“Miss Coolness” moves from river Rhine to river Danube

Seven German women’s national players left the Bundesliga. Six of them went north to Denmark, one south to Vienna: Goalkeeper Sabine Englert starts her Austrian adventure at the eight-times Champions League winner, Hypo Niederösterreich. And her objective is to raise the ninth trophy in the club’s history.

Seeing Sabine Englert in the goal, you think she must fall asleep within a second. No emotions, no speech, just standing there. But when the ball is coming, she’s wide awake.

“She’s like a tiger, waiting for the prey,” said Renate Wolf, coach of her former club, Leverkusen. Now the tiger reached a new river in her career: she moved from the Rhine to the Danube.

“I was welcomed warmly at Hypo,” the 25-year old goalkeeper says, “and I felt the spirit of the club, especially in the first preparation weeks in the Alps.”

Quick decision

Englert, whose dream it was, to play in Denmark, signed the contract with Hypo very early.

“Hypo was the first club that showed interest in signing me, just before the 2006 European Championship in Sweden. I visited the club, and we agreed. All went very fast.”

And after a bad tournament in Schmelz (Germany) in the middle of August, Hypo (with the new Hungarian Coach András Németh) improved and won the traditional tournament in Bad Urach (Germany). In the final they won against Leverkusen, Englert’s former club.

“We did not lose against Hypo, we lost against Sabine,” said coach Wolf. And her former goalkeeper wants to be the number one in the multicultural team of Hypo.

“Hypo has to change the preparations completely due to the changes in the Champions League. As the first matches are in October instead of January, as it was before, we have to be well prepared three months earlier,” says Englert.

As before every season, the club has the same objective: Champions League victory.

“We have the strongest first round group with Larvik, Skopje and maybe Togliatti. We have to fight very hard to reach the second group phase,” says “Miss coolness”, “but as we want to win the trophy, we have to beat every team.”

Many titles to win

Back in Germany, Englert’s only title was a national cup, but she won the European Challenge Cup in 2005 with Leverkusen. She played in the Bundesliga finals twice, but lost both times against Leipzig (2006) and Nürnberg (2007).

“I think, my first national championship will not be so hard to reach,” she smiles when she talks about the Austrian league. But why did she change club? And why did she sign only a one-year-contract?

“I wanted to experience something new. Hypo left the decision to me about the length of the contract. I will decide again after one season, but I think that it could be a longer stay for me in Vienna.”

Though Hypo had lot of international top stars, Englert is the first German to play there.

“This makes me happy, but I think for Hypo it doesn’t matter where you come from. You just have to perform well. It is an advantage for me to play in a club where the common language is German, it makes everything a bit easier.” However, talking is less important for “Miss coolness” than playing.