Inka Grings

Inka Grings (born 31 October 1978) is a retired German international footballer. She played sixteen years as a striker for FCR 2001 Duisburg. Afterwards she played for FC Zürich Frauen. She also played for the German national team. Grings is the second all-time leading goalscorer in Germany's top division, the Fußball-Bundesliga (women), with 195 goals and claimed the league's top-scorer award for a record six seasons.[3][4] Playing for Germany, she has also been the top-scorer at two UEFA European Championships. Grings was named Women's Footballer of the Year (Germany) in 1999, 2009 and 2010.

Inka Grings
Grings in 2018
Personal information
Full name Inka Grings
Date of birth (1978-10-31) 31 October 1978
Place of birth Düsseldorf, West Germany
Height 1.69 m (5 ft 6 12 in)
Position(s) Striker
Youth career
1984–1990 TSV Eller 04
1990–1995 Garather SV
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1995–2011 FCR 2001 Duisburg 271 (353)
2011–2013 FC Zürich Frauen 31 (55)
2013 Chicago Red Stars 16 (3)
2013–2014 FC Köln 19 (23)
National team
1996–2012 Germany 96 (64)
Teams managed
2014–2017 MSV Duisburg
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 20 June 2011[1]
‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 26 October 2011[2]

She last managed MSV Duisburg.

Early life

As a child, Grings wanted to be a tennis player. However, after no tennis club had accepted her, she instead started playing football at TSV Eller 04 in 1984. She later played for Garather SV.

Playing career

Duisburg, 1995–2011

Grings signed with FCR 2001 Duisburg in 1995. She quickly became an important player for the club and in the following years one of the most successful goalscorers in Germany. In 1998, Grings won the German Cup, her first major title. She scored three goals in the final against FSV Frankfurt. The following year in the 1998–99 season she became the Bundesliga's top-scorer for the first time. Grings was named Women's Footballer of the Year (Germany) in 1999 by the country's sports journalists.[5]

Over the next decade, Grings became the Bundesliga all-time leading goalscorer, hitting the mark of 350 goals in January 2011.[6] She won the Bundesliga title with Duisburg in the 1999–00 season; that year she also set the all-time record for goals in a Bundesliga season by scoring 38 goals. She won the German Cup on two more occasions in 2009 and 2010, and lifted the UEFA Women's Cup in the 2008–09 season. Grings was the Bundesliga top-scorer for three years in a row from 2008 to 2010 and was again voted Women's Footballer of the Year (Germany) in 2009 and 2010.[5]

FC Zürich, 2011–13

She ended her contract at Duisburg one year early in an agreement with the club and announced transferring to an international club.[7] On 1 September 2011 she joined Swiss side FC Zürich Frauen.[8] In the first season she won the championship as well as the cup.

Chicago Red Stars, 2013

Grings during a match against Seattle Reign FC on 25 July 2013 in Tukwila, Washington.

In May 2013, Grings signed with the Chicago Red Stars for the inaugural season of the National Women's Soccer League in the United States alongside Sonja Fuss.[9] On 4 August 2013, she scored a brace against Seattle Reign FC helping the Red Stars win 3–1.[10] Grings was on the starting lineup in 14 of the 16 games in which she played for the Red Stars and scored three goals on the season.[11] The Red Stars finished the 2013 season sixth in the standings with an 8–6–8 record.[12]

She was waived by the Red Stars in September 2013.[13]

International

Grings made her debut for the German national team in May 1996 against Finland. She appeared for Germany at the 1999 FIFA Women's World Cup, scoring three goals. However, Germany was eliminated in the quarter-final. At the 2000 Summer Olympics, she won the bronze medal with the German team, scoring once against Australia in the group stage. Grings' career, particularly at international level, has repeatedly been affected by injuries. She missed the 2001 European Championship on home soil and the 2003 FIFA Women's World Cup due to injury. When she tore the anterior cruciate ligament in her knee shortly before the 2004 Summer Olympics, Grings initially announce to end her career. However, she changed her mind during physical therapy.

With four goals, Grings was the top-scorer at the 2005 European Championship, when Germany claimed its sixth European title. At the 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup and the 2008 Summer Olympics, Grings was not part of the German squad, because of disagreements with head coach Silvia Neid. She returned for Germany at the 2009 European Championship, claiming her second European title. With five goals Grings again was the tournament's top-scorer. She has been called up for the 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup.[2]

Grings has scored 64 international goals and is ranked third behind Birgit Prinz (128) and Heidi Mohr (83) for Germany's all-time top goalscorers. During 93 appearances, she has averaged 0.69 goals per games, which makes her the team's second most prolific scorer.[14]

Matches and goals scored at World Cup and Olympic tournaments

Inka Grings competed in two FIFA Women's World Cup: USA 1999, and Germany 2011; one Olympics: Sydney 2000; played in 13 matches and scored 6 goals.[15] Along with her Germany team, Grings is a bronze medalist from Sydney 2000.

Key (expand for notes on “world cup and olympic goals”)
Location Geographic location of the venue where the competition occurred
Lineup Start – played entire match
on minute (off player) – substituted on at the minute indicated, and player was substituted off at the same time

off minute (on player) – substituted off at the minute indicated, and player was substituted on at the same time
(c) – captain

Min The minute in the match the goal was scored. For list that include caps, blank indicates played in the match but did not score a goal.
Assist/pass The ball was passed by the player, which assisted in scoring the goal. This column depends on the availability and source of this information.
penalty or pk Goal scored on penalty-kick which was awarded due to foul by opponent. (Goals scored in penalty-shoot-out, at the end of a tied match after extra-time, are not included.)
Score The match score after the goal was scored.
Result The final score.

W – match was won
L – match was lost to opponent
D – match was drawn
(W) – penalty-shoot-out was won after a drawn match
(L) – penalty-shoot-out was lost after a drawn match

aet The score at the end of extra-time; the match was tied at the end of 90' regulation
pso Penalty-shoot-out score shown in parenthesis; the match was tied at the end of extra-time
Orange background color – Olympic women's football tournament
Blue background color – FIFA women's world cup final tournament
Goal Match Date Location Opponent Lineup Min Score Result Competition
USA 1999 FIFA Women's World Cup
1
1999-06-20[m 1] Los Angeles  Italy Start

1–1 D

Group match
1 2 1999-06-24[m 2] Portland  Mexico Start 10 1–0

6–0 W

Group match
2
57 4–0
3
90+2 6–0
3
1999-06-27[m 3] Washington  Brazil 89.

off 89' (on Meyer)

3–3 D

Group match
4
1999-07-01[m 4] Washington  United States {{{4}}}.

off 92' (on Hoffmann)

2–3 L

Quarter-final
Sydney 2000 Olympic Women's Football Tournament
4
5
2000-09-13[m 5] Canberra  Australia Start 35 1–0

3–0 W

Group match
6
2000-09-16[m 6] Canberra  Brazil Start

2–1 W

Group match
7
2000-09-19[m 7] Melbourne  Sweden {{{4}}}.

off 45' (on Mueller)

1–0 W

Group match
8
2000-09-24[m 8] Sydney  Norway Start

0–1 L

Semifinal
9
2000-09-28[m 9] Sydney  Brazil {{{4}}}.

off +94' (on Goette)

2–0 W

Bronze medal match
Germany 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup
10
2011-06-26[m 10] Berlin  Canada {{{4}}}.

on 65' (off Mbabi)

2–1 W

Group match
11
2011-06-30[m 11] Frankfurt  Nigeria {{{4}}}.

on 53' (off Prinz)

1–0 W

Group match
5
12 2011-07-05[m 12] Moenchengladbach  France Start 32 2–0

4–2 W

Group match
6
68 pk 3–1
13
2011-07-09[m 13] Wolfsburg  Japan {{{4}}}.

off 102' (on Popp)

0–1 aet L

Quarter-final

Personal life

Grings is openly bisexual, she had a well publicized relationship with women's team colleague Linda Bresonik, and also dated male Holger Fach, former head coach of VfL Wolfsburg.[16][17][18][19]

Honours

Club

FCR 2001 Duisburg
FC Zürich Frauen

International

Individual

See also

References

  1. "Inka Grings" (in German). Framba.de. Archived from the original on 23 April 2011. Retrieved 18 June 2011.
  2. "Nationalspielerin Inka Grings" (in German). DFB.de. Retrieved 18 June 2011.
  3. "Women's Bundesliga all time golascores" (in German). Deutscher Fußball-Bund. Retrieved 25 June 2015.
  4. "Women's Bundesliga top golascores per season" (in German). Deutscher Fußball-Bund. Retrieved 25 June 2015.
  5. "Grings erneut Fußballerin des Jahres" (in German). DFB.de. 8 August 2010. Archived from the original on 21 August 2010. Retrieved 18 June 2011.
  6. "Duisburgs Inka Grings markiert ihren 350. Bundesliga-Treffer" (in German). Märkische Allgemeine. 2 February 2011. Retrieved 7 June 2011.
  7. "Grings leaves Duisburg" (in German). womensoccer.de. 21 August 2011. Retrieved 21 August 2011.
  8. "Grings transfers to Zürich". womensoccer.de. 29 August 2011. Retrieved 29 August 2011.
  9. "Fuss and Grings travel again – to Chicago" (in German). kicker.de. 16 March 2013. Retrieved 16 March 2013.
  10. "CHICAGO RED STARS VS. SEATTLE REIGN 3 – 1". Soccer Way. Retrieved 31 October 2013.
  11. "Inka Grings". Soccer Way. Retrieved 31 October 2013.
  12. "2013 NWSL Season". Soccer Way. Retrieved 31 October 2013.
  13. "NWSL Waiver Draft". National Women's Soccer League. 9 September 2013. Archived from the original on 20 October 2015. Retrieved 19 November 2015.
  14. Deutscher Fußball-Bund. Top scorers. DFB.de. Accessed 1 March 2010.
  15. "FIFA Player Statistics: Inka Grings". FIFA.
  16. Who has scored the most hat-tricks in a single season? Plus: famous football twins (2); the bisexual German international love triangle; and where does 'Villa' come from?
  17. Best. Lesbian. Week. Ever. (August 8, 2008)
  18. The wonderful (and out) players of the Women’s World Cup
  19. Series: Foul Play: Seven Deadly Sins of Football
  20. "Duisburg's Grings claims scorers' honour". UEFA. 26 May 2011. Retrieved 19 June 2011.
Match reports
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