Klara Melissa Kössler (born 4 March 2000) is a German

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

player who plays as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People *Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Smal ...

for

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 ...

club

TSG Hoffenheim Turn- und Sportgemeinschaft 1899 Hoffenheim e.V. (), commonly known as TSG Hoffenheim (), are a German professional football club based in Sinsheim. Originally founded in 1899 as a gymnastics club, Hoffenheim came into being in their modern fo ...

and the Germany national team.

Club career

Kössler played for

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 2017, going through all youth teams in the U7 to U17 age groups. With the B-Juniors she won the German Championship in both 2015 and 2016. In 2017 she won second place in the final. In 2016/17, in addition to her appearances for the B-Juniors, she also played in 15 league games for the second women's team in the 2nd Bundesliga North. For the 2017/18 season she signed a two-year contract for the Bundesliga team, but initially continued to play for the second team. Her debut in a competitive first-team match followed on 15 April 2018 in the 3–1 DFB Cup semi-final loss against

Bayern Munich Fußball-Club Bayern München e. V. (FCB, ), commonly known as Bayern Munich (), FC Bayern () or simply Bayern, is a German professional sports club based in Munich, Bavaria. They are most known for their men's professional football team, ...

when she came on for Anna Gasper in the 60th minute. She finally made her Bundesliga debut three days later, on 18 April 2018 (matchday 14), when she started the 1–0 home win against

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

and was substituted for Wibke Meister in the 72nd minute. In the summer of 2019, she moved to the United States to join the ''UMass Minutewomen at the''

University of Massachusetts Amherst The University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMass Amherst) is a public land-grant research university in Amherst, Massachusetts, United States. It is the flagship campus of the University of Massachusetts system and was founded in 1863 as the ...

for a dual career of college and soccer. She returned after just a year, scoring 11 goals in 16 games for the varsity athletic team. In the 2021/22 season, she was Turbine Potsdam's second top scorer after

Selina Cerci Selina Çerçi (born 31 May 2000), alternatively spelled Selina Cerci, is a German footballer who plays as a forward for TSG Hoffenheim and the Germany national team. Club career Cerci started playing football at SV Friedrichsort and moved to H ...

with 10 goals and joined league rivals

after that season.

International career

Kössler made her international debut on 12 May 2016 in a 3–1 victory of the U16 national team against Austria. She was then part of the squad of the U17 national team. With this team she qualified for the European Championships in the Czech Republic in 2017. In the penalty shoot-out in the final match against Spain, she put her team ahead 3–1, and won the European title. She was the tournament's top scorer with three goals. In 2017 she became a member of the U19 national team, with which she competed in the 2018 European Championship in Switzerland, where she became runner-up after a 1–0 final defeat by Spain. Kössler played in all five tournament games. Her goal during the 2019 European Under-19 Championship to make it 3–0 in the group game against Belgium on 19 July in the 53rd minute, when she beat the Belgian goalkeeper from distance, won second place for goal of the month for July 2019.

Career statistics

International

Honours

; National team * U17 European Champion: 2017 * U19 Vice European Champion: 2018, 2019

References

External links

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Melissa Kössler
at Soccerdonna {{DEFAULTSORT:Kossler, Melissa Living people 2000 births German women's footballers Women's association football forwards TSG 1899 Hoffenheim (women) players 1. FFC Turbine Potsdam players Footballers from Potsdam Germany women's international footballers Germany women's youth international footballers UMass Minutewomen soccer players German expatriate women's footballers Expatriate women's soccer players in the United States German expatriate sportspeople in the United States 21st-century German sportswomen