Birgit Prinz (born 25 October 1977) is a German former footballer, two-time

FIFA Women's World Cup The FIFA Women's World Cup is an international association football competition contested by the senior list of women's national association football teams, women's national teams of the members of the FIFA, Fédération Internationale de Footb ...

champion and three-time

FIFA World Player of the Year The FIFA World Player of the Year was an association football award presented annually by the sport's governing body, FIFA, between 1991 and 2015 at the FIFA World Player Gala. Coaches and captains of international teams and media representative ...

. In addition to the German national team, Prinz played for 1. FFC Frankfurt in the

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

as well as the Carolina Courage in the Women's United Soccer Association (WUSA), the first professional women's league in the United States. Prinz remains one of the game's most prolific strikers and is the second

all-time leading scorer with 14 goals (second only to Marta from Brazil). In 2011, she announced the end of her active career. She currently works as a sport psychologist for the men's and women's teams of

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany and the highest level of the German football league system. The Bundesliga comprises 18 teams ...

club TSG 1899 Hoffenheim.

Club career

Prinz began her career at SV Dörnigheim FC. She made her

debut for FSV Frankfurt, where she played from 1993 to 1998. During that time Prinz won two Bundesliga titles and two German Cups. In 1997 and 1998 she was the Bundesliga top scorer. In 1998, she moved to local rivals 1. FFC Frankfurt, where she has had her biggest success at club level. In 13 seasons at the club, Prinz won six Bundesliga and eight German Cup titles. She also won the Bundesliga top-scorer award twice more in 2001 and 2007. Prinz won the UEFA Women's Cup three times with Frankfurt, in the 2001–02, 2005–06 and 2007–08 seasons. She also reached the final in 2004, but lost to the Swedish side Umeå IK. For two seasons, Prinz joined Carolina Courage in the professional women's league WUSA in the United States. During her short stint in America she claimed the 2002 WUSA Championship. After the 2003 World Cup, Prinz declined an offer from AC Perugia to play in Italy's men's

Serie A The Serie A (), officially known as Serie A Enilive in Italy and Serie A Made in Italy abroad for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Italy and the highest tier of the Italian football league system. Establish ...

, fearing her transfer would be used as a publicity stunt and she would end up on the bench. In her time at FFC Frankfurt, Prinz won many personal awards, including a record eight German Female Footballer of the Year awards from 2001 to 2008. She was named the

in 2003, 2004 and 2005. For four consecutive years from 2007 to 2010 she came second, behind Brazil's Marta.

International career

At the age of 16, Prinz made her debut for the Germany national team in July 1994 against

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

. She came on after 72 minutes and scored the game-winner in the 89th minute. One year later, she won her first major title at the 1995 European Championship, scoring in the final. In the same year, she was named to Germany's squad for the 1995 FIFA Women's World Cup, where they lost to Norway in the final match. She remains the youngest player ever to appear in a World Cup Final. For the next decade, Prinz had one of the most successful international careers in women's football. She won four more UEFA European Championships in

1997 Events January * January 1 – The Emergency Alert System is introduced in the United States. * January 11 – Turkey threatens Cyprus on account of a deal to buy Russian S-300 missiles, prompting the Cypriot Missile Crisis. * January 1 ...

2001 The year's most prominent event was 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. The United States led a Participan ...

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

and

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

. At the Summer Olympics she won bronze three times with the German team, in

2000 2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year. Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, because of a tende ...

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 60 ...

and 2008. At the 2003 FIFA Women's World Cup, Prinz helped Germany win its first World Cup title in the women's game. She was honoured as the tournament's best player and top-scorer. Prinz became the women's national team captain at the end of 2003, and remained until her retirement. Four years later, at the 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup, she captained the team to Germany's second World Cup title; she was awarded the Silver Ball as the second-best player at the tournament. Prinz holds several national and international records. With 14 goals, she is the second all-time leading goalscorer at

s. From 2008 until 2012, Prinz and Brazil's Cristiane both held the tournament record of ten goals at the Summer Olympics, although Cristiane has now surpassed Prinz. For the German national team Prinz appeared 214 times and scored 128 goals, and is the team's most capped player and top goalscorer.

Personal life

Prinz is a trained physical therapist. In 2010, she graduated with her master's degree in

psychology Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Its subject matter includes the behavior of humans and nonhumans, both consciousness, conscious and Unconscious mind, unconscious phenomena, and mental processes such as thoughts, feel ...

from the Goethe University Frankfurt. Since January 2012, she has worked as a sport psychologist in the youth academy, women's U-17 and women's Bundesliga teams at TSG 1899 Hoffenheim.

Career statistics

International

:''Scores and results list Germany's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Prinz goal.''

Goals by competition

At World Cup and Olympic Tournaments

Prinz competed in five

: Sweden 1995, USA 1999, USA 2003, China 2007 and Germany 2011; and four Olympics: Atlanta 1996, Sydney 2000, Athens 2004, and Beijing 2008. Altogether she played in 43 matches and scored 24 goals at those nine global tournaments. With Germany, Prinz is a two-time world champion from USA 2003 and China 2007, and a runner-up from Sweden 1995, as well as a three-time bronze medalist from Sydney 2000, Athens 2004 and Beijing 2008.

Honours

FSV Frankfurt *

: 1994–95, 1997–98 * German Cup: 1994–95, 1995–96 1. FFC Frankfurt * UEFA Women's Cup: 2001–02, 2005–06, 2007–08; runner-up 2003–04 *

(7): 1998–99, 2000–01, 2001–02, 2002–03, 2004–05, 2006–07, 2007–08 * German Cup (8): 1998–99, 1999-00, 2000–01, 2001–02, 2002–03, 2006–07, 2007–08, 2010–11 Germany * WUSA Championship: 2002 *

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often called the World Cup, is an international association football competition among the senior List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams of the members of the FIFA, Fédération Internatio ...

: 2003, 2007; runner-up 1995 *

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

: 1995,

* Olympic bronze medal:

, 2008 * Algarve Cup: 2006 Individual *

: 2003, 2004, 2005; runner-up 2002, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 * German Player of the Year (8): 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008 * UEFA Women's Championship Golden Player: 1995 * Second all-time leading goalscorer

– 14 goals (second to Marta) * Second all-time leading goalscorer Women's Olympic Football Tournament – 10 goals (second to Cristiane) * Golden Ball: 2003 FIFA Women's World Cup *

top scorer: 2003 * 2003 FIFA Women's World Cup All star team: 2003 * Silver Ball: 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup * 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup All star team: 2007 *

top scorer: 1996–97, 1997–98, 2000–01, 2006–07 * Silbernes Lorbeerblatt: 2003, 2007

References

;Match reports

External links

* *
Profile
at the German Football Federation * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Prinz, Birgit 1977 births Living people Footballers from Frankfurt Women's association football forwards Footballers at the 1996 Summer Olympics Footballers at the 2000 Summer Olympics Footballers at the 2004 Summer Olympics Footballers at the 2008 Summer Olympics German women's footballers Germany women's international footballers 1995 FIFA Women's World Cup players 1999 FIFA Women's World Cup players 2003 FIFA Women's World Cup players 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup players Olympic footballers for Germany FIFA World Player of the Year winners Olympic bronze medalists for Germany Women's association football midfielders Women's United Soccer Association players German expatriate women's footballers German expatriate sportspeople in the United States Expatriate women's soccer players in the United States Eintracht Frankfurt (women) players FSV Frankfurt (women) players Frauen-Bundesliga players FIFA Women's Century Club Olympic medalists in football 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup players Recipients of the Silver Laurel Leaf Medalists at the 2008 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2004 Summer Olympics Carolina Courage players FIFA Women's World Cup–winning players Medalists at the 2000 Summer Olympics UEFA Women's Championship–winning players UEFA Women's Champions League–winning players 20th-century German sportswomen 21st-century German sportswomen