Interview with Almuth Schult: “Sport is a powerful tool for promoting equal opportunities for women and girls”

With your long-standing success as a German national player and world-class goalkeeper, football has been central to your life. Were there moments when the value of sport for you went far beyond winning and achieving?

“Yes, definitely. Although my sporting successes have been special in my life, I have experienced how important the social and emotional aspect of sport is. I have not only overcome my own limitations, but as a woman in football, I have also seen how sport can empower other women and girls. It's about creating a network where we support and empower each other. Sport has helped me build confidence and find my voice, which is crucial not only on the pitch but also in society. These experiences have shown me that sport is a powerful tool for positive change, especially in promoting equality and equal opportunities for women and girls. Beside this I met a lot of friends who I am still in touch with. That showed me, football can be family.”

In football, women often have to work harder to gain sponsorships and media attention. Salaries and infrastructure are also significantly behind. What does equal opportunity in football look like to you, and what potential could greater equality bring?

“In recent years, women’s football has made remarkable strides—just look at the 38,000 spectators who came to watch the match between Eintracht Frankfurt and 1. FC Köln at RheinEnergie Stadium. A turnout like that of a club like Köln, which is not playing for the Championchip, would have been unimaginable a decade ago. But this shouldn’t be a rare exception; it should become the standard. To achieve that, we need to continue elevating women’s football in the public eye. Investment and media visibility is key, and the current quality of women’s football is already incredible, especially in countries like the USA and England,where the sport enjoys a much higher profile than in Germany.

It’s unacceptable that the majority of the women in the top German division and many other countries in the world still need second jobs just to make ends meet. This leaves them with far less time to dedicate to training compared to male players. The more time athletes can devote to their sport, the better their performance becomes, which in turn attracts larger audiences and greater opportunities. On a personal note, as a mother of three, I’ve experienced how difficult it is for mums in sports to maintain their careers. Unlike male athletes who become fathers, women often face significantly more challenges entering the job again after having a child, keeping the high-performance level and balancing family and professional life."

You were a guest at last year's “Future Leaders in Football” Camp in Berlin. What were your key takeaways, and how do you think Sport for Development can help foster female leadership and gender equality in sports?

"I think the 'Future Leaders in Football' Camp is an incredibly impactful initiative. To advance women’s football and support women in the sport more broadly, we need to provide encouragement and targeted resources. Unfortunately, promoting this aspect of the game isn’t yet a priority for every federation, which makes initiatives like this even more important. At the closing event, I was inspired by meeting so many ambitious young women with big dreams in football from all over the world. It gave me real hope for the future of the game. Every story was so unique and was full of power for change. All these women already had impacts in their region or association, what people have not expected before. Through football, participants develop crucial character skills without fully realizing how much it can encourage themselves and other people.

This is where Sport for Development becomes essential. It helps women recognize the strengths they’ve developed on the pitch and apply them to life beyond it, turning them into strong, resilient leaders. Programs like this equip women to succeed in a male-dominated industry and become powerful advocates for women’s football and gender equality in their own countries. The “Future Leaders in Football” Camp doesn’t just promote leadership—it fosters a deeper commitment to advancing gender equality in and through sports on a global scale."