Potsdam powering to greater glories

Club founded
In March 1971, in the former German Democratic Republic, the football department of the Betriebssportgemeinschaft Turbine Potsdam decided to launch a separate section for women's football. The new arrangement was one of 16 sports departments of BSG Turbine Potsdam, which had 2,000 members overall, and comprised of a first team and a junior side.

Schröder mainstay
Bernd Schröder continues to play a major role within the club having been present since Turbine's inception. Soon after its creation BSG Turbine Potsdam had grown into a competitive sport organisation and the club won six league titles in the GDR during the 1980s before the reunification of Germany brought huge changes.

New name
The club then moved with the changing times by adopting the name SSV Turbine Potsdam, also becoming a member of the German Football Association (DFB). Again, Schröder managed to establish a women's football department with 60 to 70 members to run two senior and two junior teams.

Developing structures
Aware that the club was not supported financially as it had previously been as a company-facilitated sports activity, Schröder said: "We wanted to improve our structures in order to get our own sponsors for women's football, but the club did not focus on us." The football department was duly separated from the rest of the club and 1. FFC Turbine Potsdam came into existence on 1 September 1999.

Crucial partnerships
In co-operation with a sports-focused Potsdam high school and the DFB, a promising project was started which has brought up to ten talented girls to Turbine every year. "Without having realised this idea we would have big problems with the quality and quantity of our players," Schröder said.

Hard work rewarded
Today, Potsdam have almost 200 members and is becoming more and more professional. After years in the shadow of the two Frankfurt giants, Turbine have finally managed to develop into an ambitious and impressive club with hard work and innovative ideas. Nine Potsdam players were involved as Germany won the 2005 UEFA European Women's Championship, completing a dream 12 months.

Success
Potsdam had come of age as a club in 2004 by eclipsing Frankfurt to win the German double, and the following spring played some scintillating, attacking football to overcome Swedish side Djurgarden/Älvsjö 5-1 over two legs in the UEFA Women's Cup final. They are also through to the 2006 showpiece - where great rivals Frankfurt lie in wait.