Christina Theune (formerly Theune-Meyer; born 4 November 1953) is a German graduate sports teacher, and the former national coach of the

German women's national football team The Germany women's national football team (german: Deutsche Fußballnationalmannschaft der Frauen) represents Germany in international women's football. The team is governed by the German Football Association (DFB). The German national tea ...

Biography

Theune was born into a sporting family. Her father was a

track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping events ...

athlete An athlete (also sportsman or sportswoman) is a person who competes in one or more sports that involve physical strength, speed, or endurance. Athletes may be professionals or amateurs. Most professional athletes have particularly well-devel ...

, and her mother played

handball Handball (also known as team handball, European handball or Olympic handball) is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each (six outcourt players and a goalkeeper) pass a ball using their hands with the aim of throwing it into the g ...

Career

She played from 1974 until 1986 for

Grün-Weiß Brauweiler FFC Brauweiler Pulheim 2000 was a German women's football club based in Pulheim, North Rhine-Westphalia. It was founded when the women's section of Grün-Weiß Brauweiler in 2000 established its own club. The team played its last season in the ...

, where she was also later

player-manager A player-coach (also playing coach, captain-coach, or player-manager) is a member of a sports team who simultaneously holds both playing and coaching duties. A player-coach may be a head coach or an assistant coach. They may make changes to the sq ...

. After she completed her teacher training, she became the first woman in Germany to acquire the DFB Fußball-Lehrer (

coach Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Co ...

) licence in 1985, which is equivalent to the UEFA Pro license. In 1986 she became assistant coach to the women's national team, and succeeded Gero Bisanz as national coach on 1 August 1996 after the Summer Olympics in Atlanta. In total she won six European championships, three as an assistant to Gero Bisanz, three as national coach, and led the German women's team to victory in the 2003 Women's World Cup. After winning the

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 ...

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...

, she retired from the position of national coach, as had already been announced, handing over to her assistant

Silvia Neid Silvia Edith Maria Neid (born 2 May 1964) is a retired professional German football player and manager. She is one of the most successful players in German women's football, having won seven national championships and six DFB-Pokal trophies. Betw ...

Personal life

Theune married Thomas Meyer, who coached her as a player. After marriage, she adopted the surname "Theune-Meyer" until her divorce in 2008.

Honours

Manager

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 ...

: bronze medal

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...

, bronze medal

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 6 ...

FIFA Women's World Cup The FIFA Women's World Cup is an international association football competition contested by the senior women's national teams of the members of Fédération Internationale de Football Association ( FIFA), the sport's international governing bo ...

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A des ...

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of t ...

2001 The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a Participants in ...

References

External links

*
Official page of the German women's national team
*
Tina Theune - weltfussball.de
1953 births Living people People from Kleve Sportspeople from Düsseldorf (region) German women's footballers Germany women's national football team managers 1999 FIFA Women's World Cup managers 2003 FIFA Women's World Cup managers FIFA Women's World Cup-winning managers German women's football managers UEFA Women's Championship-winning managers Women's association football midfielders Footballers from North Rhine-Westphalia Female association football managers {{Germany-women-footy-bio-stub