Lea Schüller

Lea Schüller (born 12 November 1997) is a German professional footballer who plays as a forward for Women's Super League club Manchester United and the Germany national team.

Club career SGS Essen Schüller started playing football at Hülser SV before joining the youth department of SGS Essen in 2012. She made her Frauen-Bundesliga debut aged 16 on 1 December 2013, in a 2–0 home defeat against VfL Wolfsburg. She scored her first two Bundesliga goals on 26 February 2014, in a 3–1 away win against BV Cloppenburg. In July 2017, Schüller extended her contract with SGS Essen for two years until June 2020.

Bayern Munich In July 2020, Schüller signed a three-year contract with Bayern Munich. She made her debut for her new team in a preseason match, scoring the first two goals for a 3–1 win against SC Freiburg on 9 August. At the next preseason friendly, against UWCL qualifiers Slavia Prague, Schüller contributed a goal in a 4–0 win.

Schüller also made her first ever UEFA Women's Champions League appearance in a 2–1 loss against defending champions Olympique Lyonnais on 23 August. Bayern was subsequently knocked out on a 2–2 aggregate loss, with Olympique Lyonnais moving to the semi-finals with an away-goal advantage.

FC Bayern began the 2020–21 Frauen-Bundesliga against SC Sand on 4 September, with Schüller in the starting XI and scoring her first Bundesliga goal with the team, ending with a 6–0 victory. Bayern would go on to win their third league title. Schüller scored a total of 16 goals in her first season with Bayern Munich, finishing third place behind Nicole Billa of TSG Hoffenheim (23 goals) and Laura Freigang of Eintracht Frankfurt (17 goals) as top scorers of the season.

She continued her impressive displays in the 2021–22 Frauen-Bundesliga season, finishing as the league's top goalscorer with 16 goals as well as the club's top goalscorer with 21 goals in all competitions. In the 2022–23 season, Schüller scored 19 times across all competitions to help Bayern win the league title once more.

In the 2023–24 season, she scored the game winner in the 77th minute of the 2–1 away victory over Eintracht Frankfurt. Lea reached double figures for league goals yet again, scoring 11 times as Bayern retained the Frauen-Bundesliga. On 1 May 2025, Schüller scored a hat-trick to fire Bayern to a 4-2 win over Werder Bremen in the DFB-Pokal Frauen final. This secured the club's first-ever domestic double and first DFB-Pokal trophy since 2012.

During her five-and-a-half years at Bayern Munich, Schüller scored 103 goals in 181 appearances across all competitions, firmly establishing her as one of Europe's most prolific centre-forwards.

Manchester United On 29 December 2025, Schüller agreed to join Women's Super League side Manchester United on a contract until June 2029, starting on 1 January 2026. She made her debut for the club on 10 January, coming on as a 60th minute substitute in a 0–0 WSL draw against Arsenal, before scoring her first goal the following week in a 5–0 FA Cup win against Burnley.

International career Schüller appeared for Germany under-17 national team at the 2014 U-17 Women's World Cup in Costa Rica, playing in all three group matches. With the under-19 team, she participated in the UEFA Women's Under-19 Championship in Israel, again playing in all three group matches and the defeat on penalties to Sweden in the semi-finals. She was then a member of the German under-20 squad at the U-20 Women's World Cup in Papua New Guinea in 2016, where they lost to France in the quarter-finals.

Schüller was first called up by coach Steffi Jones to train with the full Germany national squad in June 2017, but did not make the final squad for the 2017 UEFA Women's Championship. She made her full international debut against Iceland in a 2019 World Cup qualifying match on 20 October 2017, coming on as a late substitute and scoring the final goal in a 3–2 defeat for Germany. Later in qualifying in April 2018, Schüller scored all 4 goals against the Czech Republic in a 4–0 win.

Schüller was called up to the Germany squad for the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup. Following strong performances, Lea was named her country's women's national Player of the Year for 2021.

On 18 June 2022, Schüller was called up to the 23-player Germany squad for the UEFA Women's Euro 2022, where they reached the final. She scored in their opening game of the tournament, a 4-0 win against Denmark. Schüller started the final at Wembley Stadium, where Germany lost 2-1 after extra time to hosts England. Schüller won Germany's 2022 Footballer of the Year award.

On 3 July 2024, Schüller was called up to the Germany squad for the 2024 Summer Olympics. She helped her nation win the bronze medal at the Games, with Germany beating world champions Spain 1-0 in the Bronze medal match.

On 12 June 2025, Schüller was called up to the Germany squad for the UEFA Women's Euro 2025. She helped them to reach the semi-finals by scoring goals against Denmark and Poland before being knocked out by Spain.

As of December 2025, Schüller is Germany's sixth all-time leading scorer with a tally of over 50 goals.

Personal life From 2019, Schüller was in a relationship with Austrian sport sailor Lara Vadlau, but broke up in 2024. Since 2025, Schüller is in a relationship with Martina Piemonte.

Career statistics Club

International

Scores and results list Germany's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Schüller goal. + List of international goals scored by Lea Schüller 2023–24, 2024–25 DFB-Pokal: 2024–25 DFB-Supercup Frauen: 2024, 2025

Manchester United Women's League Cup runner-up: 2025–26

Germany Summer Olympics bronze medal: 2024 UEFA Women's Championship runner-up: 2022 UEFA Women's Nations League third place: 2023–24

Individual Footballer of the Year (Germany): 2022 Silbernes Lorbeerblatt: 2024 Germany women's national Player of the Year: 2021 Artilheira da DFB-Pokal Frauen: 2024–25