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(From left to right): Ella with her older brother; Winning the DFB Pokal with VfL Wolfsburg in 2019. “I’VE BEEN ABLE TO TRAVEL THEWORLD PLAYING FOOTBALL AND THROUGH THIS EXPERIENCE I’VE BEEN ABLE TO UNDERSTAND THE BIGGER PICTURE AND, FOR ME, COMMON GOAL IS EXACTLY THAT. THEY GO INTO THESE INCREDIBLE COMMUNITIES AND HELP.”  different people, but we all put our shoes on the same way. I’ll never forget what my father taught me: you go through these trials and tribulations, but also wonderful, joyous things and I think if you don’t talk about it, then his- tory will be repeated over and over and over. Maybe you can give someone hope to whom everyone is telling “No, no, no!” Everybody told me “No, no, no”. No one, minus my small group of people, would say, “Ella, she’s good enough to play at Wolfsburg”. I don’t know how I got here myself, to be honest, but it is a story that I am incredibly proud of and I’ve played with the best players in the world…I’ve played with Marta, I’ve played with Megan (Rapinoe), I’ve played with Allie Long, with Carli Lloyd, Lieke Martens…these players who I’ve got to call teammates and for that I’m extremely proud because it is relationships like these that will go on past winning any trophies. I think to be great you have to have a really stubborn mindset, a lot of passion and belief in yourself, you need the people around you, your core, and then luck. HOWDID YOU KNOW THAT YOU SHOULD KEEP GOING? WHAT GAINS MADE IT WORTH IT? I think it’s probably unique for everyone, but I always had a dream I was holding a trophy in a striped jersey. I just remember this déjà vu event, I thought it was about coming back to the US team, but it didn’t work out. I mean, I never thought I would have the dream of playing with and being a part of a team that was in a Champions League final. If you don’t play do- mestic football or for your country, then that’s the biggest accomplishment that you could be a part of. For me that was, ‘Ok, this is my story, this is my dream!’ I think even more than football, the moments I remember is all of the incredible people I’ve met. Coming from a small town in the United States is a lot different than coming from a small town in Germany. Or living in France or doing some work in Honduras. I mean, I got to travel the world through football. And for me to learn a culture and to meet new people, it’s the great- est gift you can have. In my opinion, meeting people is what football has prepared me for. WHY IS IT NOW THE RIGHT TIME TO RETIRE FROM PROFESSIONAL FOOTBALL? IT IS OFFI- CIAL THAT YOU ARE HANGING UP YOUR STUDS? Yes, I am officially retired. At 33, I have never had so many opportunities to play good football and that’s really humbling. I am happy it is my choice. You know, the reality of it is: I am 33, and I want kids and I would be lying if I said that that isn’t part of my situation, because when you’re 35 and you’re with same- sex people at 35 you’re geriatric. There are obviously opportunities, of course, but when I was weighing up my whys and my why-nots, I thought ‘You could get more money, you could go to Barcelona, Arsenal, you could win trophies learn a new language. Then, when you’re done, you’ll be 35 and you don’t know where you want to be and what is your intellectual intake? What are you taking away socially? What are you creating for the next step in your life?’ My why-nots…in the end, there were more. I’ve ac- complished everything I wanted to do. It’s scary, really hard when you don’t know, but I believe it’s to do my (coaching) licence and to somehow help the next generation and, on a personal lev- el, I’ve always dreamed of being a mom. I don’t know how that’s going to be now. My life has really changed the last couple of months, but it’s my next dream. I’ve done everything with my football dream playing-wise and now I think that all that is to push me to start again from the bottom and work my way up. SO IS COACHING THE NEXT STEP FOR YOU? I’m also doing an internship with the men’s side at Wolfsburg for the next three months. And that excites me, too, because for twenty years I’ve only seen this one part (of football) and when you have Wolfsburg men behind you and they’re trying to open US markets and you’re speaking German all the time and you’re doing the interviews, for me that was a different challenge. I’ll be doing it nine to five starting mid August. It’s something that will be different in challenges. With coaching I would say I love the work I am doing with the refugee guys, but you never know, you make change through action, but also through money. I mean you need the backing and the understanding and hopefully you can put yourself in a situation where you can have it and then you can finally really start to give back and people really start to listen. ANDWHAT MESSAGE WOULD YOUWOULD LIKE TO SPREAD? I think I’ve chosen to be more open than most. In moments in the last five years, people asked, “Would you change it?” Because my personal life is so open and you get a lot of critics, people talk and there are rumours, of course. But I think it’s worth it if I can help one human being through my story by being open, not even about Erin, but also about being religious and being gay and also about the anxiety. I think we have this platform for such a short time and people think that we are these 32 33 FOOTBALL FORGOODMAGAZINE | AUGUST 2019