Lena Oberdorf's story, by those who know her best
Germany's Oberdorf has gone from playing with boys to one of the best in the world in just five years. Those who know her better than most tell her story...
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Germany star Lena Oberdorf was always destined for a life in sport. Her mum was an athlete, her dad a professional footballer. Older brother Tim, five years her elder, also became a professional footballer while sister Julia, three years her elder, plays American football in Germany.
“The first thing that comes to my mind is playing in our backyard,” recalls Tim, who plays for Fortuna Düsseldorf in the 2. Bundesliga, Germany’s second division, but he has played in the top tier. “I would be playing with my dad and our other sister. We would go every day, play all day apart from when we had to go our club. When she was old enough to take part, Lena was part of it.”
Julia did play football for a few years before going into American football, while their dad’s whole playing career was in football, so it was only natural both Tim and Lena ended up going down the same route.
“He was always around when we had to go to football matches. He stopped playing when we were young and just played with us in the garden. Our mother did athletics, so it was just sport all the time for us!
“They never forced us to play, but when you grow up in an environment where it’s sport all around you, you can’t do anything else! It was easy for me to say I played because of my dad, but when you’re a little boy everyone is doing it anyway and obviously for my sister it became the clear thing for her to follow that too.”
Oberdorf is still just 21 but her rise has been remarkable. Five years ago, she was still playing in a boys’ team close to her home town of Gevelsberg. Now, she plays for one of Europe’s elite sides, Wolfsburg.
“After two sessions and the first friendly Lena made all my worries go away because she was unique…”
She has played in a Champions League final, a European Championship final and was named best young player in both competitions.
She is, scarily, not even close to her peak. Yet her ability, tenacity and reading of the game has already set her apart as one of the best defensive midfielders anywhere in the world, which she has shown consistently not just in domestic competitions, but in the best competitions and against the best players for both her club and the German national team.
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Oberdorf started playing for TuS Ennepetal, the same club as her brother, before again following him to TSG Sprockhövel, where she would play with the boys until Bundesliga side SGS Essen spotted her and tied her down to a pre-contract to start in the summer of 2018 when Oberdorf was 16.
“For Lena and for me it was almost the same path up to the point she had to go into a women’s team,” says Tim. “We started at the same club. I was 12, then when she was 12 she came to the club just as I was moving on. Then she had to go to Essen and a couple of years after that is when I moved to Düsseldorf.”
Oberdorf joined the boys team when she was at under 13 level, and her coach was Oliver Triestram, who now works in the youth teams at Borussia Dortmund.
Triestram was the coach of the teams under 17 side, but despite joining at under 13 level, it didn’t take long for Lena to pop up on his radar.
“In Germany, the under 17 team is combined with the under 16s, and Lena joined us from the under 15s,” recalls Triestram. “Of course, I’d watched a few games of hers and she was a great talent. I thought it would be good for her if she could compete with the older boys.
“I was a bit worried, because they were older, but we started training and in pre-season after two sessions and the first friendly Lena made all my worries go away because she was unique. Girls have no disadvantage in the technical side, but physically sometimes they do, but Lena from the first session was so tough and she straight away had the respect from our squad within seconds, and from our opponents as well.”
Triestram and the club had to apply for a special permit for Oberdorf to play in the boys’ league, which would allow her to play in the Landesliga, the third division at that level, where she would thrive.
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