Former German international Inka Grings will coach the Swiss women’s national soccer team. The 44-year-old will succeed the Dane Nils Nielsen in January.
As the Swiss Football Association (SFV) announced on Monday, the 44-year-old has been given a permanent contract after almost two years with FC Zürich Frauen. The former goalscorer follows in the footsteps of national coach Martina Voss-Tecklenburg, who worked as national coach in Switzerland from 2012 to 2018.
Grings is looking forward to her new job: “I’m incredibly proud to be able to work with the best players in the country and I’m really looking forward to the exciting and challenging task.” For Grings, who is training a national team for the first time, the objective is clear: “We want to be successful and, after a short, intensive preparation period, invest everything to get through the group phase at the World Cup. That corresponds to my mentality.”
The World Cup will take place in Australia and New Zealand in the summer of 2023. The Swiss will meet the Philippines, Norway and New Zealand in the group stage.
Most Successful Goalscorer
Born in Düsseldorf, she was a player for FCR Duisburg for 16 years, which was promoted to the Bundesliga as FC Rumeln-Kaldenhausen in 1993 and later renamed FCR 2001 Duisburg. From 1995 to 2011 she scored 353 goals in 271 games for her club and is still the most successful goalscorer in German club football. She celebrated the championship with FCR in 2000, won the DFB Cup three times and was top scorer six times. With the national team, the 96-time national player won two European titles.
Coach Inka Grings at SV Straelen.
Via Duisburg, Straelen and Zurich to the “Nati”
From 2019 to 2020, the 96-time national player was the first woman to be responsible for a men’s team in the four highest German divisions at regional league club SV Straelen. She began her coaching career in 2014 at her old club, which now competed as MSV Duisburg in women’s professional soccer. In 2021 she took over the coaching position at another club, for which she had already been a player for two years after her time in Duisburg, FC Zurich, where she most recently won the double.
FCZ President: “Grings is an exception”
FCZ President Ancillo Canepa is more than convinced of Gring’s qualities: “Inka Grings is an exceptional personality as well as a successful footballer and competent coach. I have no doubt for a moment that she will lead the Swiss national team to the next level”, said Canepa after the announcement of the change to the Swiss national team on the FCZ website.
