Women's EURO winning captains: Who has won the most?
Saturday, July 30, 2022
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Who has captained teams to the most Women's EUROs? Who were the youngest and oldest winning captains? Which clubs and positions have provided the most winning captains?
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UEFA.com shines a light on the winning captains at the 13 Women's EURO final tournaments. Can you name the only player to captain her side to glory three times?
Women's EURO winning captains
1984: Anette Börjesson (Sweden)
1987: Heidi Støre (Norway)
1989: Silvia Neid (Germany)
1991: Silvia Neid (Germany)
1993: Heidi Støre (Norway)
1995: Silvia Neid (Germany)
1997: Martina Voss (Germany)
2001: Doris Fitschen (Germany)
2005: Birgit Prinz (Germany)
2009: Birgit Prinz (Germany)
2013: Nadine Angerer (Germany)
2017: Mandy van den Berg (Netherlands)
2022: Leah Williamson (England)
Youngest Women's EURO-winning captain
23 years and 345 days: Heidi Støre (Norway, 1987)
Oldest Women's EURO-winning captain
34 years and 260 days: Nadine Angerer (Germany, 2013)
Women's EURO-winning captains by position
1 Goalkeeper
5 Defenders
2 Midfielders
5 Forwards
Women's EURO-winning captains by club
3 Frankfurt, Siegen
1 Arsenal, Duisburg, Jitex, Philadelphia Charge, Reading, Sprint-Jeløy, Trollhättan
The winning captains in profile
1989, 1991, 1995: Silvia Neid (Germany/West Germany)
Being part of West Germany's maiden success at home in 1989 was good, but the second success in Denmark was even better for captain Neid. "Winning the European title was a key moment for German women's football," she told UEFA.com. "Defending the title two years later was proof [of how good we were]." Neid captained her side to a third success before moving into coaching. She was Tina Theune's assistant for the wins of 1997, 2001 and 2005, then stepped up and masterminded the victories of 2009 and 2013, as well as Germany's triumphs at the 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup and, in her last tournament in charge, the 2016 Olympics.
1987, 1993: Heidi Støre (Norway)
The tall, powerful central midfielder made her international debut aged 16 in 1980, and was approaching her peak as a player by the 1987 Women's EURO final, her side beating neighbours Sweden 2-1 in the final. "The final was the first time the Norwegian media really made a fuss about women's football, something us players weren't used to," she told UEFA.com. "We really enjoyed it!" Her class showed again as Norway became champions a second time in 1993 and then won the 1995 Women's World Cup, though she missed the final in Sweden.
2005, 2009: Birgit Prinz (Germany)
The supreme Frankfurt striker scored a European record 128 international goals in 214 Germany appearances and picked up a winners' medal at all five of the Women's EUROs she played at, the final two as team captain. "Over time, the EURO has grown not only into a full-scale tournament but into a great event in the European football calendar," she told UEFA.com. A trained physical therapist, since retiring in 2011 Prinz has worked as a sports psychologist at Hoffenheim.
1984: Anette Börjesson (Sweden)
Women's football was in its infancy when the 29-year-old Börjesson steered her side to success in the inaugural final: a shoot-out in Luton decided the two-legged final. "It was something fantastic and big when we won," she remembered. The Sweden sweeper also represented her country at handball and badminton, and additionally "managed to drive a little taxi to get money for the rent". After retirement, she ran a women's football magazine, and she remains an expert pundit.
1997: Martina Voss (Germany)
Another member of West Germany's 1989 winning team, attack-minded midfielder Voss took up the national-team captaincy from former team-mate Silvia Neid. After hanging up her boots in 2003, Voss (now Voss-Tecklenburg) edited a women's football magazine and worked as a pundit, as well as coaching. Indeed, she coached her old club Duisburg to UEFA Women's Cup success in 2008/09, and briefly led Carl-Zeiss Jena before holding the Switzerland reins from 2012 to 2018. She is now in charge of Germany and steered them to the final of Women's EURO 2022.
2001: Doris Fitschen (Germany)
Dubbed the Franz Beckenbauer of 'Frauenfussball', the stylish sweeper was 20 when she helped West Germany win their first international title in 1989. When she captained Germany to glory in 2001, she was playing professionally in the United States with Philadelphia Charge. "I had a great career, with the chance of being part of the sport's development from its early stages," she told UEFA.com. She went on to work in the game as an administrator.
2013: Nadine Angerer (Germany)
As the long-term back-up for Silke Rottenberg, Angerer won three EUROs from the substitute's bench before getting the chance to prove her class as the established No1 in 2009 and 2013. As captain in the latter tournament, she was extraordinary, conceding just once and becoming the first-ever official Women's EURO Player of the Tournament, despite having struggled with injury in the previous year. She is now a goalkeeping coach in the United States with Portland Thorns.
2017: Mandy van den Berg (Netherlands)
Forced to withdraw from the 2013 finals with a knee injury, defender Van den Berg did not perhaps enjoy the Netherlands home-soil triumph in 2017 as much as she might have liked. She was thrilled by the home crowds ("I've never played in front of a sold-out stadium – the only thing we saw was orange") but spent the latter stages of the tournament on the bench, and made only a brief cameo appearance at the end of the final.
2022: Leah Williamson (England)
On 31 July 2012, a 15-year-old Williamson was in the Wembley crowd as a fan when a then unheard-of 70,000 spectators watched Great Britain's women beat Brazil in the Olympics. Exactly a decade later to the day, Williamson captained England to victory against Germany in the same stadium, the Lionesses claiming their first major title in front of a crowd of over 87,000. The assured and ball-playing centre-back had led her team with maturity throughout a tournament in which the hype grew and grew but her level-headedness never deserted her.