German football mourns for Doris Fitschen. Again German Football Association (DFB) announced on Sunday (March 16, 2025), the former international died on Saturday at the age of 56 after a long and severe cancer.
“I am dismayed and very sad about Doris’s death. Our thoughts are with her family, all relatives and close friends”said DFB President Bernd Neuendorf. Between 1986 and 2001, Fitschen played a total of 144 caps. With the DFB selection, she won four EM titles and 2000 at the Olympic Games in Sydney.
With the TSV Siegen and the 1st FFC Frankfurt, she became German champion three times and three times DFB Cup winner. From 2009 to 2016, Fitschen manager was the women’s national team, who became European champion twice during this time and Olympic champion in 2016. Most recently, she was responsible for the development and implementation of the strategy “Women in Football FF27” as an overall coordinator at the DFB.
“For them the glass was always half full”
“We no longer have a very special person around us with Doris. Especially in recent years and the certainty about her illness, the glass was always half full for her. She has always seen things and life more positively as negative and has become a role model for many, but also on the field, but also as a person”said DFB general secretary Heike Ullrich.
Neuendorf added: “As a player, she was a leader, a strategist, she had presence, dominance and aura, others were able to orientate herself. So I also experienced her in her DFB, in her impressive second career. Here, too, she went preceding, also taken away and aroused with vehement, competence and great empathy for the concerns of women’s football.”