In Wolfsburg she thought about throwing up: Nati star Maritz more open than ever

class=”sc-29f61514-0 fQbOYE”>

Matthew Dubach And Benjamin Soland

It is one of the last days off before leaving for the World Cup in New Zealand. Noelle Maritz (27) spends it in Romanshorn TG on Lake Constance. Before the journey Down Under, take a deep breath home, recharge your batteries and spend time with your family. Because neither the parents nor anyone else in Maritz’s circle make the long journey to the New Zealand winter.

Her mother takes her to the “Schiff” restaurant near Romanshorn harbour. Meeting point for a conversation with SonntagsBlick. The coffee comes right away. Shortly before the World Cup, Maritz hits a new note. The otherwise quiet woman from Thurgau talks more openly than ever about her special career and her private life.

She speaks publicly about her boyfriend for the first time. ‘She’s French, but she’s lived in London for a long time. It fits wonderfully between us,” says Maritz happily. “We got to know each other via an app shortly after the Corona period. She’s not from football, which I really like because then it’s not always about the sport.”

Privately, the national star is lucky. Like in football. FCZ, Wolfsburg, Arsenal. Regular player everywhere. A career straight out of a picture book. But now Maritz also reveals difficult life stages she has had to fight her way through. She moved before her 18th birthday four times – twice as a child with her family, twice alone, and each time she jumped in at the deep end.

Moved from California to New Jersey at age five

Like her older brother, Maritz was born in California, so she has always had a US passport. “My father worked in marketing, my parents emigrated mainly because of his work,” she says. After five years in Newport Beach, the family moves to New Jersey.

And then, Maritz is 10, the family returns to Switzerland. “We knew Switzerland from the holidays. But it remained a foreign country. When the parents told us kids we were going to Europe, I said, ‘Of course not!’ The move into the unknown scared me. I cried a lot when we packed up and left forever.”

But what Maritz brings with her is her football talent. That she played soccer in the US as a girl is normal in the country of the world champions. After moving to New Jersey, she starts at the nearest club. “But soon my brother, who was a goalkeeper, and I were allowed to go to an academy. We even flew to tournaments in Florida.”

That is why the East Swiss do not have a Thurgauer dialect

But in Switzerland everything starts again. Although the family has roots in Aargau, the Maritz family moves to Erlen TG because of their father’s new job at a German company. The American becomes an East Swiss, but she does not adopt the dialect – in the US people always spoke in the dialect of their parents.

“But at school I had to learn standard German,” Maritz laughs. The language of instruction at primary school is foreign to her. She is part of a girls’ team at nearby FC Amriswil, which helps her enormously with the integration.

Maritz quickly catches the eye that another move is imminent. This time she moves alone for the first time to a farm with a host family in the Emmental. She gets a place in the women’s training center of the SFV, which is then still stationed in Huttwil BE. At the age of 13, this is her third new start abroad, even though she spends the weekends at home and plays for the FC Wil Boys’ U-Team.

At that time, Swiss women’s football was still practically closed to the public. But Maritz says: “It was normal for games to be on TV in the United States. That shaped me. I knew from the start that as a woman you can achieve something in football.”

Tips from FCZ teammate Inka Grings

After Huttwil, she played briefly for Staad (the current FCSG women) in the U18 and already in the NLA. Then the current national coach Inka Grings is her teammate for the FCZ. “I talked to her a lot about whether I should switch to the Bundesliga,” says Maritz. Because right at the A-Nati debut at the Cyprus Cup as a 17-year-old, Wolfsburg discovered defensive talent and immediately wanted to sign her.

More about the women’s national team

WM splitter

Maori welcome Swiss national team with wild Haka

One less worry

Nati captain Lia Wälti reports fit for the World Cup

“Long Behind Me”

Nati latecomer Arfaoui was about to end her career at the age of 19

Terchoun: “I am a Gfroerli”

This is how the Nati stars protect themselves from the cold

Unsustainable rise

Nati star Alisha Lehmann is now No. 1 in the world

Tournament newcomer Alisha Lehmann

The most popular footballer in the world makes her World Cup debut

NFT art collection promotes national and young talent

The long journey of women’s football

As a teenager, the Ami-Swiss made the leap to the women’s world club. Still a minor, the fourth major move to the third country. “In the beginning I was extremely homesick,” says the Thurgau resident, “there were times when I asked myself, ‘Do I really want to do this?'”

Many calls to parents to help. “I’ve found an inner strength to persevere,” she says, suspecting her bite on and off the field has something to do with her American roots. In his first year at Wolfsburg, Maritz shared a flat share with current national goalkeeper, Merle Frohms.

With a huge collection of titles from Arsenal to London

After a season, Maritz prefers to move into an apartment on her own. Although there are lonely moments, she does not regret running the household alone at the age of 18. She is very Swiss: “Everything is always spotless for me. I am very tidy.”

SonntagsBlick shows Maritz archive photos of a visit to her in Wolfsburg for the 2015 World Cup. “How young I was,” she says with a laugh. She grows up at VfL, only after seven years with a Champions League triumph, five championship titles and six cup wins does she move to Arsenal. Another fresh start in a new country. First time as an adult. This time she is no longer homesick.

Source : Blick

Emma

I’m Emma Jack, a news website author at 24 News Reporters. I have been in the industry for over five years and it has been an incredible journey so far. I specialize in sports reporting and am highly knowledgeable about the latest trends and developments in this field.