She was never really gone.

Birgit Prinz ended her active career ten years ago.

As a striker, she was beyond doubt for a long time, even in international comparison.

A specialist in the penalty area, the Hessian was part of the national team that won the European Championship five times and triumphed twice at the World Cup. She was voted “world footballer” and shortly after her retirement from the front row was named honorary captain by the German Football Association (DFB).

Marc Heinrich

sports editor.

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She had scarcely taken off her TSG Hoffenheim jersey, where she spent another season after a decade at 1. FFC Frankfurt, with whom she had previously won nine championships, when she changed positions, but remained connected to top-class sport : She is currently part of the coaching staff of national coach Martina Voss-Tecklenburg at the European Championships in England.

Praise from an active

Parallel to her life as a footballer, she completed her studies at the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University in Frankfurt, which she graduated in 2010 with a degree in psychology.

She is currently employed full-time at TSG, but due to old ties and looking for new challenges, she accepted Voss-Tecklenburg's offer to support her in the training and further education of the national players.

Prinz, who used to not particularly like commenting on their successes in the spotlight, also stays in the background almost all of the time when it comes to association activities.

At best, in the brief moments when the DFB allows cameras to film the practice sessions for a quarter of an hour, she can be seen on the pitch, how she is involved in the practical tests for the attackers with dedication and with her still existing shooting strength and accuracy arouses the ambition of the goalkeepers.

"Birgit is still really, really good," said Sydney Lohmann from Bayern Munich, "she just knows how to find the gap."

First and foremost, the 44-year-old was hired to help the protagonists get down to work with a good feeling.

Prinz should help to create the mental conditions so that everyone in the DFB entourage can cope with the high expectations – and not, as has happened repeatedly in the recent past, ignore previously studied solutions in stressful situations.

The Germans, who started with a furious 4-0 win against Denmark on Friday, want to improve their winning image on the island.

"Since all teams at the European Championship are now very well trained in terms of football and tactics, and are athletic, the components on the psychological level are becoming increasingly important," said Prinz, "because the little things make the difference."

Asked the national coach

Voss-Tecklenburg and she, who used to stand side by side as a harmonious duo, share a relationship of trust.

"I can have conversations with her that I can't have with anyone else," said the national coach of the FAZ

Prinz, who was a captain herself and had 214 caps and scored 128 goals, has "great competence".

Her opinion is asked in every meeting, she is "always on hand with advice and action" and her commitment means "absolute added value for the whole group and for the DFB." Prinz himself can only credit the attention that her actions evoke conditionally gain something.

She declined interview requests, while making it clear in a conversation with the association's media: "It's just no longer about me, it's clearly about our players." As a sports psychologist, she is just a small "building block in this puzzle".

It should be ready by the end of the month at Wembley Stadium.