History was made in Città Sant’Angelo (Pescara), Italy! Germany became the first women’s European champion, defeating England by 4-0 in Game 2, the same result as in Game 1. Thoya Kuster was the one woman show by scoring all the goals in the two games. England, the vice champion, won the trophy for fair-play.

Two goals in the first half and two more in the second wrote the golden page in the Women’s European Championship, which took place in the Delfino Training Center.

Lauren Asquith, the English national head coach, decided to start with: #1 Katie Christopher (gk), #3 Natasha Mead, #4 Samantha Gough (c), #5 Alice Hopkins, and #7 Lucja Wyrwantowicz.

Wolf Schmidt, the German national head coach, chose the following line-up: #1 Svenja Bartels (gk), #6 Jana Marquart (c), #8 Jenny Dabelstein, #9 Amire Schwarz, and #10 Thoya Kuster.

For the referee team: Julia Kalbau (1), Oya Kacar (2), Antonio Barbuzza (3), and Danilo Carrubba (roll keeper).

Thoya Kuster, the hero of the competition, talked about an indescribable feeling: “We have been training a lot. We were not sure if we could be present at the European Championship. It’s a great atmosphere, and we have a lot of fun! I felt so free on the pitch… Being the top scorer is an indescribable feeling because in the Bundesliga I haven’t scored any goals and we had a lot of work with the English defence, which was much better in Game 2, where they fought like hell! It was all about teamwork; we communicated well during the pitch.“

Katie Christopher, the English goalkeeper, says there is nothing to regret: “It has been an incredible time. The girls were absolutely fantastic. The atmosphere has been amazing. Women’s blind football has so much potential, there is so much to grow, and it’s amazing the support we have got from IBSA and we are looking forward to the World Games next year (in Birmingham).”

The Delfino Training Center will be the stage for the 2022 IBSA Men’s European Championship, which will start on June 10th.