Kerstin Garefrekes

A forward, Kerstin Garefrekes won a bronze medal with the German women’s football (soccer) team at the 2004 Athens Olympics after Germany beat Sweden 1-0 in the third-place match, having lost their semi-final 2-1 to the USA. Following their exploits the entire German team was awarded the Silver Bay Leaf, Germany’s highest sports award. Four years later at Beijing, Garefrekes won another bronze medal after winning the third-place match 2-0 against Japan after losing their semi-final 4-1 to Brazil.

Garefrekes won the European Championships in 2005 and 2009, and the World Cup in 2003 and 2007. In 2006, she was in the team that won the Algarve Cup. Garefrekes won 130 international caps and scored 43 goals. With 1. FFC Frankfurt, she won the UEFA Women’s Cup in 2006 and 2008, and the UEFA Champions League in 2015.

At club level, Garefrekes played with DJK Arminia Ibbenbüren (until 1998), FFC Heike Rheine (1998-2004), and 1. FFC Frankfurt (2004-16). She helped Frankfurt win the German Championship in 2005, 2007-08, and the German Cup in 2007-08, 2011, and 2014. In 2004, she was the top goalscorer in the German Bundesliga.

Garefrekes completed her studies at the University of Applied Sciences for Public Administration of North Rhine-Westphalia in Münster and, until the end of 2004, worked as a municipal administrative officer at the Rheine Social Welfare Office, focusing on the “approval of benefits for the homeless.” She then secured a release from her obligations prior to her move to 1. FFC Frankfurt. From 2011 she worked in the Frankfurt municipal treasury in the Department of the Environment.