Why a German football superstar is now playing in the third tier

"Not normal." It is a phrase that Alexandra Popp turns to more than once when speaking after her debut for Borussia Dortmund. She has scored twice. The team has won 3-0. Nothing unusual there. But the crowd of 4,572 in Germany's third tier is new. <p>Popp is already a phenomenon here. The average attendance at Dortmund last season was below half the number at the atmospheric Stadion Rote Erde for this game against Arminia Bielefeld. Season ticket sales have almost tripled from 600 to 1700.</p><p>It is because Popp has come. This summer, the former captain of the Germany national team with 67 international goals to her name joined the club she supported as a girl. It is a homecoming that has captured the imagination among her fellow fans.</p><ul><li><a href="https://qrcode.skysports.com/TransfersSkySportsApp" target="_blank"><strong>Transfer Centre LIVE!</strong></a><strong> | </strong><a href="https://www.skysports.com/football/story-telling/11095/13108333/football-transfer-news-rumours-reports-and-gossip?inApp=true" target="_blank"><strong>Latest on YOUR PL club!</strong></a></li><li><a href="https://qrcode.skysports.com/PLscoresarticles" target="_blank"><strong>Premier League fixtures & scores</strong></a> | <a href="https://qrcode.skysports.com/skysports/FreePLHighlightsFirst" target="_blank"><strong>FREE PL highlights</strong></a>\u25b6\ufe0f</li><li><strong>Got Sky? </strong><a href="https://qrcode.skysports.com/skysports/WatchPremarticles" target="_blank"><strong>Watch Premier League games LIVE on your phone</strong></a>\ud83d\udcf1</li><li><strong>Not got Sky? </strong><a href="https://www.sky.com/tv/sports?dcmp=Ilc_skysports_nc_articlelink" target="_blank"><strong>Latest Sky Sports deals</strong></a><strong> or </strong><a href="https://www.nowtv.com/membership/watch-sky-sports/football/premier-league?DCMP=ilc_skysports_nc_articlelink" target="_blank"><strong>stream PL games with no contract</strong></a>\ud83d\udcfa</li></ul><widget id="2"></widget><p>Her shirt is everywhere in Dortmund and not just among the growing fanbase for the women's team. Sales of the shirt that bears her name are currently outselling those of Serhou Guirassy, the top scorer for the men's team for each of the past two seasons.</p><p>Speaking to Popp after her match-winning display, she says: "It was a very nice atmosphere. We have more than 4,000 people here in the stadium and that is amazing. I played for so many years in the Bundesliga and some stadiums are not so full like that."</p><p>It is some transformation because Dortmund did not even have a women's team until 2020, by which point Popp was already a three-time champion of Europe and a six-time Bundesliga winner. Having started in the seventh tier, the club are now up to the third.</p> <widget id="6"></widget><p>In truth, the football is far beneath her level. When a cross was hung up into the penalty box late in the first half and Popp attacked the ball with her head, the outcome was as inevitable as watching Erling Haaland up against children. She was utterly unstoppable.</p><p>But this was an emotional move for a 35-year-old icon motivated by more than just the standard of football. "I had two choices," she explains. "To stay in Wolfsburg or switch to my favourite kid as a club, Borussia Dortmund. The decision did not take long."</p><p>Popp has a reputation for being a relatively stoical figure, a determined soul known for her drive and determination. But she admits the reaction to her arrival has been overwhelming. "It is wonderful. You see the heart of the club and the heart of the fans."</p> <widget id="4"></widget><p>The chance to inspire is another reason for coming home. "I can develop something here." It was something of an embarrassment that the best supported team in European men's football did not have a women's team. They are trying to make up for lost time.</p><p>"It is a new challenge for me," she says. And for all her superiority, on this evidence, it might not be completely straightforward. "It was a tough game," she concedes. Arminia offered dogged resistance and Popp had to endure some particularly robust treatment.</p><p>"Some people told me before that it is possible I get some fouls. It is what it is." Two opposition players were booked for fouling Popp and it could and should have been many more. She tried to counter this by roaming all over the pitch in search of space.</p> <widget id="7"></widget><p>"Everywhere," she replies, laughing, when asked by <em>Sky Sports</em> what position she was supposed to be playing in. "No, I have to play on the 10. But I am a player when I see there is some space or we need to defend or something, I take my legs and I run back."</p><p>Another consideration is how her mere presence at the club changes the dynamic for young team-mates who are unaccustomed to the world's media turning up at the old ground next to the cavernous Signal-Iduna Park that hosts the men's team.</p> <widget id="5"></widget><p>"Some of them were a bit nervous," says Popp. There is Manuela Zinsberger, the former Bayern Munich and Arsenal goalkeeper, who on the evidence of this game is not likely to be too busy this season. But many others are living a new experience right now.</p><p>"We have a normal relationship," insists Popp. "The young girls speak with me all the time. They are not scared and that is very important. Sometimes even in the national team, the young girls are scared to tell me something. The girls here are very open."</p> <widget id="3"></widget><p>Even without Popp, Dortmund had a goal difference of over 100 last season, somehow contriving not to win promotion as they missed out on top spot by two points - both of which were dropped in this corresponding fixture against Arminia last season in April.</p><p>This time around, it is unlikely to be an issue. Popp and Dortmund have big ambitions. "That is the first, the championship," she says. "I hope that we can make more steps. We have a dream to grow...

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