News (engl.)

Giulia Gwinn has been named as the new captain of the Germany women’s national team. The 25-year-old and her new vice-captain, Janina Minge, spoke about their appointment, team chemistry and the upcoming Nations League games against the Netherlands (Friday at 20:45 CET) and Austria (Tuesday at 18:15 CET).

GIULIA GWINN ON...

...being named captain: It’s a simply incredible feeling and I can’t put it into words right now. It makes me so proud to have this trust placed in me. I’ve experienced some great captains before me, so I can look to follow in their footsteps. I’m excited for the future. There’s nothing nicer for me and Janina than to take on his responsibility together.

...a different approach: I want to get even more out of the players on the pitch. I want to be a passionate leader; my role model was always Bastian Schweinsteiger. He was somebody that would give his all for his team – this was particularly the case at the 2014 World Cup. Janina and I are two players that can do something similar. The difference between us and Alex Popp is that we’re perhaps not as loud out on the pitch.

...the rebuild: We’re all really pleased to have competitive games coming up now. We’ve had a lot of friendlies in recent times, where we tried a few things. We now need to start slowly growing as a team. Time goes a lot quicker than you think it does, so we need to use these Nations League matches to continue our development as a team.

...the Netherlands: They are a team that will really test us. We played against them last year on our way to qualifying for the Olympics, but their squad is a lot stronger now. I believe we’ll have a good plan again this time, though our focus is on ourselves, as it always is.

JANINA MINGE ON...

...being named as vice-captain: There’s no greater show of faith from the coaching team. It’s a real honour and I’m excited and extremely proud. I’m really pleased to be sharing the responsibility together with Giulia. We’ve known each other for a really long time and that’s a good basis for being able to do this job well together.

...her role as vice-captain: It’s important to develop a positive spirit within the team. We’ve got a lot of leaders in our side and who wears the captain’s armband isn’t as important as the team spirit and everybody being prepared to work hard for one another.

...the centre-backs: Losing both Sara Doorsoun and Kathrin Hendrich to injury is obviously a blow to us, but we’ve now got Sophia Kleinherne back, who has been in the squad on a number of occasions. Rebecca Knaak is a new face but someone with lots of experience. I’m not concerned at all – we’ll make sure we find a good solution.