Petra Landers

Petra Landers
Landers in 2011
Personal information
Date of birth (1962-01-16) 16 January 1962 (age 62)
Position(s) Defender
International career
Years Team Apps (Gls)
Germany

Petra Landers (born 16 January 1962) is a German women's international footballer who played as a defender.

Background

Football career

Petra Landers started playing in a female team when she was 13. She was playing for SSG 09 Bergisch Gladbach, the most awarded female club of Germany.[1]

In 1981, she played for the then unofficial West Germany national team (SV Bergisch Gladbach 09 was chosen for that purpose) for the unofficial world championship in Taiwan, at a time when no official team nor competition existed.[1] She was a member of the West Germany then Germany women's national football team from 1982 to 1991. She was part of the team at the 1989 European Competition for Women's Football, which won the title for the first time.[2] Each member of the women's team received a tea-set as a prize from the Deutscher Fußball-Bund.[3]

She was nominated among three football coaches to become German football ambassador 2019, but Jürgen Klopp was chosen.[4]

Social activities

Petra Landers is a women's football activist and works against discrimination in this sport. In this regard, she played in 2017 "in a game near the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, which holds the record for the highest match above sea level".[5] This game was organised by the Equal Playing Field, a grassroots, non-profit initiative to challenge gender inequality in sport. It achieved the Guinness World Record for the highest ever football match. [6]

She is a volunteer coach and mentor for girls in Lebanon, from 2012 to 2014, then in Zambia.[1][7]

Legacy

In 2022, Petra featured in the exhibition Goal Power! Women's Football 1894-2022 at Brighton Museum. Pieces from her tea-set, photographs and her national shirts from 1984 and 1989 were on display. Petra was interviewed by a group of young people, where she spoke about her life in football and plans to set up a mobile soccer academy in Ghana. [8]

References

  1. ^ a b c "Petra Landers: for the love of the game". Football makes history. Retrieved 1 August 2021.
  2. ^ "1989 UEFA Women's Championship". .rsssf.com. Retrieved 24 October 2016.
  3. ^ East, Jody (27 July 2022). "Six pioneers of Women's football from Brighton Museum's Goal Power!". Museum Crush. Retrieved 21 September 2022.
  4. ^ "Jürgen Klopp wins German Football Ambassador award 2019". Deutsche Welle. Retrieved 1 August 2021.
  5. ^ "German Football Ambassador 2019: Klopp, Kroos, Podolski on the list". Deutsche Welle. Retrieved 1 August 2021.
  6. ^ "Highest altitude game of football (soccer) - overall". Guinness World Records. 24 June 2017. Retrieved 21 September 2022.
  7. ^ "Petra Landers, 2019 Bauleni United Sports Academy". Deutscher Fussball Botschafter. Retrieved 1 August 2021.
  8. ^ "Petra Landers chats with Caitlin and Lili – Brighton Museum guide". Retrieved 21 September 2022.