Lara Dickenmann

Lara Dickenmann

Dickenmann with VfL Wolfsburg in 2018
Personal information
Full name	Lara Joy Dickenmann [1]
Date of birth	(1985-11-27) 27 November 1985 (age 38)
Place of birth	Kriens, Switzerland
Height	5 ft 5 in (1.65 m)
Position(s)	Midfielder, Full-back
Youth career
1993–2000	SC Kriens
2000–2004	DFC Sursee
College career
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
2004–2007	Ohio State Buckeyes
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
2006	New Jersey Wildcats	8	(8)
2007	Jersey Sky Blue	11	(18)
2008–2009	FC Zürich
2009–2015	Lyon	117	(57)
2015–2021	VfL Wolfsburg	81	(12)
2019	VfL Wolfsburg II	1	(0)
International career
2002–2003	Switzerland U18	3	(0)
2002–2004	Switzerland U19	18	(7)
2002–2018	Switzerland	135 [2]	(53)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Lara Joy Dickenmann (born 27 November 1985) is a Swiss footballer. She played for German club VfL Wolfsburg and with French club Olympique Lyonnais. She is a versatile footballer who can play as a midfielder or a full-back on either side of the field. She formerly played on the college level at the Ohio State University breaking many records and earning several player honors. In 2008, Dickenmann departed the university and joined D1 Féminine club Lyon.

Dickenmann is also a member of the Switzerland women's national football team. She starred for the national team at youth level and made her senior debut in August 2002 at the age of 16 against France, scoring in a 2–1 defeat.

Career

Youth career

Dickenmann was born in the town of Kriens located in the Canton of Lucerne. She began her career with the boy's section of local outfit SC Kriens spending seven years at the club. In 2000, she joined DFC Sursee. Dickenmann gained notice for her performance with her national team's youth sides helping the Swiss U-19 team reach the 2002 and 2004 UEFA Women's Under-19 Championship and winning three league championships and two league cups with Sursee. For her efforts during the 2003–04 season, Dickenmann was named the Swiss Player of the Year.

Collegiate career

In 2004, Dickenmann decided to move to the United States of America to play college soccer at the Ohio State University. In her freshman season, she was named the Big Ten Freshman of the Year, as well as the nation's Freshman of the Year by numerous publications. She was also deemed a second-team All-American by the NSCAA. Dickenmann established single-season records for OSU in goals scored (13) and assisted on (12) helping Ohio State reach the Elite 8 in the NCAA national tournament.

In her sophomore season, due to earning call ups to the Swiss national team, Dickenmann missed significant playing time. However, she still earned all-Big Ten honors after being selected to the second team. Her junior season was more spectacular as she was named Ohio State's Most Valuable Player and was also selected as a first-team All-American by the NSCAA. ^[3] On 14 December 2008, Dickenmann graduated from the university after completing a bachelor's degree in international business. She departed the university the career leader in assists (32), second in total points (89), and seventh in goals scored (27). Dickenmann was also a three-time Big Ten Academic All-American and a four-time Ohio State Scholar Athlete. She was the first Ohio State women's soccer player to earn an appearance on the Hermann Trophy watch list. The trophy is awarded to the top soccer player in the country. ^[4]

Lara Dickenmann with OL

Professional career

During the offseasons when Dickenmann was in college, in an effort to continue playing high level soccer and still maintain her college eligibility, she starred with the New Jersey Wildcats in 2006 and in 2007, played for Jersey Sky Blue. With Jersey Sky Blue, Dickenmann was named the W-League Most Valuable Player for the 2007 W-League season. ^[5] Following her senior season at Ohio State, she played half a season with FC Zürich Frauen, the women's section of popular Swiss club FC Zürich helping the team win the 2008–09 league championship. Prior to graduating, it was announced that Dickenmann would be joining Division 1 Féminine club Olympique Lyonnais in 2009. Dickenmann joined the club mid-season during the 2008–09 season and was limited to only four appearances, though she did score two goals. Lyon were later declared champions of the league winning by a very wide margin. For the 2009–10 season, Dickenmann was named a starter and began the season on a positive note scoring a goal in Lyon's 6–0 win over Montigny-le-Bretonneux. On 29 November 2009, she scored her first professional hat trick in a 9–0 victory over ESOF Vendée La Roche-sur-Yon.

In April 2015 Dickenmann agreed a transfer to VfL Wolfsburg. ^[6]

International career

Dickenmann starred with the Swiss women's under-19 team in both the 2002 and 2004 UEFA Women's Under-19 Championship. In both editions, the Swiss failed to get out of the group stage. On 14 August 2002, at the age 16, she made her international debut in a match against France. Switzerland lost the match 2–1, but Dickenmann was responsible for the Swiss's only goal scoring it in the 33rd minute. ^[7] Since her debut, Dickenmann has been a regular in the squad appearing in teams that attempted to qualify for UEFA Women's Euro 2005, the 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup, and UEFA Women's Euro 2009; all of which the Swiss have failed to qualify for. Dickenman and Switzerland also missed out on qualification for the 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup. She scored her first goal of the qualification process in a 2–0 victory over the Republic of Ireland converting a penalty. ^[8]

Goals scored for the Swiss WNT in official competitions

Competition	Stage	Date	Location	Opponent	Goals	Result	Overall
2007 FIFA World Cup	Qualifiers	2006–03–25	Biel	Republic of Ireland	2	2–0	2
2009 UEFA Euro	Qualifiers	2008–05–08	Oberdorf	Wales	2	2–0	2
2011 FIFA World Cup	Qualifiers	2009–09–19	Wohlen	Republic of Ireland	1	2–0	4
		2010–03–27	Wohlen	Israel	1	6–0
		2010–06–23	Karagandy	Kazakhstan	2	4–2
2013 UEFA Euro	Qualifiers	2011–11–24	Aarau	Kazakhstan	3	8–1	5
		2012–03–31	Aarau	Turkey	1	5–0
		2012–09–15	Istanbul	Turkey	1	3–1
2015 FIFA World Cup	Qualifiers	2013–09–21	Nyon	Serbia	1	9–0	10
		2013–09–26	Reykjavík	Iceland	1	2–0
		2014–02–12	Petach-Tikva	Israel	1	5–0
		2014–04–05	Zug	Malta	3	11–0
		2014–04–10	Aarau	Denmark	1	1–1
		2014–05–08	Nyon	Iceland	1	3–0
		2014–06–19	Inđija	Serbia	2	7–0
2017 UEFA Euro	Qualifiers	2015–10–27	Biel/Bienne	Georgia	1	4–0	4
		2015–11–27	Lurgan	Northern Ireland	1	8–1
		2016–09–15	Gori	Georgia	1	3–0
	First Stage	2017–07–22	Doetinchem	Iceland	1	2–1
2019 FIFA World Cup	Qualifiers	2017–09–15	Elbasan	Albania	1	4–1	5
		2017–09–19	Biel/Bienne	Poland	1	2–1
		2018–04–05	Schaffhausen	Scotland	1	1–0
		2018–06–12	Minsk	Belarus	2	5–0

Career statistics

Club

Statistics accurate as of match played 13 September 2015 ^[9]

Club	Season	League		Cup		Continental		Total
		Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
New Jersey Wildcats	2006	8	8	—				8	8
	Total	8	8	—				8	8
Jersey Sky Blue	2007	11	18	—				11	18
	Total	11	18	—				11	18
Zürich Frauen	2008–09	—
	Total	—
Lyon	2008–09	4	2	1	0	2	0	7	2
	2009–10	21	15	3	1	8	0	32	16
	2010–11	16	8	2	0	8	5	26	13
	2011–12	18	9	6	2	7	3	31	14
	2012–13	17	5	5	3	9	1	31	9
	2013–14	21	8	3	2	4	0	28	10
	2014–15	20	10	4	1	4	0	28	11
	Total	117	57	24	9	42	9	183	75
VfL Wolfsburg	2015–16	3	1	0	0	0	0	3	1
Career total		139	84	24	9	42	9	205	102

International

Playing for Switzerland in 2011

(Correct as of 18 May 2012) ^[10]

National team	Season	Apps	Goals
Switzerland	2002–03	6	2
	2003–04	3	0
	2004–05	1	0
	2005–06	3	2
	2006–07	2	0
	2007–08	9	5
	2008–09	8	3
	2009–10	14	6
	2010–11	12	1
	2011–12	8	4
Total		66	23

Honours

Club

Zürich Frauen

• Nationalliga A: Winner 2008–09

Lyon

• Division 1 Féminine: Winner 2009–10, 2010–11, 2011–12, 2012–13, 2013–14, 2014–15
• Coupe de France Féminine: Winner 2011–12, 2012–13, 2013–14, 2014–15
• UEFA Women's Champions League: Winner 2010–11, 2011–12

VfL Wolfsburg

• Bundesliga: Winner 2016–17, 2017–18, 2018–19, 2019–20
• DFB-Pokal: Winner 2015–16, 2016–17, 2017–18, 2018–19, 2019–20, 2020–21

Personal

She is openly lesbian ^[11] and married with her former teammate Anna Blässe. ^[12]

References

1. "List of Players - Switzerland" (PDF). FIFA. 30 May 2015. p. 22. Retrieved 31 May 2015.
2. "Profile". FIFA. Archived from the original on 9 June 2015. Retrieved 23 June 2015.
3. "Laura Dickenmann OSU Profile". Ohio State University . Retrieved 16 October 2010.^{[ permanent dead link ]}
4. "WSOCC: Dickenmann Graduates; Says Ohio State is "Great"". Ohio State University . 12 December 2008. Retrieved 16 October 2010.^{[ permanent dead link ]}
5. "Dickenmann named W-League MVP". United Soccer Leagues . 5 August 2007. Archived from the original on 3 August 2010. Retrieved 16 October 2010.
6. "Lara Dickenmann zu Wolfsburg" (in German). Swiss Football Association. 7 April 2015. Retrieved 31 May 2015.
7. "Suisse v. France Match Report". Swiss Football Association . 14 August 2002. Retrieved 16 October 2010.
8. "Suisse v. Eire Match Report". Swiss Football Association . Retrieved 16 October 2010.
9. "La Carriere de Lara Dickenmann". StatsFootoFeminin. Retrieved 17 April 2012.
10. "Lara Dickenmann" (in French). football.ch. Archived from the original on 17 April 2012. Retrieved 8 May 2012.
11. ""Ich nahm mir vor: Ab jetzt stehe ich auf Männer"". 11 April 2020.
12. "GC-Sportchefin Dickenmann nimmt Ehefrau unter Vertrag". 31 May 2022.

External links

• Official website
• Reference website
• Lyon player profile (in French)