The Bundesliga's first lady

By Manfred Christoph

Whoever thinks that the Bundesliga is just a man's world is mistaken. At the age of 33, Katja Kraus has become the league's first lady by joining the board of Hamburger SV.

Title collection
Having won two league titles and five German Cups as a goalkeeper with the country's finest women's team, 1. FFC Frankfurt, Kraus's credentials are not in question. She also represented Germany in two UEFA European Women's Championships and the 1996 Olympic Games before retiring in 1998, by which time she had already crossed over into the men's game.

Career progression
"I started in men's football years ago when I was press officer at Eintracht Frankfurt," says the self-made woman from Offenbach. "After that I worked in football for a sports marketing enterprise and then I joined Hamburg in my current position." Since spring 2003 Kraus has been in charge of communication and marketing at Hamburg.

Contacts vital
But how did she get from Frankfurt to Hamburg? Kraus is an insider in a branch of football where contacts are vital. And when Bernd Hoffmann, Kraus's colleague at her sports marketing firm, was appointed head of the Hamburg board he took her with him to the only club never to have been relegated from the Bundesliga. "Contacts have been important for me as a woman to build my career," Kraus said. "It makes things easier and I am more credible."

Happy at Hamburg
Kraus signed a three-year-contract at the AOL Arena and after nine months she cannot think of doing anything else. "I love doing this job," she said. "There is so much to do and I feel very happy in Hamburg. I have not thought about my next move because I am so involved here."

'Dynamic business'
She has also fitted in well in the cut-throat world of the Bundesliga. Kraus, who has a degree in politics and literature from the University of Frankfurt, insists: "It is a very dynamic business as things happen very quickly. There is so much public interest - comparable only to politics. Football is emotional, this is what makes it so special."

Respect and responsibility
As indeed the club found out when they exited the UEFA Cup in the first round against FC Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk from Ukraine. Soon after, in October, Hamburg sacked coach Kurt Jara and appoint Klaus Toppmöller. "I saw many coaches coming and going at Frankfurt," said Kraus. "Five in all and I never liked it. But it is like leaving anything, in private as well as in business. It is always dreadful and it never becomes routine."

Old pals on top
Of course, Kraus still follows the women's game and was understandably delighted by her successors in the German team lifting the FIFA Women's World Cup last year. "I watched it on TV, totally excited," she said. "The good thing about it is that I was on the pitch in my last international in 1997 with quite a few of the squad. I think I played with ten of team playing in the final."