National striker Lea Schüller of Bayern Munich has become the first professional footballer to make it onto the cover of the fashion magazine Vogue Germany. The 25-year-old striker was in front of the camera for the April issue of "Rethink", which will be published on 28 March.
In an interview with the magazine, Schüller reveals, among other things, an endometriosis disease: "It causes severe pain. During my menstruation, for example, I always had extreme shoulder pain that radiated into the neck. For one day they couldn't do anything with me. You don't think about training and especially not about games."
With regard to the permanent topics of professionalisation and equal pay, Germany's Footballer of the Year 2022 refers to the still largely low earnings in the women's Bundesliga: "Some players earn less with football than with their work. Then they set their priorities differently."
The magazine wants to set an example with the vice-European champion on the cover. "While everyone has heard the names of the national football players, it looks bad 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 as well," said Kerstin Weng, Head of Editorial Content at Vogue Germany.