Kerstin Garefrekes (born 4 September 1979) is a German former

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

who played as a striker or

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

Career

Club

Garefrekes began her career in 1986 at her local football club Grün-Weiß Steinbeck, before joining DJK Arminia Ibbenbüren. In 1998, she moved to the newly founded

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany. At the top of the German football league system, the Bundesliga is Germany's primary footba ...

side FFC Heike Rheine. Garefrekes was relegated to the

second division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

with Heike Rheine in 1999, but achieved immediate promotion back to the Bundesliga the following season. With 26 goals, she won the 2003–04 Bundesliga top scorer award. In 2004, Garefrekes transferred to 1. FFC Frankfurt, where she claimed several major titles. She won the Bundesliga trophy and the

German Cup The DFB-Pokal ( is a German knockout football cup competition held annually by the German Football Association (DFB). Sixty-four teams participate in the competition, including all clubs from the Bundesliga and the 2. Bundesliga. It is considere ...

title three times each. During the 2005–06 and 2007–08 seasons, Garefrekes also won the

UEFA Women's Cup The UEFA Women's Champions League, previously called the UEFA Women's Cup (2001–2009), is a European women's association football competition. It involves the top club teams from countries affiliated with the European governing body UEFA. T ...

at Frankfurt. Following the departure of Nadine Angerer from Frankfurt, Garefrekes became the new captain of her squad.

International

Garefrekes made her debut for German national team in November 2001 in against the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

. Two years later, she won her first major international title at the 2003 FIFA Women's World Cup. She was an important player for the team, starting in five of the team's six matches and scoring four goals. Garefrekes scored Germany's first and ultimately decisive goal in the semi-final win over the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

. She went on to win the bronze medal at the 2004 Summer Olympics and the title at the 2005 European Championship. In qualifying for the

UEFA Women's Euro 2009 The 2009 UEFA Women's Championship, or just Women's Euro 2009, was played in Finland between 23 August and 10 September 2009. The host was appointed on 11 July 2006, in a UEFA Executive Committee meeting in Berlin and the Finnish proposal won over ...

, she scored a number of goals, including a

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three wic ...

in Germany's 7–0 defeat of Switzerland. During Germany's successful title defence at the

2007 FIFA Women's World Cup The 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup, the fifth edition of the FIFA Women's World Cup, was an international association football competition for women held in China from 10 to 30 September 2007. Originally, China was to host the 2003 edition, but th ...

, Garefrekes was part of the team's starting line-up in all of the six matches. She scored twice, including the opener in the quarter-final victory against

North Korea North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korean Peninsula and shares borders with China and Russia to the north, at the Yalu (Amnok) and T ...

. Garefrekes again claimed bronze at the 2008 Summer Olympics and won the European Championship for a second time in 2009. She has been called up for Germany's 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup squad. A few months before the start of the

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...

, she scored a hat trick in a friendly match against

Nigeria Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...

. Following the tournament she retired from international play.

Honours

Club

1. FFC Frankfurt *

UEFA Women's Champions League The UEFA Women's Champions League, previously called the UEFA Women's Cup (2001–2009), is a European women's association football competition. It involves the top club teams from countries affiliated with the European governing body UEFA. The ...

: 2005–06, 2007–08, 2014–15 *

: 2004–05, 2006–07, 2007–08 * Frauen DFB-Pokal: 2006–07, 2007–08,

2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. ...

, 2010–14 Germany *

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often simply called the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the ' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The tournament ha ...

: 2003, 2007 *

UEFA European Championship The UEFA European Football Championship, less formally the European Championship and informally the Euro, is the primary association football tournament organised by the Union of European Football Associations ( UEFA). The competition is conte ...

: 2005, 2009 * Olympic bronze medal: 2004,

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

Algarve Cup The Algarve Cup is an invitational tournament for national teams in women's association football hosted by the Portuguese Football Federation (FPF). Held annually in the Algarve region of Portugal since 1994, it is one of the most prestigious an ...

: 2006 Individual *

top scorer: 2003–04 *

Silbernes Lorbeerblatt Silbernes Lorbeerblatt (Silver Laurel Leaf), the highest sports award in Germany, was endowed on 23 June 1950 by the German President Theodor Heuss. It is awarded to athletes and teams of exemplary character that have won medals at Olympic and ...

: 2007 * FIFA Women's World Cup All Star Team: 2011

References

External links

Profile
at the

German Football Federation The German Football Association (german: Deutscher Fußball-Bund ; DFB ) is the governing body of football in Germany. A founding member of both FIFA and UEFA, the DFB has jurisdiction for the German football league system and is in charge o ...

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Garefrekes, Kerstin 1979 births Living people People from Ibbenbüren Sportspeople from Münster (region) German women's footballers Germany women's international footballers 2003 FIFA Women's World Cup players 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup players Footballers at the 2004 Summer Olympics Footballers at the 2008 Summer Olympics Olympic bronze medalists for Germany FFC Heike Rheine players 1. FFC Frankfurt players FIFA Century Club Olympic medalists in football 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup players Medalists at the 2008 Summer Olympics FIFA Women's World Cup-winning players Women's association football midfielders Women's association football forwards Washington Spirit players Medalists at the 2004 Summer Olympics National Women's Soccer League players Frauen-Bundesliga players Olympic footballers of Germany UEFA Women's Championship-winning players Footballers from North Rhine-Westphalia German expatriate sportspeople in the United States