en Tina Theune

Tina Theune
Personal information
Full name	Christina Theune
Date of birth	4 November 1953 (age 71)
Place of birth	Kleve, West Germany
Height	1.69 m (5 ft 7 in)
Position(s)	Midfielder
Senior career*
Years	Team
1974–1986	Grün-Weiß Brauweiler
Managerial career
1996–2005	Germany
	*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Christina Theune (formerly Theune-Meyer; born 4 November 1953) is a German former football manager, and the former national coach of the German women's national team.

Biography

Theune was born into a sporting family. Her father was a track and field athlete, and her mother played handball.^[1]

Career

She played from 1974 until 1986 for Grün-Weiß Brauweiler, where she was also later player-manager.

After she completed her teacher training, she became the first woman in Germany to acquire the DFB Fußball-Lehrer (coach) licence in 1985,^[2] which is equivalent to the UEFA Pro license.^[3]

In 1986 she became assistant coach to the women's national team, and succeeded Gero Bisanz as national coach on 1 August 1996 after the Summer Olympics in Atlanta. In total she won six European championships, three as an assistant to Gero Bisanz, three as national coach, and led the German women's team to victory in the 2003 Women's World Cup. After winning the UEFA Women's Championship in 2005, she retired from the position of national coach, as had already been announced, handing over to her assistant Silvia Neid.^[4]