Chelsea FC midfielder Melanie Leupolz has resigned from the national soccer team. The 29-year-old was the only mother in the German selection at the World Cup in Australia and New Zealand. According to the German Football Association on Monday, Leupolz is continuing her career in the English league.
Energy-draining charges
“It was important to me that I made it back into the DFB team after giving birth, and I am very proud to have played another World Cup for my country“, said the former SC Freiburg and FC Bayern Munich player. “The fact that I was able to experience this together with my son made the experience even more valuable for me. At the same time, I noticed that the abundance of stress was energy-sapping.”
Formative face
Leupolz has played 79 international matches, was European champion in 2013 and won Olympic gold in 2016. “Melanie Leupolz was one of the defining faces of the German women’s national team for more than a decade”said Joti Chatzialexiou, national team sporting director. “She also impressively showed how one can successfully return to professional football after pregnancy.”
Leupolz is no longer one of the players who will be fighting for qualification for next year’s Olympic Games in Paris from September 22nd in the opening game in Denmark in the Nations League. The German team of national coach Martina Voss-Tecklenburg, who is currently ill, was surprisingly eliminated in the preliminary round of the World Cup.