Lena Oberdorf

Lena Oberdorf

Oberdorf with Germany in 2023
Personal information
Full name	Lena Sophie Oberdorf[1]
Date of birth	(2001-12-19) 19 December 2001 (age 23)[1]
Place of birth	Gevelsberg, Germany
Height	1.74 m (5 ft 9 in)[1]
Position(s)	Midfielder, centre-back
Team information
Current team	Bayern Munich
Number	8
Youth career
	TuS Ennepetal
	TSG Sprockhövel
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
2018–2020	SGS Essen	36	(12)
2020–2024	VfL Wolfsburg	71	(17)
2024–	Bayern Munich	0	(0)
International career^‡
2014–2016	Germany U15	12	(6)
2016	Germany U16	4	(3)
2016–2017	Germany U17	13	(2)
2017–2018	Germany U19	6	(3)
2018	Germany U20	4	(1)
2019–	Germany	51	(4)
Medal record UEFA Women's Championship Runner-up 2022 England UEFA Women's Nations League 2024
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 1 July 2024 ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 22:29, 16 July 2024 (UTC)

Lena Sophie Oberdorf (born 19 December 2001) is a German professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Bundesliga club Bayern Munich and the Germany national team.^[2] A versatile player who can play in various positions ranging from centre-back, left-back, defensive midfielder, and central midfielder, Oberdorf is considered one of the most promising young talents in women's football.^[3][4]

Early life

Oberdorf played on, and captained, boys' football teams in her youth. Oberdorf started football at TuS Ennepetal. As a D youth, she switched to TSG Sprockhövel, where she was on boys' teams until 2018.^[5] She was the only girl in the German youth league she played in, as the captain of TSG Sprockhövel.^[6]

Club career

SGS Essen

In November 2017, she signed a three-year contract with Bundesliga club SGS Essen, which is valid from the summer of 2018.^[7] She made her SGS debut on 9 September 2018 in the second round of the DFB Cup against SV Henstedt-Ulzburg, where she immediately scored two goals in a 14–0 win. Almost a week later, on 15 September 2018 (matchday 1), followed in the away game against MSV Duisburg in the Bundesliga. In this game, too, she contributed two goals to the 4–0 victory.

VfL Wolfsburg

For the 2020–21 season she moved to VfL Wolfsburg. She signed a three-year contract, the term which was extended in the summer of 2022 to 2025.^[8][9]

Bayern Munich

On 15 February 2024, Bayern Munich announced the signing of Oberdorf, starting from summer that year until 2028.^[10]

International career

Youth

Oberdorf made her national team debut on 28 October 2014 at the age of twelve. She came on for Verena Wieder in the 41st minute of the U-15 national team's 13–0 win against Scotland. Two days later, she scored her first goal in an 8–0 win over Scotland in another friendly.

In July 2016, she took part in the Nordic Cup with the U-16 national team and finished second behind Norway with the team.

Also in 2016, Oberdorf was the youngest player in the 21-player squad of the U17 national team for the World Cup in Jordan. She featured in two group games against Venezuela and Cameroon and against Spain in the quarter-finals, scoring against Cameroon to make it 2–0 and against Spain to make it 2–1. In 2017 she qualified with the team for the European Championship in the Czech Republic and won it after beating Spain 3–1 in the final on penalties. After the tournament, she was voted "Golden Player" by UEFA.

For the U19 national team, she played six games from September 2017 to April 2018 as part of qualifying for the 2018 European Championship, but was already part of the squad in the summer of 2018 for the U20 national team and took part with this – again as the youngest German player – at the World Cup in France.

Senior

In December 2018, national coach Martina Voss-Tecklenburg called her up to the squad for the senior national team for the winter training camp from 14 to 21 January 2019 in Marbella.^[11] She made her debut on 6 April 2019 in Solna in a 2–1 win in a friendly against Sweden, replacing Turid Knaak in the 61st minute. At 17 years and 109 days she is the eighth youngest player to make her debut for the national team. She established herself as a starter for the national team.^[12]

Voss-Tecklenburg called her back to the German team for the 2019 World Cup. When she came on as a substitute in the first round match against China, she became the youngest German World Cup player at age 17 years, five months, and 20 days – a record that Birgit Prinz had previously held.

She scored her first international goal on 3 September 2019 in Lviv in the 8–0 victory in the second European Championship qualifier in group I over Ukraine with the goal to make it 4–0 in the 54th minute.^[13]

She played for Germany in the Euro 2022, including the final on 31 July. Oberdorf played in five of six games – she could not play in the other game because of the second yellow card. After the tournament, Oberdorf was recognised as the best young player and voted into the "Eleven of the Tournament" by the UEFA coaching staff.

On 16 July 2024, she sustained a knee injury during a 4–0 victory over Austria in the last match of the UEFA Euro 2025 qualifying, which forced her to miss the 2024 Summer Olympics.^[14]

Personal life

Oberdorf's brother Tim Oberdorf, who is five years older, is also a footballer.^[15] Her sister Julia Oberdorf, three years older, plays American football. She came out as a lesbian in 2023, and is in a relationship with her girlfriend Kimberly.^[16]

Career statistics

Club

As of match played 20 May 2024^[17]

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition

Club	Season	League			DFB pokal		Continental[a]		Total
		Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
SGS Essen	2018–19	Frauen-Bundesliga	16	9	2	2	–		18	11
	2019–20	Frauen-Bundesliga	20	3	4	0	–		24	3
	Total		36	12	6	2	–		42	14
VfL Wolfsburg	2019–20	Frauen-Bundesliga	–		–		3[b]	0	3	0
	2020–21	Frauen-Bundesliga	20	7	5	4	3	1	28	12
	2021–22	Frauen-Bundesliga	17	2	4	1	9	0	30	3
	2022–23	Frauen-Bundesliga	17	3	4	0	8	0	29	3
	2023–24	Frauen-Bundesliga	17	5	3	1	2	0	22	6
	Total		71	17	16	6	25	1	112	24
Bayern Munich	2024–25	Frauen-Bundesliga	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Career total			107	29	22	8	25	1	154	38

1. includes UEFA Women's Champions League
2. Joined during 2020–21 season but competed in the postponed 2019–20 UEFA Women's Champions League

International

As of 16 July 2024^[18]

Appearances and goals by national team and year

National team	Year	Apps	Goals
Germany	2019	12	2
	2020	4	0
	2021	7	0
	2022	12	1
	2023	9	0
	2024	6	1
Total		51	4

Scores and results list Germany's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Oberdorf goal.

List of international goals scored by Lena Oberdorf

No.	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1	3 September 2019	Arena Lviv, Lviv, Ukraine	Ukraine	4–0	8–0	UEFA Women's Euro 2021 qualifying
2	8 October 2019	Kleanthis Vikelidis Stadium, Thessaloniki, Greece	Greece	5–0	2–0	UEFA Women's Euro 2021 qualifying
3	9 April 2022	Bielefelder Alm, Bielefeld, Germany	Portugal	1–0	3–0	2023 FIFA Women's World Cup qualification
4	9 April 2024	Tivoli, Aachen, Germany	Iceland	3–1	3–1	UEFA Women's Euro 2025 qualifying

Honours

VfL Wolfsburg

• Frauen-Bundesliga: 2021–22
• DFB-Pokal Frauen: 2020–21, 2021–22, 2022–23, 2023–24

Germany U17

• UEFA U-17 Women's Championship: 2017

Germany

• UEFA Women's Championship runner-up: 2022^[19]
• UEFA Women's Nations League third place: 2023–24^[20]

Individual

• UEFA Women's Championship Young Player of the Tournament: 2022^[21]
• UEFA Women's Championship Team of the Tournament: 2022^[22]
• FIFA FIFPRO Women's World 11: 2022^[23]
• UEFA Women's Under-17 Championship Best Player: 2017^[24]
• Fritz Walter Medal: Gold 2020,^[25] Silver 2019,^[26] Bronze 2018^[27]
• IFFHS Women's World Team: 2022,^[28] 2023^[29]
• Germany women's national Player of the Year: 2020^[30]

References

1. "FIFA Women's World Cup France 2019: List of Players: Germany" (PDF). FIFA. 27 May 2019. p. 10. Archived from the original (PDF) on 8 July 2019. Retrieved 8 September 2019.
2. "Lena Sophie Oberdorf – Spielerinnenprofil". DFB Datencenter (in German). Retrieved 3 June 2019.
3. "Lena Oberdorf 2019/20 - scout report". Total Football Analysis Magazine. 11 April 2020. Retrieved 18 June 2022.
4. Ruszkai, Ameé. "Lena Oberdorf: The jewel at the heart of German football". www.goal.com. Retrieved 18 June 2022.
5. "Lena Oberdorf: Mit 16 bei der U 20-WM". DFB – Deutscher Fußball-Bund e.V. (in German). Retrieved 31 May 2023.
6. Oberdorf, Lena (15 July 2023). "Germany's Lena Oberdorf: 'Parents shouted: don't get run over by a girl'". The Guardian (Interview). Interviewed by Donald McRae.
7. "U17-Europameisterin wechselt zur SGS Essen – Der Frauenfussball-Bundesligist aus Essen". 6 October 2018. Archived from the original on 6 October 2018. Retrieved 31 May 2023.
8. "Wolfsburg verpflichtet Nationalspielerin und Top-Talent Oberdorf". kicker (in German). Retrieved 31 May 2023.
9. sportschau.de. "Frauenfußball: Lena Oberdorf verlängert Vertrag mit VfL Wolfsburg". sportschau.de (in German). Retrieved 31 May 2023.
10. "FC Bayern verpflichtet Lena Oberdorf" (in German). FC Bayern Munich. 15 February 2024.
11. "Voss-Tecklenburg holt 30 Spielerinnen ins Wintertrainingslager". DFB – Deutscher Fußball-Bund e.V. (in German). Retrieved 31 May 2023.
12. Kornat, Wiktoria (8 July 2020). "Lena Oberdorf – The Jewel in Germany's young generation's forge of Talent". Football Engine. Retrieved 18 June 2022.
13. "Ukraine 0–8 Germany". UEFA. 3 September 2019.
14. Schreier, Robert (17 July 2024). "Schlimme Knie-Verletzung: Olympia-Aus für DFB-Star Oberdorf!" (in German). Bild.
15. "Die Oberdorfs: Ein steiniger Weg für "Lehrer" Tim und große Erfolge für "Kiebitz" Lena". kicker (in German). 7 January 2022. Retrieved 10 July 2022.
16. "„Ich habe mich nicht geoutet": DFB-Star Lena Oberdorf macht Liebesbeziehung öffentlich". EXPRESS (in German). 24 July 2023. Retrieved 30 December 2024.
17. "L. Oberdorf, Summary - Soccerway".
18. "Lena Oberdorf". dfb.de. 18 September 2021.
19. Sanders, Emma (31 July 2022). "England beat Germany to win first major women's trophy". BBC. Retrieved 31 July 2022.
20. "Germany win Nations League play-off to reach Olympics". BBC Sport. 28 February 2024. Retrieved 29 February 2024.
21. "Lena Oberdorf named UEFA Women's EURO 2022 Young Player of the Tournament". UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. 31 July 2022. Retrieved 1 August 2022.
22. "UEFA Women's EURO 2022 Team of the Tournament announced". UEFA.com. 2 August 2022. Retrieved 2 August 2022.
23. "Renard, Bronze and Morgan secure FIFPRO Women's 11 places". FIFA. Fédération Internationale de Football Association. 27 February 2023. Retrieved 28 February 2023.
24. Gladwell, Ben (21 August 2017). "2017: Lena Oberdorf". UEFA.com.
25. "Wirtz, Katterbach und Oberdorf erhalten Fritz-Walter-Medaille in Gold". kicker (in German). 19 August 2020.
26. "FRITZ-WALTER-MEDAILLE IN GOLD AN KÜHN, BÜHL UND ADEYEMI" (in German). German Football Association. 6 September 2019. Retrieved 21 May 2020.
27. "FRITZ-WALTER-MEDAILLE IN GOLD AN HAVERTZ, KATTERBACH UND PAWOLLEK" (in German). German Football Association. 9 August 2018. Retrieved 12 December 2018.
28. "IFFHS WOMEN'S WORLD TEAM 2022". IFFHS. 12 January 2023. Retrieved 12 January 2023.
29. "IFFHS WOMEN'S WORLD TEAM 2023". IFFHS. 4 January 2024. Retrieved 4 January 2024.
30. "Oberdorf ist Fußball-Nationalspielerin des Jahres". SPORT1 (in German). 9 January 2021. Retrieved 16 December 2024.

External links

• Profile at the FC Bayern Munich website
• 2017: Lena Oberdorf, UEFA
• Interview mit Marina Hegering und Lena Oberdorf, DFB 7 April 2019
• Lena Sophie Oberdorf Getty
• Lena Oberdorf at Soccerway