Sarai Linder

Sarai Linder

Linder in 2023
Personal information
Date of birth	(1999-10-26) 26 October 1999 (age 25)
Place of birth	Sinsheim, Germany
Height	1.70 m (5 ft 7 in)
Position(s)	Defender, midfielder
Team information
Current team	VfL Wolfsburg
Youth career
	SV Hilsbach
2010–2016	TSG Hoffenheim
College career
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
2020–2021	UCF Knights	7	(0)
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
2015–2017	TSG Hoffenheim II	31	(7)
2016–2020	TSG Hoffenheim	47	(2)
2021–2024	TSG Hoffenheim	64	(2)
2024–	VfL Wolfsburg	2	(1)
International career^‡
2013–2014	Germany U15	3	(0)
2014–2015	Germany U16	10	(0)
2015–2016	Germany U17	14	(1)
2016–2018	Germany U19	9	(0)
2017–2019	Germany U20	7	(0)
2023–	Germany	22	(0)
Medal record Olympic Games 2024 Paris Team UEFA Women's Nations League 2024 France–Netherlands–Spain
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 16:25, 14 September 2024 (UTC) ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 17:58, 4 December 2024 (UTC)

Sarai Linder (born 26 October 1999) is a German footballer who plays as a defender for TSG Hoffenheim and for the Germany national team.^[1][2][3]

Club career

Born in Sinsheim, Linder started playing football in the Sinsheimer district club SV Hilsbach and switched to the youth department of TSG 1899 Hoffenheim in 2010, to which she belonged until 2016 and in her last season in the southern season of the B-Junior Bundesliga played league games.^[4]

For the 2015–16 season, she was promoted to the second team, for which she scored five goals in 15 league games in the 2. Frauen-Bundesliga South. She crowned her senior debut on 30 August 2015 (1st matchday) in a 4–1 win in the home game against 1. FFC Frankfurt II with her first goal, scoring the final score in the 81st minute. The end of the season was celebrated in first place. She made her Bundesliga debut unexpectedly on 30 October 2016 (matchday 6) in a 1–0 away win against Bayer 04 Leverkusen with a substitution in the 88th minute for Anne Fühner. From 2017 to 2020, belonging to the first team, she played in a further 46 league games, in which she scored two goals.^[5]

She then spent a year at the University of Central Florida and was welcomed as one of five new additions to the Knights, the varsity athletic team. In the 2020 season, she played seven games from 14 February to 11 April.^[6][7]

Returning to Germany, she played again for TSG 1899 Hoffenheim in the Bundesliga from the 2021–22 season.^[8]

In the summer 2024 transfer window it has been announced that Linder signed a three year contract with VfL Wolfsburg, a Bundesliga rival of her long-place station, TSG Hoffenheim.^[9]

International career

Within five years, Linder went through the youth national teams from the age group U15 to U19 before she made her debut for the U20 national team on 18 October 2017 in a 2–0 defeat friendly against Serbia.^[10][11]

With the U17 national team, she took part in the European Championship, which was held in Belarus from 4 to 16 May 2016, played the first and third games, the semi-finals, which Germany won 4–3 against England, and the 3–2 finals won on penalties against Spain.^[12]

At the U17 World Cup that same year, she played the first two matches and the quarter-finals, which they lost 2–1 to Spain.

In 2022 Linder was called up to the senior Germany national team.^[13]

Career statistics

As of 2 December 2024^[14]

Appearances and goals by national team and year

Germany
Year	Apps	Goals
2023	8	0
2024	14	0
Total	22	0

Honours

TSG Hoffenheim

• 2. Frauen-Bundesliga Süd: 2016

Germany U17

• UEFA Women's Under-17 Championship 2016

Germany

• Summer Olympics bronze medal: 2024^[15]
• UEFA Women's Nations League third place: 2023–24^[16]

Individual

• Silbernes Lorbeerblatt: 2024^[17]

References

1. "Sarai Linder verlängert vorzeitig bis 2025". www.tsg-hoffenheim.de (in German). Retrieved 3 February 2023.
2. "Stadtplan Sinsheim". www.unser-stadtplan.de. Retrieved 3 February 2023.
3. "Festival International Espoirs Football Tournoi Maurice Revello Toulon". www.tournoimauricerevello.com. Retrieved 8 April 2023.
4. Hoffenheim, TSG 1899. "Sarai Linder". www.tsg-hoffenheim.de. Retrieved 3 February 2023.
5. "TSG Hoffenheim: Sarai Lindners Begeisterung für den Fußball ist noch größer geworden". Rhein-Neckar-Zeitung (in German). Retrieved 3 February 2023.
6. "Women's Soccer Adds Five". UCF Athletics. Retrieved 9 January 2023.
7. "Sarai Linder – 2020 – Women's Soccer". UCF Athletics. Retrieved 9 January 2023.
8. "Sarai Linder". soccerdonna.de. Retrieved 9 January 2023.
9. "Sarai Linder to join VfL Women". VfL Wolfsburg. 11 June 2024. Archived from the original on 30 July 2024. Retrieved 30 July 2024.
10. 马艺萌. "Germany beats China 2–0 during Group D match at 2018 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup – Xinhua | English.news.cn". www.xinhuanet.com. Retrieved 3 February 2023.
11. "U20s top World Cup group after third win". DFB – Deutscher Fußball-Bund e.V. Retrieved 3 February 2023.
12. Houtakkers, Geert (13 June 2016). "Der SV-Hilsbach gratuliert Sarai Linder zum Gewinn der UEFA U17-EM der Frauen". SV 1927 Hilsbach e.V. (in German). Retrieved 3 February 2023.
13. "Arnold Clark Cup: How to watch England v Germany, UK TV Coverage, exclusive pundit prediction, dates and time".
14. "Sarai Linder". dfb.de. 24 June 2023.
15. "Spain 0-1 Germany: Germany win women's football bronze at Paris 2024". BBC Sport. Retrieved 12 August 2024.
16. "Germany win Nations League play-off to reach Olympics". BBC Sport. 28 February 2024. Retrieved 29 February 2024.
17. "Silbernes Lorbeerblatt für Bronze-Gewinnerinnen". dfb.de (in German). DFB. 4 November 2024. Retrieved 2 December 2024.

External links

• Sarai Linder at WorldFootball.net
• Sarai Linder at the German Football Association
• Sarai Linder at Olympics.com