Martina Müller (born 18 April 1980) is a retired German

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 ...

. She played as a striker for

VfL Wolfsburg Verein für Leibesübungen Wolfsburg e. V., commonly known as VfL Wolfsburg () or Wolfsburg, is a German professional sports club based in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony. The club grew out of a multi-sports club for Volkswagen workers in the city of W ...

and the German national team.

Career

Club

Müller had played at several smaller clubs at youth level, before joining the reigning German champions

FSV Frankfurt Fußballsportverein Frankfurt 1899 e.V., commonly known as simply FSV Frankfurt, is a German association football club based in the Bornheim district of Frankfurt am Main, Hesse and founded in 1899. FSV Frankfurt also fielded a rather successfu ...

in 1998. Because many of club's star players, such as

Birgit Prinz Birgit Prinz (born 25 October 1977) is a German former footballer, two-time FIFA Women's World Cup champion and three-time FIFA World Player of the Year. In addition to the German national team, Prinz played for 1. FFC Frankfurt in the Frauen- ...

and

Sandra Smisek Sandra Smisek (born 3 July 1977) is a former German footballer, who played as a striker in Germany for FSV Frankfurt, FCR Duisburg and FFC Frankfurt, as well as for the German national team. Smisek has played for Germany at three Women' ...

, had left that summer, Müller immediately became a regular starter and helped the team avoid relegation. After two years, she moved to

SC 07 Bad Neuenahr SC 07 Bad Neuenahr was a German football club from Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler, Rhineland-Palatinate. The best-known section within the club was its women's football team, which was founded in 1969 and won the German Championship in 1978. ''Sportclu ...

, where she played for four seasons. In 2005, she joined

, at a time when the club had just been relegated to the second division. With 36 goals, Müller was the second Bundesliga top-scorer the following season, helping Wolfsburg to achieve immediate promotion back to the German top flight. Müller remained with Wolfsburg in their 2012–13 breakout season, when they won a treble of

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 ...

DFB-Pokal 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 ...

and

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 ...

. In May 2013's

Champions League final The UEFA Champions League is a seasonal football competition established in 1955. Prior to the 1992–93 season, the tournament was named the European Cup. The UEFA Champions League is open to the league champions of all UEFA (Union of European ...

at Stamford Bridge Müller scored the decisive

penalty kick A penalty shot or penalty kick is a play used in several sports whereby a goal is attempted during untimed play. Depending on the sport, when a player commits certain types of penalties, the opposition is awarded a penalty shot or kick attempt. ...

to defeat Olympique Lyonnais 1–0. The result halted Lyon's 118–match unbeaten run and stopped the French team winning a third successive continental title. On 13 April 2015 she announced that she would retire at the end of the 2014–15 season.

International

Müller made her debut for the German national team 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 ...

in July 2000. In the following years, she won several major titles with Germany, almost exclusively as a reserve player, often coming on as a late substitute. Müller won her first international trophy at the 2001 European Championship. Two years later, she was part of Germany's winning team at the 2003 FIFA Women's World Cup. She had three appearances and scored twice in the tournament. At the

2004 Summer Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics ( el, Θερινοί Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες 2004, ), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad ( el, Αγώνες της 28ης Ολυμπιάδας, ) and also known as Athens 2004 ( el, Αθήνα 2004), ...

, Müller claimed the bronze medal. She again became world champion at the 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup, where she played in four matches, coming from the bench in all of them. She scored Germany's third goal in the semi-final against

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

. Müller won the European Championship a second time with Germany in 2009, and was called up for the 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup squad.

International goals

''Scores and results list Germany's goal tally first:'' Source:

Honours

Domestic

: Winner (2) 2012-13, 2013-14 *

: Winner (2) 2012-13, 2014-15

International

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 ...

: Winner (2) 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 contes ...

: Winner (2) 2001,

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 ...

* Olympic bronze medal: (1) 2004 *

: Winner (2) 2012–13, 2013–14

Individual

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 ...

: 2003, 2007 * German Women's Footballer of the Year: 2013

References

External links

*
Profile
at

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 ...

Profile
at Weltfussball.de {{DEFAULTSORT:Muller, Martina 1980 births Living people German women's footballers Germany women's international footballers 2003 FIFA Women's World Cup players 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup players SC 07 Bad Neuenahr players Footballers at the 2004 Summer Olympics Olympic bronze medalists for Germany Sportspeople from Kassel VfL Wolfsburg (women) players FSV Frankfurt (women) players Olympic medalists in football 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup players FIFA Women's World Cup-winning players FIFA Century Club Women's association football forwards Medalists at the 2004 Summer Olympics Footballers from Hesse Olympic footballers of Germany UEFA Women's Championship-winning players