"It's a completely different world again" - soccer player Lena Zaindl makes her debut in the men's A class

Created: 11/07/2022, 4:00 p.m

Celebrated her premiere in the men's division on Sunday: Lena Zaindl almost scored a goal in the Unterbrucker Reserve game against SV Dietersheim.

© Andreas Kern

Lena Zaindl (22) from FCA Unterbruck made history on Sunday: She was the first woman in the Freising district to play for a men's team.

Unterbruck

– The time has come since this season: The rules of the game of the Bavarian Football Association make it possible for women to play with the men.

Lena Zaindl (22) from FCA Unterbruck was the first girl from the district of Freising to dare to step onto the pitch for her club's men's reserve.

And that after she had scored the winning goal for the district league women on the same day.

For two weeks people in Unterbruck were joking about whether the young Lena Zaindl didn't even want to play in the men's A-Class 5.

The fun suddenly turned serious: After the personnel problems in the FCA second team kept getting worse, the club spontaneously requested the right to play for the Unterbrucker Sturmtalent.

"I was asked if I could help out and then I was in training with the men on Thursday," says the 22-year-old debutant.

90 minutes women's district league, 20 minutes men's A class

At the beginning of the game against SV Dietersheim, Lena Zaindl was only on the bench, but by then she had already had 90 minutes in her legs.

Because on Sunday morning she was already on the field for the FCA women's team in the district league - and scored the winning goal in the 2-1 win in Moosinning.

She admits: "I can't do it for the men for 90 minutes.

That is much more physical and strenuous.”

(By the way: everything from the region is now also available in our regular Freising newsletter.)

The fact that it was something very special was also evident from the large number of spectators who didn't want to miss their debut in the men's A class on Sunday afternoon.

Almost the entire women's team stood at the line and cheered for their Leni.

The faces of everyone involved were also special when the time came: In the 70th minute, the young soccer player became the first woman in the district to step onto the lawn in a men's game.

"Some were really perplexed when I came on," she observed.

Perplexed spectators, cautious opponents

But the lively striker also proved that she can play football with the men.

“I should have made a top-class one.

But unfortunately I shot the goalkeeper straight in the arms,” regrets Lena Zaindl, who, as she says, would not have given the goal to the opposing keeper.

The FCA kickers were directly involved in the game for long stretches, although the caution of their opponents was clearly noticeable in some duels.

After the game there was a lot of praise from all sides, despite the 3:6 defeat against Dietersheim.

FCA coach Christian Gruber even asked directly if she would be free again next week.

But for Lena it is clear: "My priorities are women's football, even if it was a cool experience today.

For me it was just important that I could help the club.

It's a completely different world compared to women's football."

You can find more current news from the district of Freising at Merkur.de/Freising.