Longtime Germany captain Alexandra Popp is set to make her last appearance for Germany in a friendly against Australia in Duisburg on Monday, October 28.
“Being a football romantic, there’s nothing better than finishing where it all began. It’s great luck for me to be able to take to the pitch there again,” Popp said, referring to the fact that it was in Duisburg that she made her Germany debut in a 3-0 win over North Korea in 2010.
“There will be lots of family, friends and companions from the past. It’s really nice to see and makes me very proud.”
This will be the striker’s 145th appearance in a German jersey. In the 144 so far, she has scored 67 goals, won an Olympic gold medal in 2016 and finished as a runner-up at the 2022 Women’s Euros.
“I always stressed that my gut would make the decision, and now it has,” she said in a video announcing her retirement in late September.
“The fire that was kindled in me 18 years ago and grew stronger from year to year has now almost burned out.
“Neither my body, which is a ticking time bomb, nor anyone else should get ahead of me. Before the fire is completely extinguished — because then it would be too late — now is the right time.”
Popp also spoke of having had “the good fortune and the great honor of wearing the German national team jersey with pride over her long career.”
Popp’s greatest international success came at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Summer Olympic GamesImage: Leo Correa/AP/picture alliance
International career plagued by injury
Popp’s success has come despite a series of setbacks through injury. An injury she aggravated in the Champions League final forced her to miss out on Euro 2013, which Germany won. Four years later, she was ruled out of Euro 2017 due to an injury suffered prior to the tournament.
What hurt perhaps most of all was when she tweaked a muscle during the warmup ahead of the Euro 2022 final at Wembley. While her six goals were key to Germany reaching the final, Popp pulled herself out of the lineup for the good of the team.
“It was extremely hard to grasp that I probably couldn’t play a European Championship final,” she told DW at the time. “It took me a really long time to process it. There were a lot of questions — should I have trained at all, should I have taken that one more shot?”
Despite that disappointment, she did help Germany to an Olympic gold medal at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro and won the 2010 World Cup with the U-20 team, as well as the U-17 European Championship.
Tributes from German FA
Christian Wück, who took over from Horst Hrubesch as coach of the German women’s team, said he would have welcomed the opportunity to work with Popp as a member of his squad going forward.
“Alex Popp was the face of the women’s national team for almost a decade and a half,” he said. “She was a key player, leading the way on and off the pitch – with her attitude, mentality, personality and, of course, her footballing qualities.”
Nia Künzer, the women’s national team’s sporting director, described Popp as a “role model in terms of commitment, passion and willpower” who has always put the team first.
“She has always pushed boundaries with her style of play and set new standards, including with her heading power and goal-scoring ability,” Künzer added.
“She is also an outspoken personality who has never shied away from clearly addressing issues and taking a stand.”
Serial winner with Wolfsburg
At club level, Popp’s list of honors is much longer, starting with two Champions League titles with Wolfsburg — as well as one with her first team, FCR Duisburg, when the tournament was still called the UEFA Women’s Cup.
The 2023-24 German Cup title was the 10th Popp has won with WolfsburgImage: Steinbrenner/IMAGO
With Wolfsburg, she has also won seven Women’s Bundesliga titles and 10 German Cups. Among her personal honors have been winning German Women’s Footballer of the Year award three times in 2014, 2016 and 2023.
Final year of contract at Wolfsburg
With the rest of the season remaining on her contract at Wolfsburg, her future at club level is unclear.
“If she stays healthy, which we all hope, it doesn’t have to be the end,” Wolfsburg’s sporting director, Ralf Kellermann, stressed towards the end of the 2023-24 campaign.
He also hinted that Popp could remain with Wolfsburg in a different role after she hangs up her boots entirely.
“We would be remiss if we didn’t make an effort to keep Alexandra Popp at the club after so many years and with her charisma,” he said.
However, with three goals and four assists in her first seven games in the Bundesliga, talk of Popp retiring from football altogether seems a bit premature. However, the forward told reporters on Wednesday that while she remained undecided, she planned to make a decision by the winter break.
This article was originally published on October 1 and updated on October 24.
Edited by: Jonathan Harding