Laura Anna Benkarth (born 14 October 1992) is a German

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

er who plays for

Bayern Munich Fußball-Club Bayern München e. V. (FCB, ), also known as FC Bayern (), Bayern Munich, or simply Bayern, is a German professional sports club based in Munich, Bavaria. It is best known for its professional men's football team, which pla ...

and the German national team.

Professional career

Benkarth began her career at SV Biengen and FC Wolfenweiler-Schallstadt. In 2008, she arrived in the youth department of the SC Freiburg where she played for the B-Jugend. In 2009, she moved to the senior squad as a second goalkeeper and made his debut on 20 September 2009 (1st Round) in the 0:1 defeat at home to the

FF USV Jena FC Carl Zeiss Jena is a German women's football club from Jena, Thuringia. The club currently plays in the Bundesliga, the highest level of women's football in Germany. Carl Zeiss Jena played regional women's football since 2016/17 but became m ...

. In her first season, she was used only three times at senior level. In her second season, Benkarth played 13 games and her participation increased in the third season with 22 appearances. In 2014, with the departure of

Caroline Abbé Caroline Agnès Abbé (born 13 January 1988) is a Swiss football defender. She currently plays for Servette, and for the Switzerland national team as their captain. Career Abbé is a former player of FC Yverdon, with whom she won two Nat ...

FC Bayern Munich Fußball-Club Bayern München e. V. (FCB, ), also known as FC Bayern (), Bayern Munich, or simply Bayern, is a German professional sports club based in Munich, Bavaria. It is best known for its professional men's football team, which play ...

, she was nominated the new team captain.

International career

In 2007, she was on the Germany U17 squad which was the champion in the

2009 UEFA Women's Under-17 Championship The 2009 UEFA Women's Under-17 Championship was the second edition of the UEFA Women's Under-17 Championship. Germany won the trophy for the second time in a row. Qualification There were two qualifying rounds, and four teams qualified for the fin ...

. With the Germany U19 team in 2010, Benkarth took part in the

2010 UEFA Women's Under-19 Championship The UEFA Women's U-19 Championship 2010 Final Tournament was held in Macedonia between 24 May and 5 June 2010. Players born after 1 January 1991 were eligible to participate in this competition. Qualifications There were two separate rounds of ...

in Macedonia. The team reached the semi-finals, but lost, for the future champion, France in the penalties (5–3). That same year she was part of the national team that won the

2010 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup The 2010 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup was the 5th edition of the tournament. It was held in Germany, who will also host the 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup a year later from 13 July to 1 August 2010. Sixteen teams, comprising representatives from all ...

in their own country, remained as the third goalkeeper behind

Almuth Schult Almuth Schult (; born 9 February 1991) is a German footballer who plays as a goalkeeper the Germany national team and is currently a free agent. Club career At the age of five, Schult began her career at her local football club FC SG Gartow, be ...

and

Desirée Schumann Desirée Sarah Schumann (born 6 February 1990 in Berlin) is a German retired football goalkeeper. Career Her career began at the Berlin-based club VfB Hermsdorf. On April 20, 2006, she made her debut in the German under 17 national team. She th ...

without playing any match. In the

2012 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup The 2012 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup was the 6th edition of the tournament. The tournament was played in Japan from 19 August to 8 September, with sixteen national football soccer teams and mark the first hosting of a FIFA women's football tourna ...

in Japan she played every minute in all six matches, Germany played in the tournament without conceding one single goal (clean sheet). Germany only lost in the final against 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 territorie ...

, for the minimum score, 1:0 (goal scored by

Kealia Ohai Kealia Ohai Watt ( ; born Kealia Mae Ohai; January 31, 1992) is an American soccer player who is currently a free agent, who most recently played for the Chicago Red Stars of the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) from 2020-2021. She previou ...

). Benkarth was named the best goalkeeper of the tournament with the "Golden Glove". In October 2012 Benkarth was nominated for the senior national team for the first time. In until 28 July 2013 she was called for the UEFA Women's Euro 2013 in Sweden, replacing Kathrin Längert in the squad. She was part of the squad for the

2016 Summer Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics ( pt, Jogos Olímpicos de Verão de 2016), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad ( pt, Jogos da XXXI Olimpíada) and also known as Rio 2016, was an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 20 ...

, where Germany won the gold medal.

Career statistics

International

Honours

Club

;Bayern Munich *

Frauen-Bundesliga The Frauen-Bundesliga (German for ''Women's Federal League''), currently known as the FLYERALARM Frauen-Bundesliga for sponsorship reasons, is the top level of league competition for women's association football in Germany. In 1990 the German Foo ...

(1):

2020-21 The hyphen-minus is the most commonly used type of hyphen, widely used in digital documents. It is the only character that looks like a minus sign or a dash in many character sets such as ASCII or on most keyboards, so it is also used as such. ...

International

;Germany U-17 * UEFA U-17 Women's Championship: Winner

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...

;Germany U-20 *

FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup The FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup is an international association football tournament, organized by FIFA (Fédération Internationale de Football Association), for national teams of women under the age of 20. The tournament is held in even-numbere ...

: Winner

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

;Germany *

Summer Olympic Games The Summer Olympic Games (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques d'été), also known as the Games of the Olympiad, and often referred to as the Summer Olympics, is a major international multi-sport event normally held once every four years. The inau ...

: Gold medal,

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...

UEFA Women's Championship The UEFA European Women's Championship, also called the UEFA Women's Euro, held every four years, is the main competition in women's association football between national teams of the UEFA confederation. The competition is the women's equivalent ...

: Winner

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fact ...

Individual

: Golden Glove

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...

References

External links

* *
Profile
at DFB
Player German domestic football stats
at DFB * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Benkarth, Laura Living people 1992 births German women's footballers Women's association football goalkeepers Sportspeople from Freiburg im Breisgau SC Freiburg (women) players FC Bayern Munich (women) players 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup players Germany women's international footballers Footballers at the 2016 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists for Germany Olympic medalists in football Medalists at the 2016 Summer Olympics Frauen-Bundesliga players Footballers from Baden-Württemberg Olympic footballers of Germany UEFA Women's Championship-winning players 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup players 20th-century German women 21st-century German women UEFA Women's Euro 2017 players