13 December 2022, Bavaria, Munich: National soccer player Giulia Gwinn during an interview. Photo: … [+] Lennart Preiss/dpa (Photo by Lennart Preiss/picture alliance via Getty Images)
dpa/picture alliance via Getty ImagesIn 2019, Germany’s Giulia Gwinn was the breakout star of the Women’s World Cup, voted the FIFA Best Young Player. Yet, four years later, she is sadly missing the tournament after narrowly failing to recover in time from a second anterior cruciate ligament injury.
After sitting out almost the entirety of the past season for her club, German champions, FC Bayern, Gwinn had returned to training ahead of the World Cup but was ultimately not selected by national team head coach Martina Voss-Tecklenburg, a decision that the 24-year-old has, with a heavy heart, learned to accept.
„In the first moment, a world collapses, without question,“ she tells me. „But you have to look at the whole thing realistically with a little distance. It was clear from the beginning that I might be able to make it, but that I would hardly be able to gain any training or playing experience before the start of the World Cup, even if my rehabilitation progressed optimally. That’s something you have to admit to yourself.“
„In the end, there wasn’t quite enough time and so the basis for a World Cup selection was not achieved. There were a lot of discussions throughout the entire rehab phase. Between the coach and me, but also between the club and the German Football Association (DFB). This exchange was characterised by a lot of respect. Of course, the final squad nomination is up to the national coach, but she always shared her thoughts with me and also got me on board with her decision a few days before the official announcement.“
Gwinn has therefore become the first winner of the FIFA Women’s Young Player Award to miss the subsequent tournament. Four years ago, aged 20, she burst onto the World Cup stage, scoring her team’s only goal in their first match against China and starting every game for Germany in France.
RENNES, FRANCE – JUNE 08: #15 Giulia Gwinn of Germany celebraters her scoring during the 2019 FIFA … [+] Women’s World Cup France group B match between Germany and China PR at Roazhon Park on June 08, 2019 in Rennes, France. (Photo by Zhizhao Wu/Getty Images)
Getty Images At the end of the tournament, the FIFA Technical Study Group announced that it had nominated her as the winner of its Young Player Award, succeeding Australian Caitlin Foord and Canadian Kadiesha Buchanan to become the first European winner of the trophy.
Gwinn told me, „I was already at home and watched the final on TV. I was lying on the sofa when I heard that I had been named the best young player of the tournament. No-one had told me anything about it before. That was quite strange. The trophy was then sent to the DFB. I was officially presented with it at one of the next international matches. The trophy is super-heavy, the heaviest one I have! It has its place on my dresser.“
Prior to the tournament, Gwinn had already signed a three-year contract with FC Bayern and her career seemed destined to go from strength to strength. Yet, a year later while on international duty with Germany, playing against the Republic of Ireland in Essen, Gwinn ruptured the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in her right knee, an injury which put her out of the game for a year.
ESSEN, GERMANY – SEPTEMBER 19: (BILD ZEITUNG OUT) Giulia Gwinn of Germany is injured during the UEFA … [+] Women’s EURO 2022 Qualifier between Germany Women’s and Ireland Women’s at Stadion Essen on September 19, 2020 in Essen, Germany. (Photo by Max Maiwald/DeFodi Images via Getty Images)
Getty ImagesHaving returned to action for club and country, Gwinn once more starred for her nation at a major tournament starting all six games as Germany reached the UEFA Women’s Euro final, losing to England. Such were her performances at right back she was voted into the team of the tournament ahead of England’s Lucy Bronze and Spain’s Ona Batlle.
Yet Gwinn’s upward trajectory was to be halted again as on October 5, training with the national team, she remarkably ruptured the anterior cruciate ligament in her other knee, an injury from which she is still yet to return from.
Looking back, nine months on, Gwinn did not feel undergoing another operation and extensive rehabilitation was any easier having been through it all before. „At first you feel the same shock and somehow also a kind of panic when you are lying on the ground with a serious injury,“ she told me. „That doesn’t change the second time around. But through experience, a lot of what happens then can simply be better understood.“
„I knew the whole process, my points of contact. For example, I knew directly which surgeon and which rehabilitation trainer I wanted to go to because I had already had good experiences with them on the other knee. The first time, there was a lot more uncertainty.“
Gwinn is one of a number of high-profile players missing the Women’s World Cup with an ACL injury, but is inspired by those who have returned to the top of the game, such as another international right back, Australian Ellie Carpenter. She is circumspect about how the injuries have allowed her to develop as a player and a person.
„Of course, such a serious injury changes you because – as stupid as it may sound – it makes you grow. You have time to work much more in the physical and mental area. You can focus on issues that you don’t have time for in your everyday football life.“
During her rehabilitation, Gwinn continued to travel with FC Bayern as they regained the German title from VfL Wolfsburg under Norwegian coach Alexander Straus. Having also signed England midfielder Georgia Stanway, many team meetings were held in English, something that has at least allowed Gwinn to improve her language skills.
MUNICH, GERMANY – MAY 28: (EDITORS NOTE: Image has been digitally enhanced.) Lea Schueller of FC … [+] Bayern Muenchen, Giulia Gwinn of FC Bayern Muenchen, Maria Luisa Grohs of FC Bayern Muenchen and Jovana Damnjanovic of FC Bayern Muenchen celebrates the bundesliga title after the FLYERALARM Frauen-Bundesliga match between FC Bayern München and 1. FFC Turbine Potsdam at FCB Campus on May 28, 2023 in Munich, Germany. (Photo by T. Kieslich/FC Bayern via Getty Images)
FC Bayern via Getty Images“Our coach speaks really good German now, but because we have a lot of international players at Bayern Munich, we still communicate a lot in English. My English has definitely improved as a result. Georgia has been with us for a year, but she is still at the beginning of her German!“
Ahead of the World Cup, the club pulled off one of the biggest coups of the transfer window, signing Magda Eriksson and Pernille Harder from English champions Chelsea. Gwinn is relishing the prospect of lining up alongside them. „These are two absolute top transfers on which the club can only be congratulated. It shows how high our standards have become here at FC Bayern Munich. These transfers are an exclamation mark internationally. It is definitely good to have both of them in the team. They bring a lot of experience with them. I’m already looking forward to being on the pitch with them.“
Not selected for the World Cup, Gwinn was approached by German broadcasters, ZDF, to be an analyst for the tournament. In addition, she was regularly in contact with her international team-mates in Australia via What’s App before their group-stage elimination yesterday. „It feels good because I have the feeling that I am somehow a part of this World Cup, even if I can’t participate as an active player. When I received the request from ZDF, I was immediately hooked. However, my professional focus is clearly directed towards professional football in the coming years.“
That focus is now lasered in on September 15 and the start of the new Frauen Bundesliga season when the fixture calendar sends FC Bayern to play away at Gwinn’s old club SC Freiburg. Gwinn is confident she will meet her date with destiny. „I am already back in team training. All the lights are green, so I am very confident that I will be on the pitch for the start of the Bundesliga.“