Melanie Leupolz resigns from the women’s national team. The Chelsea FC midfielder, who is continuing her career at the club, played 79 international matches for the DFB team, winning the 2013 European Championship title and the 2016 Olympic gold medal. In April of this year, the 29-year-old was there for the first time after giving birth to her son been called back into the DFB selection. She was also part of the squad for the World Cup in Australia and New Zealand and was in the starting lineup for the team’s first game against Morocco.
“The last few months have been very intense in the club and national team and have challenged me as a professional footballer and mother,” Leupolz is quoted as saying by the DFB. “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.” At the same time, however, she noticed “that the abundance of stress is energy-sapping.” After her successes with the national team, it was “time for her to focus fully on my club Chelsea.”
Joti Chatzialexiou, sports director for the national teams, said that he regretted Leupolz’s departure but could understand it. “Melanie Leupolz was one of the defining faces of the German women’s national team for more than a decade. Not only with her sporting successes, the 2013 European Championship victory or the gold medal at the 2016 Olympic Games, she is a role model for footballers and athletes.” said Chatzialexiou. “She also impressively showed how one can successfully return to professional football after pregnancy.” Leupolz should be adopted “jointly in a dignified framework that has yet to be determined,” said Chatzialexiou.
Leupolz made her debut in the women’s national team in June 2013 in the international match against Canada in Paderborn. In total she played 79 missions. In 2022 she gave birth to her son.
