Erëleta Memeti hits and hits. The attacker from TSG Hoffenheim wants to snap again in the top game against Bayern (Friday, 7.15 p.m.). She wants to play the Champions League and wishes for peace in the world.
Five goals and two assists in three games: that’s Erëleta Memeti’s impressive record. The attacker from TSG Hoffenheim scored all the goals in the 3-0 win in the DFB Cup against Bayer Leverkusen. Memeti is in impressive form and is currently TSG’s guarantee of success. The Hoffenheim team (fourth place in the table) are hoping for their goals again on Friday in the top game against the women of FC Bayern Munich (third place).
Erëleta Memeti celebrates after her goal against Potsdam
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Eibner
It is also thanks to Memeti that there will be a duel for the Champions League places at all. TSG initially had a false start in the Bundesliga. After defeats in the first two games, Hoffenheim was bottom of the table. In the third game, too, TSG struggled for a long time against the newly promoted team from Meppen. Then came Memeti. She scored the 1-0 herself, taking the penalty to make it 2-0. To put it diplomatically, she took the penalty cleverly.
This is what defines their style of play: “I’m a little poisonous on the pitch,” says Memeti about himself in a video from his ex-club SC Freiburg. The German-Kosovar is considered a fast, lively dribbler with a low center of gravity. Memeti mostly plays on the left wing, then moves in and finishes with her powerful right foot. She is difficult for defenders to grab: “I’m like a mouse running away from the cat,” she said in an interview with the “Badische Zeitung”.
Erëleta Memeti does not agree to an offside decision in the cup game against Bayer Leverkusen
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Memeti says her good technique comes from the fact that she had to assert herself against men early on as a street soccer player: “I played a lot on the street with the boys in my village.” Fichtenberg is the name of the village where she grew up. It is in the district of Schwäbisch Hall. Her family comes from Kosovo, she sees herself as a Kosovo Swabian.
Memeti knows that it’s not everyday for women to play football in Kosovo. With her it was very different. Her father recognized his daughter’s talent on the ball early on – and urged her to train. Eleven-year-old Memeti initially didn’t want to train with her brothers on the boys’ team. So her father played along for her first training session, but later left the pitch. Young Memeti realized that her football is fun. Since then she hasn’t stopped.
With her appearances in the Baden-Württemberg selection and in the German youth national teams, Memeti finally drew the attention of the second team of VfL Wolfsburg in 2017. There she matured personally and athletically, recommending herself for higher tasks. In 2020, Memeti celebrated two debuts: in the Bundesliga for SC Freiburg and in the jersey of the Kosovo national team.
Although she had played in almost every DFB youth team, she finally decided on the country of her roots. As a leading player, she wants to be a role model there: “I want to show the girls in Kosovo: yes, you can also play football as a girl.”
Erëleta Memeti in the jersey of the Kosovan national team
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Hartenfelser
The 23-year-old from Freiburg switched to TSG Hoffenheim for the 2022/2023 season. The reason: she wants to play in the Champions League. “It’s more possible here than with SC Freiburg,” she says. In the long term, she wants to win titles. Her ambition knows no bounds.
It’s different in private. “Off the field, I’m more calm, more fun,” says Memeti. In Hoffenheim, she is not only seen as a sporting reinforcement in the team, but also as an enrichment in human terms. It doesn’t sound like a naive phrase for Memeti when she says in an interview with the YouTube channel “Aus dem FF”: “I’m a positive person, I would like peace to prevail all over the world. That’s a big one wish, but you are allowed to say your wishes out loud.”
The cheerful attitude towards life: “You attract the energy you radiate.” This energy, says the believing Memeti, she gets from Allah, among other things. She is a practicing Muslim. She prays before games and even as a competitive athlete she fasts in Ramadan. Then she does not eat or drink anything between sunrise and sunset. Allah give her the energy to fast: “If you then got through a day with two training sessions and were able to perform well, then you feel good.”
TSG Hoffenheim will also rely on Memeti’s energy and goals against FC Bayern on Friday. The two teams are separated by just three points in the table. TSG and Memeti want Bayern to take third place. This is the pitch for the Champions League qualifying round.
