Célia Šašić, former German National Team striker and 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup Golden Boot winner. Photo by Asif Burhan
As The Best FIFA Football Awards 2016 gets underway in Zurich, Switzerland, international women’s soccer reporter Asif Burhan caught up with retired German striker Célia Šašić.
Célia, you were top scorer in the World Cup only 18 months ago, but you decided to retire from the game. Any regrets?
No regrets, but I love this game, it’s the best game in the world, I think. So I will start to play again. But, for me the priority is my daughter, my family. So maybe I will just play two times a week at a lower level, or maybe three times in a week. . . I don’t know. It depends. For me, the priority is to have enough time with my daughter and my family. So I don’t have to move around alone in the whole world and come back once a week and say “hello” I’m your mama and go back. When it fits with playing somewhere then ok, when it doesn’t fit, it is fine too.
The World Cup in Canada caught a lot of people’s attention. Do you think you’ve seen a change in the women’s game? And what still needs to change?
I think when you see what attention the World Cup gives to women’s football it’s great but it also has to improve in the leagues, the national league, that there are spectators. More people coming to watch more people to know the teams, the players, everything. In Germany we know really well the national players but all the other players playing in the league, then it will be different. That, I think, is a point that should improve. For the World Cup it’s getting better and better. It started, I think, in 2011 in Germany which was amazing, how many people were watching and interested in the games. Yeah, in Canada we saw that it was possible to repeat and now I hope it will get better and better.
You played with one of the nominees for “The Best” Women’s Player, Melanie Behringer, what are her qualities as a person?
Mel is, someone I have known since I was 15. I played with her at the youth level and all through the different groups. A really great person. She was someone who was there, then nearly left the game, but has managed to come back at such a high level. This is because she is always someone who wants to improve and support the team and be a good team player. That is what she is.
Silvia Neid is the first coach in the men’s or women’s game to win the World Cup, European Championship and Olympics, can you tell me why she’s such a great coach?
For her it’s the same, I have known her since I was 15, and she was my coach since I was 15. There is no coach who know me better than her. I think when you see what she’s won, what championships she’s won, it’s unbelievable. I think she is a coach who’s really straight and who knows what she wants. She has a clear goal and she prepares the team really well for this goal and you know everything that you need to know to get to this goal. She’s good for the whole team and also for the players themselves to improve maybe a quality that you don’t have or what you do well but should improve. For me it was good having her as coach.
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