1,000 members and nearly 30 teams, representing Gütersloh and the region across various fields in competitive sports.
FSV is the top-ranked Westphalian club in women’s football and has been competing in the 2nd Division Women’s Bundesliga for many years. Many players have transitioned from FSV as a talent pool to Bundesliga and national team levels. Despite several challenging years, FC Gütersloh has successfully returned to the Men’s Regionalliga (4th Division), is rebuilding its youth department, and competes with its futsal team in the Regionalliga West (2nd Division). Together, FSV and FCG aim to advance professional performance-oriented football and talent development in Gütersloh. The merger is planned for the 2025/26 season.
“FSV Gütersloh is an absolute flagship for the city of Gütersloh and the region. Not only the women in the 2nd Bundesliga, but also the U17s girls in the Bundesliga are the best that Gütersloh has to offer in sports. We want to help preserve this for Gütersloh. And we believe that together, we can achieve more for women’s and men’s football in the region than individually,” assert FCG board members Hans-Hermann Kirschner, Heiner Kollmeyer, and Helmut Delker. All three are committed to establishing FC Gütersloh as a club for performance-oriented football, be it women’s, men’s, youth, or futsal.
Both clubs share a common history. Michael Horstkötter began his involvement in girls’ and women’s football in the newly established department of FCG in 1984 and is still one of the driving forces at FSV as managing director. Fifteen years ago, the women’s department separated from FC Gütersloh to form FSV due to the then economically challenging situation of the overall club, which made it impossible for all parties to develop perspectives for women’s as well as men’s football. At that time, there was a trend in women’s football towards independent women’s football clubs. Since then, the situation has changed not only in Gütersloh but also elsewhere. Today, in the Google Pixel Women’s Bundesliga (1st Division), only women’s teams of established men’s professional clubs play, with one exception. Conversely, it is increasingly challenging for stand-alone women’s clubs to keep up with the big players.
“The competition has undoubtedly become tougher. Even Borussia Dortmund and Schalke 04 have formed women’s teams that will rise to the top in the coming years. The requirements within the framework of the necessary professionalization of women’s and girls’ football are constantly increasing and are pushing us as an all-women’s football club to our limits. Therefore, it is clear to us that we can sustainably and successfully maintain Gütersloh as a location only with a strong partner. We share a common history with FCG, and therefore, we are pleased that we can now build on that,” explains FSV Chairman Sebastian Kmoch the motivations behind the merger. Both clubs, which have been collaborating in the area of refereeing for over four years, anticipate better marketing opportunities and administrative synergies from the merger.
A decision of this magnitude requires full support from the club partners. Tönnies Gruppe has been supporting FSV Gütersloh and talent development in German women’s football for 15 years. Since then, FSV teams have called the Tönnies Arena their home. This will remain the case in the future. “The merger is the right step to continue the successful and outstanding work of FSV Gütersloh in a performance-oriented manner. We will continue our support, and we are pleased that our Tönnies Arena in Rheda will remain the living room of the women’s and girls’ department,” emphasizes Maximilian Tönnies.
The rescue of FC Gütersloh seven years ago would not have been possible without Thomas Hagedorn. Since then, with highlights such as promotion to the Regionalliga and winning the Westfalenpokal last year, he has contributed to the development at the forefront. For him, the merger with FSV is an important step in the further development of FCG as a flagship for the region: “Both FCG and FSV demonstrate how well-positioned we are in Gütersloh sports. We can be proud of that – to maintain and further expand this with a merger is not only beneficial for both clubs but especially for the city as a whole.”
In the coming months, both clubs will clarify the details of the merger. The process will be accompanied by former German FA (DFB) treasurer and lawyer Stephan Osnabrügge. The future women’s department of FCG is intended to retain maximum autonomy and continue to operate independently in the sporting sphere as before. For the economic sphere, the women’s department and the current FC Gütersloh share joint responsibility. Economic stability is also the fundamental prerequisite for sporting goals and opportunities – for both women and men. Both clubs plan membership meetings in the coming months to inform and decide on the merger.
