After a baby break, Melanie Leupolz returns to the DFB-Elf, which not many have done before her. A game against Brazil beckons on Tuesday in Nuremberg.
It was a demanding course that fitness trainer Julius Balzmeier had set up for the German soccer players over the past few days on the training ground on the DFB campus in Frankfurt. Sometimes national coach Martina Voss-Tecklenburg would stand next to her and shout: “Work clean!” Her players jumped and hopped over cones and poles with concentration, many of the 23 squad places for the World Cup in Australia and New Zealand (July 20th to August 20th) are still there contested. And one candidate is being looked at in particular over the Easter days: Melanie Leupolz, who is back with the national team for the first time after a year and a half.
After the midfielder became a mother for the first time in September last year and has been playing competitive games for Chelsea since the end of January, the invitation was almost logical. Joti Chatzialexiou, the sporting director, raves about her physical condition after the baby break.
“She looks very fit, very fresh, very focused, with a lot of joy,” confirmed Voss-Tecklenburg and firmly announced that the 28-year-old would play in the endurance test against Brazil in Nuremberg (Tuesday 6 p.m. / ARD). 28,500 tickets have already been sold to bid farewell to Dzsenifer Marozsan, who is retiring from the national team of his own free will; this means that more fans than average will be in the stands at 1. FC Nuremberg’s home games.
Leupolz fought hard to be able to take part in such a highlight. “It was very important that I did a lot of sport until shortly before the birth,” said the 75-time national player in a DFB interview. After giving birth, her body recovered well: “I’m amazed myself that it worked so quickly.” Last week in the advance to the semi-finals of the Champions League against Olympique Lyon, she became a symbol of determination because she had to be substituted, covered in blood. “At least the color of my nails matches,” she wrote afterwards in her Instagram story. After consultation with the Chelsea doctors, the nose was straightened in Frankfurt on Wednesday and a mask was made.
trainer as advisor
Voss-Tecklenburg will bring her to the Max Morlock Stadium to send a signal, because she brought her six-month-old son to the DFB measure: “Of course it’s exciting to talk to her about it. Not just about football issues, but how it changes her life. How roles change, how you get things together.” No one knows better than the national coach that women’s football in Germany has long provided far less support than the USA or the Scandinavian countries.
After all, at the age of 25, quite unplanned, she was the first German national player to lace up again after the birth of her daughter Dina – at that time as a single parent with almost no support. “There were moments when I asked myself: ‘Martina, can you still do that?'” said the 125-time national player once. She was not allowed to take her daughter to the courses back then, whom she has now made into a grandmother. That is why Voss-Tecklenburg can not only be a door opener, but also an advisor.
Leupolz says: “It’s very exhausting, you don’t have to make a secret of it.” A lot of childcare in London is regulated by the club, if she then spends the rest of the day with him, it gives her “an enormous amount of energy”. Chelsea have extended their contract until 2026 and team manager Emma Hayes, who has children of her own, is fully behind her number eight. In general, more needs to be done, says the native of the Allgäu, “because there are now more and more female footballers who are taking this path”. As a role model, she has chosen US icon Alex Morgan, who would have always managed to balance everything – at least that’s what her almost ten million followers on Instagram convey.
The England legionnaire wants to show other professional athletes “that it is possible to combine career and family”. Not so long ago, the DFB often lost top players because of this: Fatmire Alushi was pregnant for the first time at Paris St. Germain in 2015, stopped soon and now has four children. Celia Sasic ended her career just a few months after her teammate at 1. FFC Frankfurt to have more time for private life, had her first daughter in 2016. The topic only came up again with the argumentative goalkeeper Almuth Schult, who worked hard for the return after the birth of her twins in spring 2020, but Merle Frohms had since taken her regular place. Voss-Tecklenburg strictly followed the performance principle and relied on Frohms for the EM 2022. Schult is now pregnant again.
