Dortmund announces plans to unveil women's team

Borussia Dortmund hopes to lay the foundations over the next few months, and will start the 2021-22 season in the eighth tier of German women's football.

The empty periphery of the Signal Iduna Park, home of Borussia Dortmund.

Borussia Dortmund has committed to launching a new women's team for the 2021-22 season, the German Bundesliga club said on Thursday.

Dortmund hopes to lay the foundations for its women's program over the next few months, and will start the 2021-22 season at the Kreisliga B level, the eighth tier of German women's football.

“Our development plan for women's football is to start from the bottom and move to the top,” Dortmund managing director Carsten Cramer said in a statement.

“The team will initially play in 'District League B' with the goal of moving up to the Bundesliga within a decade. It became clear that our sporting plan had to be authentic and organic.”

Dortmund was one of the few major European clubs still without any plans for a women's team.

Yet it has now decided to follow in the footsteps of rival Schalke 04, which will field a women's team at Kreisliga B level starting in the 2020-21 season.