Tina Theune

The 2003 World Cup-winning coach is a true football pioneer. In 1976, she became the first woman to gain a DFB coaching badge and in 1985, on the 30th football coaching course, the first woman to acquire the highest coaching licence. In the ensuing period, she served as assistant to women's national team coach Gero Bisanz, helping to lay the foundations for an unprecented run of success on the pitch that began with the European Championship title in 1989.

The 1997 European Championship was her first major tournament as head coach. She managed the transition between player generations with fine discernment, nurturing the development of burgeoning talents such as Silke Rottenberg, Birgit Prinz and Renate Lingor at no detriment to her team's punching power. On the contrary, the World Cup title in 2003 was a high point in the history of the women's national team and Theune's personal masterpiece after the European Championship triumphs of 1997 and 2001 and bronze at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney.
A third European Championship title in 2005 was a worthy achievement with which to retire and hand over the reins to assistant coach Silvia Neid.