Nati before the start of the Nations League: Nadine Riesen left the FCZ for her European Championship dream

It is all the more important that the Nati stars themselves are now doing their extra best to be able to experience the football festival they were hoping for in two years’ time. Such as Nadine Riesen (23). The outside player has now become a professional footballer since moving to Eintracht Frankfurt three weeks ago. “It’s really cool,” says Riesen, “it’s a really big change if you don’t have to work on it anymore.”

She used to spend four hours a day on the train

Her life at FCZ reflected the reality of Swiss women’s football. The trained dental assistant played in Zurich, lived in Bern and worked part-time as a daycare worker at a day school in Muri. She took the train for four hours every day.

Now she plays together with her Nati colleague Géraldine Reuteler (24) in Frankfurt. These are dream days for giants, because the woman from Niederteufen AR will play a real home game in the Nations League against Italy with the national team on Friday (7:30 PM, live SRF2). “As a child I was often a fan of Kybunpark. It’s incredible to be on the field with the national team now.”

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Now in Frankfurt she has not yet really got to know daily life as a professional, because after the transfer she immediately started with Champions League qualification and cup competitions. Riesen: “Normally we have an early training and everything is over at 4 p.m. But then you can stay longer and work on the shortages.” In Zurich this was not possible after the late evening training and the return journey.

“A year before the European Championship would have been too late”

Riesen enthusiastically this week at the Natihotel in Abtwil SG: “I really enjoy the fact that I am now really investing time in football. The step to the Bundesliga will take me further and it was also the right time for the European Championship.”

The dream of the euro influenced her career planning. “The move two years before the European Championships is ideal to take me to another level. Because I am impatient and ambitious, but I need a few months to really get there and then hopefully take a step.” Changing just one year before the tournament would have been too short for these steps, the World Cup discovery describes .

But not everyone in the team shares Riesen’s full professional plan for the European Championship. Coumba Sow (29, new in Basel) and Seraina Piubel (23, will remain with FCZ until 2024) continue to play in the Super League, coach Inka Grings is forced to defend the national league: “The crucial thing is that they play. ”