Sandra Starke (born 31 July 1993) is a Namibian-born German footballer who plays as a forward for German club

RB Leipzig RasenBallsport Leipzig e.V. (), commonly known as RB Leipzig, and colloquially referred to as Red Bull Leipzig, is a German professional football club based in Leipzig, Saxony. The club was founded in 2009 by the initiative of the company Red Bul ...

. as well as the Germany national team. She was born in

Windhoek Windhoek (, , ) is the capital and largest city of Namibia. It is located in central Namibia in the Khomas Highland plateau area, at around above sea level, almost exactly at the country's geographical centre. The population of Windhoek in 202 ...

, Namibia to a Namibian-born German father and a Dutch mother.

Career

Club

Sandra Starke was born and raised in Namibia and came to Germany at age twelve. On the recommendation of a friend, she went to the "Sportschule Friedrich-Ludwig Jahn", the sports boarding school of the

1. FFC Turbine Potsdam 1. Frauenfußballclub Turbine Potsdam 71 e. V., commonly known as 1. FFC Turbine Potsdam (or Turbine Potsdam outside of Germany), is a German women's football club located in Potsdam, Brandenburg. They are one of the most successful women's footb ...

. From 2006 to 2010 she played in the youth teams and won the German B junior championship in 2008, 2009, and 2010. In 2010 she got promoted to the professional squad, but she was mainly used for the second team in the 2nd Bundesliga North. Her first-team debut came on November 23, 2012. In the summer of 2013, Starke signed a contract with

SC Freiburg Sport-Club Freiburg e.V., commonly known as SC Freiburg () or just Freiburg, is a German football club, based in the city of Freiburg im Breisgau, Baden-Württemberg. It plays in the Bundesliga, having been promoted as champions from the 2. Bund ...

. On September 14, 2013 (2nd matchday) she scored her first

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 ...

goal in the 1-2 defeat in the away game against FC Bayern Munich with the goal in the 51st minute. In 2017/18 Starke was injured but was able to play again in the 2018/19 season and extended her contract with Freiburg in February 2019. In February 2021, Starke signed a 3-year contract with

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 ...

until mid-2024. In April 2023, she joined

Chicago Red Stars The Chicago Red Stars are a professional women's soccer club based in Bridgeview, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago. A founding member of the Women's Professional Soccer (WPS) league, they have played in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) sin ...

on loan. The agreement is valid until June 30, 2023. From July 1, 2023 she will play for

, where she has signed a contract until 2025.

National Team

For the U16 national team, she played four international matches in the Nordic Cup tournament, for the first time on June 29, 2009 in Hagfors / Sweden in a 3-0 victory over the selection of the Netherlands, when she came on in the 67th minute for Sofia Nati, most recently on July 4, 2009 in the 2-1 defeat by the Swedes. Her only international goal came on June 30, 2009 in Forshaga, 1-0 after 15 minutes in a 6-0 win over the Icelandic team. Starke was in the squad for the U17 national team for the

2010 World Cup , image = 2010 FIFA World Cup.svg , size = 200px , caption = ''Ke Nako. (Tswana and Sotho for "It's time") Celebrate Africa's Humanity'It's time. Celebrate Africa's Humanity'' (English)''Dis tyd. Vier Afrika se mensd ...

, but did not play. Most recently, from 2011 to 2012, she made five appearances for the U19 national team. She made her debut for the senior team in a 5-0 win over

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders ...

on 8 October 2019, scoring her first senior international goal with a 3-0 goal in the 65th minute. She had come on for

Linda Dallmann Linda Dallmann (born 2 September 1994) is a German professional footballer who plays for Frauen-Bundesliga club Bayern Munich and the Germany national team. Club career In 2019, Dallmann signed to join Bayern Munich. She helped her team win ...

in the second half.

Miscellaneous

On the occasion of

World Diabetes Day World Diabetes Day is the primary global awareness campaign focusing on diabetes mellitus and is held on 14 November each year. It was led by the International Diabetes Federation (IDF), each World Diabetes Day focuses on a theme related to dia ...

on November 14, 2020, Starke made her type 1 diabetes public, which was first diagnosed a few years earlier. She is the sister of Namibian international footballer

Manfred Starke Manfred Starke (born 21 February 1991) is a Namibian professional footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder for club VfB Oldenburg. He also holds German citizenship. Club career Starke was born in Windhoek, Namibia to a Namibian-born Ger ...

Career statistics

Club

International

International goal

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

Achievements

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 ...

: Finalist

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

, Winner

2022 File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretariat; The global monkeypo ...

* German Champion:

* German B Junior Champion: 2008, 2009, 2010

References

External links

Germany player profile

at soccerdonna.de * {{DEFAULTSORT:Starke, Sandra 1993 births Living people Women's association football forwards German women's footballers Germany women's international footballers German people of Namibian descent German people of Dutch descent Frauen-Bundesliga players 1. FFC Turbine Potsdam players SC Freiburg (women) players VfL Wolfsburg (women) players 2. Frauen-Bundesliga players Namibian women's footballers Footballers from Windhoek White Namibian people Namibian people of German descent Namibian people of Dutch descent