Austria’s national coach Irene Fuhrmann expressed her respect for the German fourth-final opponent at the European Football Championship in England.
“We know that Germany is superior and is currently performing extremely well,” said the 41-year-old after her team’s 1-0 win against Norway at the end of the preliminary round. “I can’t find the words for this performance and that we actually reached the quarter-finals in this difficult group. The entire journey up to here has been a wonderful experience.”
Thanks to a goal by Hoffenheim Bundesliga player Nicole Billa on Friday evening, the Austria team has reached the next round and will challenge the DFB women on Thursday at the Brentford Community Stadium. “Wow, I still can’t quite believe it. We have everything
invested what we had, it’s awesome,” said Billa, who was “soccer player of the year” in Germany and Austria in 2021. The Austrians were in the quarter-finals at the 2017 European Championships in the Netherlands, but lost to Spain on penalties there.