Germany is the home of women's football. The German women are defending World and European Champions and in 2011, the country will host the FIFA World Cup. These days, one of the biggest stars of women's football is calling it quits. Steffi Jones, who has won the World Cup and three European Championships during her illustrious career, will play her final home game this Sunday. Her club 1. FFC Frankfurt faces SG Wattenscheid 09 on Sunday (11 A.M., Frankfurt Stadion am Brentanobad). Jones retires because she's bound to serve football in a new and challenging role. Starting January, she will be the President of the Organising Committee for the 2011 World Cup.
It all began in 1977 in the F-Youth of the SV Bonames, a club situated in the north of Frankfurt. For the next seven years, little Steffi, the daughter of an American G.I. and a German mother, would play in boys' teams, with the boys losing most duels. Then she joined the girls' team of the SG Praunheim. Just a few years later, as her tremendous talent had been noted by many scouts, she moved to the far bigger club FSV Frankfurt. In 2000, Jones joined the newly founded 1. FFC Frankfurt, with whom she won an incredible five Germany championships (2001, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2007). She also played her role in four DFB Cup victories (2001-2003, 2007). In 2002 and 2006, Frankfurt's women won the UEFA Cup, Europe's most prestigious women's title.
Jones took the chance to play in the United States, when Washington Freedom offered her a contract in 2002. Together with Sandra Minnert, a teammate in the German national team, Steffi Jones won the U.S. title in 2003.
During her long career, Steffi Jones played 111 games for Germany, beginning at the European Championships in 1993. In 1997 and 2001, Germany won the European Championships. Jones also was a member of the 2003 team, that triumphed at the FIFA World Cup, defeating Sweden in the final in Carson, even though the injured Jones was banned to the sidelines. In 2005, she returned to the playing field and helped Germany to win another European crown, the fourth in a row.
Another dream became reality, when the German bid to host the 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup succeeded and President Joseph S. Blatter named Germany as the winner. A few weeks later, the DFB announced that Steffi Jones would be the President of the Local Organising Committee, that will start to operate in early 2008.
