Prinz spearheads German thrust

By Paul Saffer & Andreas Alf

When Birgit Prinz headed Germany ahead in the 21 April friendly against Canada, the 1. FFC Frankfurt striker added yet another honour to an already glittering career. After 134 games for her country, the 27-year-old had equalled Heidi Mohr's record of 83 goals for Germany.

Enough already
Prinz is eager to break Mohr's record at the 2005 UEFA European Women's Championship - although not for any vain reasons. "I wish I had already scored this 84th goal because then nobody would ask me about it anymore," she told uefa.com. Prinz is rightly regarded as a phenomenon in women's football. Having scored so many goals since making her international debut as a 16-year-old in July 1994, breaking Mia Hamm's world record of 158 goals for her country is still a possibility.

Star billing
Prinz, however, has learned to keep such matters far from her mind as she concentrates on her own game rather than her star billing. "I used to have problems with the public always expecting extraordinary things and performances from me," she said. "I managed to reduce everything to a simple point of view. I know that I am just a football player and that I cannot play at my highest level in every match. I do not put myself under so much pressure anymore."

Consistent goalscorer
The pressure that Prinz has placed on opposition defenders has remained a constant. Having joined local club FSV Frankfurt as 16, she quickly made the step up to the senior national team and at 17 scored Germany's second goal as they beat Sweden 3-2 to win the 1995 UEFA Women's Championship.

Rival move
Having won a league and cup double with FSV in the same summer, Prinz would go on to win a further two German Cups and another league title - as well as the 1997 WOMEN'S EURO in Norway - before joining her club's fierce local rivals FFC. The outcome was predictable. Frankfurt immediately won the German title and would do so again in 2000, 2001 and 2002. Prinz also continued to thrive at international level and claimed a third successive European Championship in 2001.

American sojourn
Shortly after scoring the second goal in FFC Frankfurt's 2-0 win against Umeå IK in the final of the inaugural UEFA Women's Cup, Prinz left Germany to spend the rest of 2002 at Carolina Courage, a professional team in the United States. She scored in a play-off decider against Washington Freedom as her side won the WUSA title before returning to Frankfurt.

World honours
It was the start of an exceptional period as her club won the German title again in 2003 before Prinz led Germany to triumph at the 2003 FIFA Women's World Cup. Her displays saw her win the Golden Boot and the Golden Shoe as the tournament's top goalscorer and best player.

Exceptional run
Named World Player of the Year that December, she has hit an incredible run of goalscoring form with Germany, scoring 22 in 23 games since the World Cup finals to see her retain her World Player of the Year title in 2004. She also helped FFC Frankfurt claim back their German title this season.

'Feeling better'
As the finals of UEFA WOMEN'S EURO 2005™ loom, she is perhaps in the best form of her career - an ominous prospect for Germany's opponents at the finals in England. "I have had times when I was playing quite weakly," said Prinz. "Now, I am feeling better." Mohr's record, it seems, is as good as gone.