Maren Meinert (born 5 August 1973) is a German

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

coach Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of Athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Coac ...

and former player who played as a

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

and striker. She was most recently the head coach of Germany women's national under-20 football team. As a player, Meinert played for German clubs FCR Duisburg and FFC Brauweiler Pulheim, as well as

Boston Breakers The Boston Breakers were an American professional women's soccer club based in the Boston neighborhood of Allston. The team competed in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). They replaced the original Breakers, who competed in the defu ...

in the United States. She also represented the

Germany women's national football team The Germany women's national football team () represents Germany in international Women's association football, women's football. The team is governed by the German Football Association (DFB). The Germany national team is one of the most succ ...

Club career

Meinert was the first player inducted into

' "Pillars of Excellence" during a ceremony held at half-time of the 17 May 2009 game between the Breakers and

Washington Freedom Washington Freedom may refer to: * Washington Freedom (cricket) * Washington Freedom (soccer) {{dab ...

International career

Meinert played for the German national team between 1991 and 2003, making appearances at three

FIFA Women's World Cup The FIFA Women's World Cup is an international association football competition contested by the senior list of women's national association football teams, women's national teams of the members of the FIFA, Fédération Internationale de Footb ...

finals and the

2000 Summer Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad, officially branded as Sydney 2000, and also known as the Games of the New Millennium, were an international multi-sport event held from 15 September to 1 October ...

. Germany won the 2003 World Cup. She scored the first goal in the final against Sweden.

International goals

Management career

Meinert coached various German youth national teams for the

German Football Association The German Football Association ( ; DFB ) is the governing body of Association football, football, futsal, and beach soccer in Germany. A founding member of both FIFA and UEFA, the DFB has jurisdiction for the German football league system and ...

(DFB) from 2005 to 2019. In 2018, the DFB asked Meinert to become head coach of the

after dismissing Steffi Jones, but she turned down the opportunity for personal reasons. Less than a year later, the DFB surprisingly chose not to extend Meinert's contract. After her departure from the DFB, Meinert was linked to many high-profile positions, including the head coach position at the Irish national team and the assistant position at the United States national team.

Honours

Playing honours

FC Rumeln-Kaldenhausen * Hallenmasters: 1995 FCR Duisburg *

Frauen-Bundesliga The Frauen-Bundesliga (German language, German for ''Women's Federal League''), currently known as the Google Pixel Frauen-Bundesliga for sponsorship reasons, is the top level of league competition for women's association football in Germany. I ...

runners-up: 1997 *

DFB-Pokal Frauen The DFB-Pokal Frauen is the main national Women's association football, women's football cup competition in Germany, held annually by the German Football Association in knockout format. It was created in 1980, and since 1991 includes Eastern teams ...

: 1998 Germany *

** Winners: 2003 ** Runners-up: 1995 *

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games (Olympics; ) are the world's preeminent international Olympic sports, sporting events. They feature summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a Multi-s ...

bronze medal: 2000 * UEFA Women's Euro: 1995, 1997, 2001 Individual * Women's United Soccer Association Most Valuable Player: 2003

Managerial honours

Germany *

FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup The FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup is an international association football tournament, organized by FIFA (Fédération Internationale de Football Association), for national teams of women under the age of 20. The tournament is held biennially. ...

** Winners: 2010, 2014 ** Runners-up: 2012 *

UEFA Women's Under-19 Championship The UEFA European Women's Under-19 Championship or simply UEFA Women's Under-19 Championship, is an annual competition in women's football for European national teams of players under 19 years of age. National under-19 teams whose countries belon ...

: 2006, 2007, 2011 Individual * Felix Coach of the Year: 2010

General honours

* Order of Merit of North Rhine-Westphalia

Notes

References

External links

* * *
WUSA player profile
1973 births Living people German women's footballers Germany women's international footballers FCR 2001 Duisburg players Frauen-Bundesliga players 1995 FIFA Women's World Cup players 1999 FIFA Women's World Cup players 2003 FIFA Women's World Cup players Footballers at the 2000 Summer Olympics Olympic footballers for Germany Olympic bronze medalists for Germany German football managers Footballers from Duisburg Expatriate women's soccer players in the United States Olympic medalists in football FIFA Women's World Cup–winning players Medalists at the 2000 Summer Olympics Women's association football midfielders UEFA Women's Championship–winning players Boston Breakers (WUSA) players Women's United Soccer Association players West German women's footballers German expatriate women's footballers German expatriate sportspeople in the United States Grün-Weiß Brauweiler players 21st-century German sportswomen {{Germany-Olympic-medalist-stub