For the second time in a row, the women's football team from the Würzburg universities has won Europe's crown. They defended their title in Italy. The men finished in a respectable fifth place.
Würzburg remains Germany's football stronghold - at least at university level. At the European University Football Championships in Camerino, Italy, held from 27 July to 3 August, Würzburg once again qualified with one men's and one women's team.
The association of Julius-Maximilians-Universität (JMU) and Technische Hochschule Würzburg-Schweinfurt (THWS) impressed in both tournaments. While the men's team narrowly missed out on the podium this time in fifth place after winning the title in 2023 and finishing second in 2024, the women's team defended their status as European champions from 2024.
The Coach Was Certain
"The core of our successful team was back at the start, so we were expecting something," said the newly crowned European champion Lena Betz. Coach Gernot Haubenthal in particular was certain that the title would only go to Würzburg again this time. "But we players weren't quite that confident after all," adds Lena.
After the preliminary round with three wins and a commanding success in the quarter-finals, Lena describes the semi-final as a key game: "The French girls from Montpellier were really strong, but with a bit of luck and a lot of effort, we were able to clinch the final with a 1-0 win." There it came to a German-German duel against the University of Frankfurt. WG Würzburg had lost to their rivals at the German championships in June, but this time the Würzburg team prevailed 3:1.
Würzburg Teams as a Strong Community
The players were not only loudly supported by their male colleagues in the final. "This community is really something great and made this already great tournament even more special," said Lena, who had already been part of the successful team in 2024.
Of course, they also celebrated together, even though the men missed out on a medal this time. Starting with many new faces, they lost 2:0 to the University of Rouen (France) in the quarter-finals, but still managed to secure fifth place in the placement matches. Attacker Simon Schäffer was also voted best player of the tournament.
