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

Alexandra Popp scored twice on her debut for Borussia Dortmund in their 3-0 win over Arminia Bielefeld. Adam Bate was there to see it and speak to the German legend about walking away from top-level football to join the third division club she supported as a girl...

"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.

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.

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.

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.

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."

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.

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.

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."

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."

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.

"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.

"Some people told me before that it is possible I get some fouls.