“I look up at the sky, take a deep breath and think of Gian-Luc for just a little second before kick-off to remind myself that I’m not just playing for myself and I just want to enjoy it.”
Adrienne Jordan does this little ritual before every game. The 28-year-old Turbine Potsdam defender takes a moment to think about her late brother and that ten years after his death she made his dream come true. The German-American, who grew up in the USA, has been playing in the Bundesliga since 2021. Before moving to Potsdam last summer, she spent a season at SC Sand.
The little brother’s big dream of the Bundesliga
Jordan had just started her final year at school when her 12-year-old brother Gian-Luc died in a tragic accident. “It was incredibly shocking for me and my family,” the German-American told DW. “We all lost someone special that day who meant something different to each of us.”
Before he died, Gian-Luc had dreamed of playing in the Bundesliga one day. “He was always talking about buying my mom a nice house and a nice car and doing all these nice things,” Jordan recalls. “When he died, I made a silent promise to him that I would do my best to make his dream come true as best I could. At that point, I didn’t know how it was going to happen, I didn’t know if it was going to happen , but I knew it was something I wanted to try to accomplish.”
Nonetheless, the little brother dream quickly became a driving force for Adrienne, who was then 17 and a talented youth player herself and had to decide which university to attend.
From the USA across half of Europe to the Bundesliga
Jordan was not discouraged by setbacks. After a scout told her she wasn’t good enough to play for a top university, she went on to the University of Northern Colorado and was twice named the most valuable player on defense in her division.
“Before I was a good player and after that I was a great player,” says Jordan of her student days. “That’s when I started taking serious steps to pursue my career out of college and turn pro.”
After that, she sent the first emails to Bundesliga clubs, which, however, went unanswered. So, in 2016, Jordan entered the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) draft. She was drafted by the Chicago Red Stars but never played for the club, instead signing with Swedish club Östersunds DFF that same year. Thus began her long and arduous journey to Germany, her mother’s homeland, in central Sweden. A journey that took her to six different clubs within four and a half years.
Adrienne Jordan fulfilled her brother’s dream in 2021 and became a Bundesliga player at SC Sand
In 2017, Jordan joined IB Vestmannaeyja in Iceland, where she enlisted the support of her teammate and roommate’s agent to get closer to her goal of finally playing in the Bundesliga. “Even if I first had to go from Iceland to Italy and England, each of these stations was a springboard to get to Germany, which was ultimately my most important goal.”
The time finally came in 2021: Jordan made her brother’s dream come true and signed for Bundesliga club SC Sand in the winter transfer window. “I’ve gotten stronger and better and I see life differently now,” says Jordan. “It took me many years to look back and process everything. I’m still working on it today.”
Joined the top team Turbine after just one year
At SC Sand, Adrienne Jordan asserted herself as a full-back and then switched to the top team Turbine Potsdam in the summer of 2022 – to the club that had established itself among the top four teams in the league in recent seasons.
Although Turbine lost five of their first six games this season and finished bottom of the table, Jordan remains optimistic: “It’s always up to us players. We’re the ones who are on the field,” she explains. “We try to do our best and stay positive. It’s so easy to get down, negative and frustrated.”
Still, according to Adrienne Jordan, she doesn’t let the fun of the game she loves take away from her. Because every time she steps onto the field, she knows she’s not just playing for herself.
The text has been adapted from English.