FCB striker Lea Schüller is the first professional soccer player to be on the cover of Vogue.
In the title report she talks about the differences to men.
Munich – As a successful striker at FC Bayern, Lea Schüller is one of Germany's flagship footballers.
In the quarter-final first leg of the Champions League against Arsenal London, she became the match winner and is also a top performer in the national team.
Now she is the first professional soccer player to be on the cover of fashion magazine
Vogue
.
In an interview with the magazine, she addresses the inequality between men's and women's football and talks about her chronic illness.
Lea Schuller |
Born on November 12, 1997 (25 years) in Tönisvorst, North Rhine-Westphalia |
At FC Bayern since July 2020, contract runs until June 2026 |
Market value: 250,000 euros |
Vogue sets an example with FCB striker Schüller
Vogue
mostly covers fashion and styling topics, but its German edition also covers German women's football
.
After the magazine had already focused on the 2022 European Championship, a novelty is now being provided: With Lea Schüller, a footballer can be seen on the cover of the magazine for the first time.
The magazine wants to consciously send a signal with this.
“While everyone has heard the names of the national football players, things are looking poor for the women, but they are no less successful, on the contrary.
It's athletes like Lea Schüller who stand for change and ensure that we start to rethink here too," says Kerstin Weng, Head of Editorial Content for the German edition of
Vogue
, describing the ulterior motives behind her paper.
Soccer player Lea Schüller is the new VOGUE cover star.
#voguegermany #leaschueller #DFB_Frauen https://t.co/TrRpTTkYyk
— VOGUE_Germany (@VOGUE_Germany) March 24, 2023
Schüller talks about her endometriosis disease
In the accompanying title story, Lea Schüller mostly talks about football and everything that goes with it.
In her case, this is also her endometriosis disease.
A clinical picture that is still subject to great stigmatization and is only discovered very late in many women.
It is the most common abdominal disease in women, which is particularly noticeable during the period and causes severe pain.
This is also the case with Schüller, who states that for a long time football was unthinkable during her menstruation: “During my menstruation, for example, I always had extreme shoulder pain that radiated to the neck.
For a day you couldn't do anything with me.
You don't think about training and especially not about games." With targeted cycle training, she has now been able to steer the pain in certain channels.
+
Also set in the national team: Schüller at the EM 2022.
© IMAGO/Simon Dael/Shutterstock
Bayern striker Schüller: "Income differences are the rule"
A recurring theme is the difference in pay between men's and women's football.
This also concerns Schüller, who generally wants "women and men to be paid equally".
"This also applies to sport, especially national teams," she adds, referring to the sports world.
Schüller herself only earned 450 euros a month on her first professional contract with SGS Essen.
At FC Bayern, her salary is now so high that she doesn't have to work alongside football.
However, the striker admits that although she would like to receive equal pay, the economic basis for this is not in place.
"With what right do I say I want to earn as much as Leroy Sané.
That doesn't make any sense!” She draws the comparison to the FCB men.
In any case, “serious income differences in professional sport are not the exception, but the rule.
The decisive factor is the willingness of the audience to pay.”
(dpa/sch)