The other final (News Feature)

By Peter Auf der Heyde May 21, 2010, 7:01 GMT

Madrid - Although a piece of paper stuck on the window of the ticketing office at the Alfonso Perez stadium in Getafe informed wannabe spectators for Thursday's Champions League final that the match was sold out, well over 4,000 seats remained empty.

On Saturday, that will certainly not be the case when Inter Milan face Bayern Munich in the men's Champions League final in Real Madrid's Santiago Bernabeu stadium.

Not surprisingly, the game Thursday in the Madrid suburb of Getafe in the 17,000-seater did not feature the likes of Arjen Robben, Samuel Eto'o or Wesley Sneijder.

Instead, the stars chasing European glory were Anna Felicitas Sarholz, Viola Odebrecht or Elodie Thomis, who play for Turbine Potsdam or Olympique Lyon.

Among the 13,000 who were in the stadium to watch the final of the inaugural women's Champions League was German Hermann Berghahn, who had come to watch his first-ever women's football game. The fan from the northern German city of Celle is an avid Bayern Munich follower and had come to Madrid to see the Munich side chase a fifth European title.

'I would never have come to the game if I had not made the long trip to Madrid anyway,' he says.

'Even though I am not a women's football fan per se, I would watch games of the German national side, and I have decided that I will watch some games next year at the women's World Cup.'

Berghahn believes that Europe's governing body UEFA could have done more to market the game.

'I only heard of it when I received my tickets for the Bayern game as they informed me of the women's final.'

Kai-Erik Herlovsen believes that more should be done to popularize the women's game. The former Norwegian international was in Madrid to support his daughter, Isabell Lehn Herlovsen, who came on as a substitute for Lyon late in the second half.

'I obviously took an interest to the game because of my daughter, but I can see that much more can and should be done to get people to the stadiums,' said Herlovsen, who played more than 100 Bundesliga games for Borussia Moenchengladbach.

The chairwoman of the Turbine Potsdam fan club, Monique Schinkel, is a well-travelled women's football fan, accompanying Potsdam on virtually every away trip: 'I was at every Champions League match this season.'

In Germany, the club draws an average of 1,300 fans to their games, with the top matches attracting more than 2,000. 'Here in Madrid there are around 300 Potsdam fans,' Schinkel said.

Although she watches men's football on television, she never goes to the stadium. 'I prefer to watch Turbine,' she explains.

Olympique probably had 200-300 hundred fans of their own, who came from Lyon to watch the game. Dominique Burda, who works for a school in Lyon, was among them.

'I can't say that I am an avid fan, but as some of the Lyon players are in my school, I am here in a way as a representative of the college,' she said.

'I think that not enough is being done to make people aware of women's football, and that is a pity because it is actually quite good.'

Robert Serge works for the Olympique Lyon footballing school, where talented players of both sexes have an opportunity to further their footballing skills.

'Of course, I am here because I work for Lyon, but I enjoy watching women's football. I also agree that much more should be done to market the game,' he said. 'Some of the women who play are really good, and they deserve more credit and certainly more attention.'

But until women's football is taken seriously, it seems likely that seats will remain empty - especially if it is 'just' the other final.

And, oh yes, Potsdam won 7-6 on penalties, after the game ended goalless after 120 minutes.