“Wanted to get rid of my exotic existence”
Ex-national player cut her hair short to fit in
April 28, 2026 – 12:19 p.mReading time: 2 minutes
Today Julia Šimić is a four-time cup winner and German champion. As a child, she played on a team with boys. The time wasn’t always easy.
Former German international Julia Šimić had her hair cut short as a child. “Simply because I wanted to get rid of this, this exotic existence,” explained the 36-year-old in the Sky program “My Story” with Riccardo Basile. When he was young, Šimić mostly played with older boys. Your goal: to stand out less and be accepted more easily.
“When I looked like a boy for a year and a half, my life was a little easier,” explained Šimić, who played for FC Bayern and VfL Wolfsburg in the Bundesliga during her active career. “I just wanted to belong.” Would she have preferred to have been a boy? “Yes, that was the time,” replied Šimić, who only played with boys until she was 16.
She wanted to solve the “difficulties” with regard to the different cabins and the need to accompany her parents on training camps or graduation trips “simply with a haircut.”
Today the 36-year-old works as an expert for the pay-TV channel Sky and analyzes games together with record national player Lothar Matthäus. In addition to her experiences as a young player, Šimić also spoke about her work in front of the camera today.
She emphasized: “I’m not afraid of a conversation guest. The only one was Oliver Kahn, where I said: Now I can hear my heartbeat a little bit.” In addition to her work at Sky, Šimić is an assistant to the Swiss women’s national team and was previously head coach of the U20 team at SG Eintracht Frankfurt.
