Because this is a Women’s World Cup year, I have decided to countdown to the tournament by providing a short soccer/fitness related preview of each of the 24 participating nations. In this instalment, I will look at Germany, who is making their seventh appearance at the Women’s World Cup (they have been a participant at every tournament to date).  Germany have been drawn in Group B, along with Cote D’Ivoire, Norway, and Thailand.  They will play their first match against Cote D’Ivoire on Sunday, June 7th, 2015.

Germany have been one of the most successful teams ever at the Women’s World Cup.  They have won the tournament twice (in 2003 in the United States, and again in 2007 in China).  This year’s squad also includes several players who have come into the senior team after winning last year’s FIFA Women’s U20 World Cup in Canada.  They also had a near-perfect qualifying campaign this year, winning all 10 of their matches and outscoring their opponents 62-4.  Of course, the German men’s football team is also one of the most successful in history, having won 4 World Cups including the most recent one in Brazil in 2014.

Germany has been a dominant force in soccer for what seems like forever.  There are many factors that have contributed to their success, and among them is what has been termed a “culture of winning” in a recent article published in Four-Four-Two Magazine.  The basic premise of the culture of winning in Germany is that the players, coaches, media, and fans are so accustomed to winning or being successful in major tournaments, that they go into all major tournaments expecting to have successful results.  Over time, this has led to the German coaches and players developing a strong belief that they will always win or find a way to win, and thus has helped them to reduce nervousness and anxiety before major matches and competitions.

The German Women’s team in this year’s FIFA Women’s World Cup has once again entered the tournament as one of the favourites.  If they are able to use their “culture of winning” to maximize confidence and minimize anxiety and nervousness, they may well continue their impressive run of international success by winning the tournament for the third time.  We will have to wait and see what happens in 1 month’s time.

I’d love to hear your thoughts about this topic.  Drop me a line here to get the conversation started.