Germany’s top women’s volleyball division begins its 2026-27 season on 10 October under the new DEKRA 1. Volleyball Bundesliga Frauen name, with Video Challenge introduced across the league for the first time. The German Volleyball Association said the competition and its clubs would invest more than €1.2 million over five years in the review system, with Video Challenge one of the principal changes at the start of the campaign.
DEKRA’s arrival as naming partner also means its logo will appear on players’ shirt sleeves. The association said the company had already partnered the league’s refereeing structure since 2022. Sophia Girnghuber, managing director of Roten Raben Vilsbiburg, said DEKRA’s support had been important in making the system possible.
The start brings both a new competition identity and a league-wide video-review system. The league-wide introduction means the system applies across the Bundesliga.
A five-year investment in match technology
The league-wide commitment amounts to more than €240,000 per year when the stated total investment is divided across five years. That calculation is an average rather than a confirmed annual spending schedule, but it illustrates the scale of a project intended to run beyond a single season.
Club figures presented the development as a significant step for the women’s game. Tim Berks, managing director of Ladies in Black Aachen, said the naming-rights agreement represented an important next stage for the league. Sandra Zimmermann, managing director of Dresdner SC, described the partnership as a major landmark, while Schwarz-Weiß Erfurt managing director Florian Völker said it marked further professionalisation.
Sophia Girnghuber, managing director of returning top-flight club Roten Raben Vilsbiburg, said Video Challenge would be beneficial across the league and clubs, adding that the support connected to the DEKRA arrangement had been important to making it possible. Vilsbiburg’s return to the top flight supplies another notable change to the make-up of the division at the start of the campaign.
Suhl defend while Dresden carry expectation
On court, VfB Suhl LOTTO Thüringen begin in a different position from last season. The club enter as reigning league and cup winners after claiming the first double in their history, and have since added the Thüringer Wald Supercup. The association said that sequence had moved Suhl from challengers to a team expected to defend its status.
There is, however, no settled verdict on the likely champions. Several rival clubs identified Dresdner SC as the pre-season favourite, with Aachen, Borken, Flacht, Wiesbaden, Erfurt and Münster all naming Dresden in the association’s season preview. Their assessments were linked principally to Dresden’s recruitment and a noticeably reshaped squad.
Dresden added Sarah Straube, Lena Kindermann, Mackenzie Foley, Morgan Geddes and Maia Dvoracek, according to the association. Straube returned after playing in Italy, Kindermann also arrived from Italy, and Foley joined from Suhl. Dresden coach Alexander Waibl said his team wanted to compete for every domestic title.
The Supercup offered an early competitive comparison. Suhl beat Dresden 3-0 in the Thüringer Wald Supercup in Coburg, despite Dresden holding leads during all three sets. The association said Dresden did not convert the decisive rallies, while Suhl retained a core including setters Lara Nagels and Irene Ramos Mencía, attackers Laura Berger, Svea Naujack, Hannah Hartmann and captain Roosa Laakkonen.
That result gives Suhl an early trophy and evidence that their established group remains effective, but it does not prove the wider title race has been decided. The association noted that Dresden’s early lack of cohesion could improve over the season. The Supercup result provides an early indication, but the association cautioned that it does not settle the season’s wider balance of power.