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-Bundesliga 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 FIFA Women's World Cup 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 club TSG 1899 Hoffenheim.

Club career Prinz began her career at Dörnigheimer SV. She made her Bundesliga 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, 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 FIFA World Player of the Year 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. She came on after 72 minutes and scored the game-winner in the 89th minute.

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, 2001, 2005 and 2009. At the Summer Olympics she won bronze three times with the German team, in 2000, 2004 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. In 2010, she graduated with her master's degree in psychology 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 FIFA Women's World Cup: 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.

Goal Match Date Location Opponent Lineup Min Score Result Competition 1 1995-06-05 Karlstad Group stage 2 1995-06-07 Helsingborg Group stage 1 3 1995-06-09 Karlstad Start 5 1–0 Group stage 4 1995-06-13 Västerås Quarter-final 5 1995-06-15 Helsingborg Semifinal 6 1995-06-18 Solna Final 7 1996-07-21 Birmingham, AL Group match 2 8 1996-07-23 Washington, D.C. 62 2–2 Group match 9 1996-07-25 Birmingham, AL Group match 10 1999-06-20 Los Angeles Start Group match 11 1999-06-24 Portland, OR Group match 3 12 1999-06-27 Washington, D.C. Start 8 1–0 Group match 13 1999-07-01 Washington, D.C. Start Quarter-final 14 2000-09-13 Canberra Start Group match 4 15 2000-09-16 Canberra Start 33 1–0 Group match 5 41 2–0 16 2000-09-19 Melbourne Start Group match 17 2000-09-24 Sydney Start Semifinal 6 18 2000-09-28 Sydney Start 79 2–0 Bronze medal match 7 19 2003-09-20 Columbus, OH Start 75 3–1 Group match 8 20 2003-09-24 Columbus, OH Start 36 2–0 Group match 9 66 3–0 10 21 2003-09-27 Washington, D.C. Start 32 3–0 Group match 11 22 2003-10-02 Portland, OR Start 80 5–1 Quarter-final 12 89 7–1 13 23 2003-10-05 Portland, OR Start 90+3 3–0 Semifinal 24 2003-10-12 Carson, CA Start Final 14 25 2004-08-11 Patras Start 13 1–0 Group match 15 21 2–0 16 73 4–0 17 88 7–0 18 26 2004-08-17 Piraeus Start; (c) 79 2–0 Group match 27 2004-08-20 Patras Start; (c) Quarter-final 28 2004-08-23 Heraklion Start; (c) Semifinal 29 2004-08-26 Piraeus Start; (c) Bronze medal match 19 30 2007-09-10 Shanghai Start; (c) 29 4–0 Group match 20 45+1 5–0 21 59 8–0 31 2007-09-14 Shanghai Start; (c) Group match 22 32 2007-09-17 Hangzhou Start; (c) 21 1–0 Group match 33 2007-09-22 Wuhan Start; (c) Quarter-final 34 2007-09-26 Tianjin Start; (c) Semifinal 23 35 2007-09-30 Shanghai Start; (c) 52 1–0 Final 36 2008-08-06 Shenyang Start; (c) Group match 37 2008-08-09 Shenyang Start; (c) Group match 38 2008-08-12 Tianjin Start; (c) Group match 39 2008-08-15 Shenyang Start; (c) Quarter-final 24 40 2008-08-18 Shanghai Start; (c) 10 1–0 Semifinal 41 2008-08-21 Beijing Start; (c) Bronze medal match 42 2011-06-26 Berlin ; (c) Group match 43 2011-06-30 Frankfurt ; (c) Group match

Honours FSV Frankfurt Bundesliga: 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 Bundesliga (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: 2003, 2007; runner-up 1995 UEFA European Championship: 1995, 1997, 2001, 2005, 2009 Olympic bronze medal: 2000, 2004, 2008 Algarve Cup: 2006

Individual FIFA World Player of the Year: 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 FIFA Women's World Cup – 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 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 Bundesliga top scorer: 1996–97, 1997–98, 2000–01, 2006–07 Silbernes Lorbeerblatt: 2003, 2007