Injured Giulia Gwinn: she is our new European Championship captain

It was a shock right at the start of the European Championship: Germany’s captain Giulia Gwinn (26) has to end the tournament prematurely. The inner ligament injury in the left knee, which she contracted against Poland in the 2-0 opening victory, means that this means for the right-back. Now national coach Christian Wück (52) and his team are faced with the challenge of filling several important roles again.

Gwinn was not only set as a leading player, but also as a cornerstone on the defensive, indispensable as a standard specialist and penalty shooter. Her absence weighs all the more because the European Championship in Switzerland should actually be its tournament – after the resignation of Alexandra Popp (34), Wück had only appointed her as the new leader at the beginning of the year.

The captain’s bandage is now moving to Vice captain Janina Minge. The 26-year-old from VfL Wolfsburg already took over the leadership role in the Poland game after Gwinn’s injury and will also keep it against Denmark (6 p.m. in the first) and the further tournament appearance at the next group game on July 8th.

The native of Lindauer graduated into a policewoman in 2022. Thanks to the top sports promotion, she was able to contest her career as a professional athlete in parallel. Like Gwinn, Minge started her career at SC Freiburg before moving to Wolfsburg nine years later. Since this obligation last year, it has been released by the police service.

She only made her debut as a international in February 2023 against Sweden. Despite the relatively short international season of twelve missions so far, she has already had important experiences: at the Olympic Games in Paris 2024, she won bronze with the DFB team.

With Carlotta Wamser, Wück uses a real newcomer on the right defense side for the experienced Giulia Gwinn. The 21-year-old was one of the biggest surprises in the European Championship nomination-with just two international matches in her luggage, she was considered an outsider for the tournament. But at the start of Poland, the player of Bayer Leverkusen impressively demonstrated her potential: after her substitution for the injured, she prepared the first goal and initiated the second goal. “I am 100 percent satisfied with her” ,.

By the end of 2024, Wamser was not yet intended as a defender. At the age of 16, as a striker, she gave her Bundesliga debut at SGS Essen, from 2022 to 2025 she was under contract with Eintracht Frankfurt. There, however, she was rarely used and therefore could be borrowed from 1st FC Köln for one year. Leverkusen has been her new home since last year, where she was also trained as a full -back. In 2023, in parallel to the professional career, she competed in business administration.