A German-made documentary has been released about the impact on New Zealand and Australia of the FIFA Women’s World Cup.
The 42-minute programme has been produced for Sky Deutschland and is presented by former top German players Stefanie Mirlach and Julia Simic, who hosted a one-day training experience in Cambridge for more than 50 girls a week before the start of the World Cup.
The cameras go to the Cambridge and Hamilton Wanderers clubs, and the documentary includes interviews with original Ferns captain Barbara Cox and former All Whites coach and player Ricki Herbert, whose RH3 Football was instrumental in bringing Mirlach and Simic to New Zealand.
Main photo: Stefanie Mirlach (left) and Julia Simic interview RH3 founder Ricki Herbert for the documentary.
The documentary is made with a mix of German and English audio but viewers of the YouTube version of the programme can choose to include subtitles.
Mirlach and Simich show viewers around parts of New Zealand and Australia where the World Cup games were being hosted, and their interviews focus on the progress being made by the women’s game Down Under.
Watch the trailer
Here’s a one-minute trailer for the full programme:
Bio: Stefanie Mirlach
After playing her first game of football as a six-year-old, in a boys’ team, she played in all the German national age group teams from U-15 to U-23.
She was a member of Germany’s winning squad at the FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup in 2010.
Mirlach played professional football for nine years with FC Bayern Munich (1.Bundesliga), and for two seasons with FFC Turbine Potsdam (1. Bundesliga) .
She won the DFB Cup (National League Cup) with Bayern Munich in 2012.
Now working for broadcaster Sky Sports Germany, she is responsible for Women’s sport strategy & projects.
Bio: Julia Simic
Simic began playing in boys’ teams, when she was six, and played her way into Bayern Munich’s first team at the age of 16.
After 12 years playing professionally in the German Bundesliga, Simic spent two seasons with English Super League club West Ham United and then moved to Italy to play for AC Milan.
At club level, she has won four cup finals, one championship and played in two Champions League semi-finals and a final.
Simic represented Germany at all age group levels, and earned a winner’s medal at the U-19 European Championship, and a bronze medal at the FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup in Chile.
After playing two full internationals for Germany, injury forced her early retirement as a player and she’s since worked as an assistant with the U-17 German women’s team.
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