Marcel Wontorra will leave his role as chief operating officer of German sports streaming platform Dyn Media to become the new managing director of the Frauen-Bundesliga, the top-flight domestic women’s soccer league.
The Frauen-Bundesliga board and the club representatives involved in the selection process unanimously voted for Wontorra to lead the league’s newly established organizing body. The process was overseen by advisory firm Egon Zehnder.
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Last month, the national DFB governing body confirmed plans to spin off the Frauen-Bundesliga into an independent body, bringing it in line with the men’s Bundesliga operationally.
Frauen-Bundesliga FBL e.V., a representative body established in December encompassing the 14 member clubs, acquired the rights to run the new organization on a seven-year lease from the DFB, which will remain the parent company.
A new registered limited company will be set up to manage commercial and logistical operations and future development.
This decision, which was approved unanimously by DFB delegates, will take effect on July 1, 2027. Wontorra will lead the new body, although his official start date is yet to be determined.
Katharina Kiel, president of FBL e.V., said: “With Marcel Wontorra, we are gaining a proven sports and media manager who combines strategic clarity, commercial expertise, and strong implementation skills.
“He is a pragmatic doer who wins over diverse stakeholders to common goals, thinks entrepreneurially, and tackles operational challenges. This combination is particularly valuable for FBL in its current development phase.”
Wontorra joined Dyn in 2022 and was involved from the beginning of the sports streaming platform's development. As COO, his responsibilities include editorial content, sports rights, business intelligence, finance, and human resources.
He played a key role in building the media platform and developing partnerships with sports leagues and associations. Previously, he worked for several years at Axel Springer, the German publishing giant.
On his new role, Wontorra said: “The Frauen-Bundesliga has great potential to continue growing, both on and off the field, in the coming years.
“Together with the clubs, we want to expand the league’s media and digital reach and increase its appeal for fans, players, and media and sponsoring partners. The board has created excellent conditions for this.”
The spin-off immediately necessitated a new Frauen-Bundesliga domestic media rights tender, which was launched in late September.
Rights to the competition are currently split across four broadcasters: streaming service DAZN, Magenta Sport (owned by T-Mobile), and public service networks ARD and ZDF.
