Does anyone have any specific information about Birgit Prinz's temporary transfer back to the German club team FFC Frankfurt? Perhaps transfer is not even the correct term to use for this situation. I wonder if Birgit is just considered to be on "loan" from Carolina to Frankfurt until spring training starts up for the Courage?
There are also "required" off-season training sessions for Courage players. I wonder if she'll get a waiver for those or will be racking up the frequent flyer miles a couple of times over the next few months?
I'll look around and see if I can find the announcement, but I believe that Jones and Prinz are with FFC Frankfurt until the WUSA preseason camp next spring.
Not only would Birgit be "racking up the frequent flyer miles," but wouldn't this also get to be a bit expensive for the Courage paying for all of those flights from Frankfurt to Raleigh-Durham?
This is the thread where she mentions playing in "the first half" of the bundesliga. Perhaps there is more in the article (in German) linked from this thread: https://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showthread.php?threadid=7610&highlight=prinz other stuff in German: http://www.kicker.de/content/news/search.asp?keyword="birgit+prinz"
With regards to Jones (and I don't know if Prinz is the same): http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/w...ode=&contentId=A37511-2002Aug19¬Found=true And I think there is a Freedom article out there (but I could be wrong) where it mentioned that Jones will be back in time for preseason training with the Freedom.
Thanks for posting this. It makes sense that Prinz and Jones are technically being "loaned" back to FFC Frankfurt if the WUSA holds their rights for next year's entire season.
I asked Steffi at the Freedom "welcome home" event on August 25 about her status. She said she was leaving for Germany the next day but would be back for the entire season for the Freedom. (I recall something about her having to spend six months with FFC Frankfurt, but I don't think I got that from her.)
All Stars So as Birgit is playing in that match on 21st September she will be clocking up air miles at least a couple of times. The 1.FFC Frankfurt newsletter says her and Steffi are having a rest just now I think.
Re: All Stars Who says she's playing on the 21st? If she's on loan to FFC Frankfurt, that would be their choice, and not WUSA or hers. Obviously, if FFC Frankfurt is thrashing the competition 11-0 without her, then they may well choose to let her come back for the exhibition, but they don't have to. To be honest, since she's been playing year-round, I'd rather see her get some rest and relaxation so we don't have to worry as much about her getting injured next summer! I want her on the pitch at SAS next summer.
She's been named in the south squad for the 21st, it's on the WUSA site. I would rather she was in Germany too.
Prinz Won't Be Playing Against Norway I just took a look at Germany's roster for their friendly match this Saturday against Norway and Birgit Prinz is not on the roster so perhaps she is taking a 2-3 week break from playing soccer.
Prinz Missing All-Star Game This past weekend FFC Frankfurt only managed a 2-2 draw with WSV Wolfsburg-Wendschott. I doubt that FFC Frankfurt would want Prinz to miss their local derby against FSV Frankfurt so that Birgit could travel halfway around the world just to play a meaningless WUSA exhibition in Portland.
Being "named" doesn't mean that she's playing. Danielle Slaton and Danielle Fotopoulos were named to the squad for the US/Scotland game. The NFL All-Star Pro Bowl has turned into a joke with how many players who are "named" to the team who choose not to show up and play.
Schedule For FFC Frankfurt So far it looks like Birgit has already missed the first three matches for FFC Frankfurt. The club plays a total of 22 league matches and Birgit will more than likely miss the final 10 matches if she joins the Courage during spring training. That means that even if Birgit plays in Frankfurt the weekend of September 21st, she will still only end up playing at most 9 regular season Bundesliga matches for FFC Frankfurt. Here's the link to the Women's Bundesliga schedule: Women's Bundesliga 2002/03
Re: Schedule For FFC Frankfurt What about the German Cup and any early round Champions League action?
I'm not sure how many of the German Cup and UEFA Club Championships matches Birgit will be playing in so that is why I wrote "she will still only end up playing at most 9 regular season Bundesliga matches for FFC Frankfurt."
I understood your point. That's why I asked about German and UEFA Cup games, in case you had that information, too. The All-Star press release notes that "forward Birgit Prinz will not participate in the WUSA All-Star Game. Prinz's German club, FFC Frankfurt, has a UEFA Women's Cup match in Yugoslavia during the WUSA All-Star Weekend."
Prinz Will Be Playing In Yugoslavia From the same article: All-Star Reserves Chosen So it looks like Birgit will be playing in at least one of the UEFA Club Championship matches for FFC Frankfurt. It also looks like the Frankfurt derby will have to be rescheduled.
I'll take a look and see if I can come up with some dates for early rounds of the German and UEFA Cup competitions.
Prinz Was In Frankfurt This Weekend The official WUSA explanation that was constantly given for Birgit missing the All-Star game was that she would be in Yugoslavia playing a UEFA Cup match. I just checked this German site DEUTSCHER FUSSBALL-BUND and saw something posted about FFC Frankfurt defeating FSV Frankfurt 6-0. today. There is even a picture of Birgit in action and something mentioning that she had "Comeback" or was making a "Comeback" after taking a vacation. (I don't know German, but some of the words look similar to Norwegian so this was my best guess at what was said.) Here is what was written about Birgit for the benefit of those who understand some German: Nationalstürmerin Birgit Prinz feierte dabei ein erfolgreiches Comeback im Trikot des deutschen Meisters.
Comeback The sentence about Birgit means something like "National forward Birgit Prinz celebrated a successfull comeback in the jersey of the german champion". It was very successful indeed as she scored a hattrick. The derby against the other team from Frankfurt is always very important. There were about 1200 spectators ( High numbers for a german "Bundesliga" game) and many players from FFC Frankfurt are former players from FSV Frankfurt including Birgit Prinz and Steffi Jones.
Birgit's Return "Danke" for the translation Woody-99. Have you received your tape yet of the Norway - Germany match? It looks like Birgit's 2-3 week vacation served her quite well. That is really impressive that she recorded a hattrick in her first match back with FFC. It is also nice to see that 1,200 spectators came to watch the local Frankfurt derby. It must be difficult for the FSV fans to watch Germany's top player wearing an FFC uniform after Prinz had been with FSV earlier in her career.
Today FFC Frankfurt defeated ZFK Masinac Classic Nis 2-0 in Nis Yugoslavia. Steffi played 90 minutes. Next on tap for Frankfurt is a match on the 27th against ZNK Osijek of Croatia. They finish out the first round with a match against Shamrock Rovers of Ireland on the 29th of September.