Germany took the lead in the 2022 IBSA Blind Football Women’s European Championship final against England. In Game 1, a 4-0 victory took the German player Thoya Kuster to the rank of hero by scoring all the goals of the game… in the first half!

The Delfino Training Center in Città Sant’Angelo (Pescara), Italy, was the stage for the historical first match (of two) between the teams that will decide which will be the first European female champions.

The German national team, conducted by Wolf Schmidt, started with: Svenja Bartels (gk), Jenny Dabelstein, Thoya Kuster, Jana Marquart (c), and Amire Schwarz.

The English national team, with Lauren Asquith as head coach, started with: Molly Ripley (gk), Katlyn Clark, Natasha Mead, Samantha Gough (c), and Alice Hopkins.

The referee team was composed by Oya Kacar, Julia Kalbau, Antonio Barbuzza, and Danilo Carrubba.

Wolf Schmidt commented on the victory: “I liked the fact that it was not a particularly hard match; players just started to play, but they can have fun in the competition. The most successful player is Thoya, because she’s been playing since she was 9 years old. She plays in the Blind Football Bundesliga and with men. The most touching moment was when we came on the bus with the English national team and everybody was singing the same song, all together. I almost got tears in my eyes!”

Lauren Asquith said in the end of the game: “The girls needed time to adapt to the opportunity. It’s just our third game playing together. Some of them started to play football in August of 2021. This is a good chance to learn. We had a good improvement in the second half. For Game 2, we need to continue to build on what we had in the second half, develop and move forward.”

Germany got the advantage for the second and decisive Game 2, which will be held next Sunday (10 am CET).