Inka Grings

As a child, Grings wanted to be a tennis player. However, after no tennis club had accepted her, she instead started playing football at TSV Eller 04 in 1984. She later played for Garather SV.

Grings signed with FCR 2001 Duisburg in 1995. She quickly became an important player for the club and in the following years one of the most successful goalscorers in Germany. In 1998, Grings won the German Cup, her first major title. She scored three goals in the final against FSV Frankfurt. The following year in the 1998–99 season she became the Bundesliga's top-scorer for the first time. Grings was named Women's Footballer of the Year (Germany) in 1999 by the country's sports journalists.^[6]

Over the next decade, Grings became the Bundesliga all-time leading goalscorer, hitting the mark of 350 goals in January 2011.^[7] She won the Bundesliga title with Duisburg in the 1999–00 season; that year she also set the all-time record for goals in a Bundesliga season by scoring 38 goals. She won the German Cup on two more occasions in 2009 and 2010, and lifted the UEFA Women's Cup in the 2008–09 season. Grings was the Bundesliga top-scorer for three years in a row from 2008 to 2010 and was again voted Women's Footballer of the Year (Germany) in 2009 and 2010.^[6]

She ended her contract at Duisburg one year early in an agreement with the club and announced transferring to an international club.^[8] On 1 September 2011 she joined Swiss side FC Zürich Frauen.^[9] In the first season she won the championship as well as the cup.

In May 2013, Grings signed with the Chicago Red Stars for the inaugural season of the National Women's Soccer League in the United States alongside Sonja Fuss.^[10] On 4 August 2013, she scored a brace against Seattle Reign FC helping the Red Stars win 3–1.^[11] Grings was on the starting lineup in 14 of the 16 games in which she played for the Red Stars and scored three goals on the season.^[12] The Red Stars finished the 2013 season sixth in the standings with an 8–6–8 record.^[13]

She was waived by the Red Stars in September 2013.^[14]

Grings made her debut for the Germany national team in May 1996 against Finland. She appeared for Germany at the 1999 FIFA Women's World Cup, scoring three goals. However, Germany was eliminated in the quarter-final. At the 2000 Summer Olympics, she won the bronze medal with the German team, scoring once against Australia in the group stage. Grings' career, particularly at international level, has repeatedly been affected by injuries. She missed the 2001 European Championship on home soil and the 2003 FIFA Women's World Cup due to injury. When she tore the anterior cruciate ligament in her knee shortly before the 2004 Summer Olympics, Grings initially announce to end her career. However, she changed her mind during physical therapy.

With four goals, Grings was the top-scorer at the 2005 European Championship, when Germany claimed its sixth European title. At the 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup and the 2008 Summer Olympics, Grings was not part of the German squad, because of disagreements with head coach Silvia Neid. She returned for Germany at the 2009 European Championship, claiming her second European title. With six goals Grings again was the tournament's top-scorer. She has been called up for the 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup.^[3]

Grings has scored 64 international goals and is ranked third behind Birgit Prinz (128) and Heidi Mohr (83) for Germany's all-time top goalscorers. During 93 appearances, she has averaged 0.69 goals per games, which makes her the team's second most prolific scorer.^[15]

Grings is openly bisexual, she had a well publicized relationship with women's team colleague Linda Bresonik, and also dated male Holger Fach, former head coach of VfL Wolfsburg.^{[16][17][18][19]}

Scores and results list Germany's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Grings goal.

List of international goals scored by Inka Grings

No.	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1	28 May 1998	?	New Zealand	2–0	8–0	Friendly
2				6–0
3				8–0
4	28 June 1998	Soldier Field, Chicago, United States	United States	1–3	2–4
5	22 April 1999	Ludwigsparkstadion, Saarbrücken, Germany	Denmark	1–0	3–1
6	30 May 1999	Städtisches Sportzentrum Nonnenholz, Weil am Rhein, Germany	France	1–1	4–1
7				3–1
8	3 June 1999	Stadion Rheinbach im Freizeitpark, Rheinbach, Germany	Netherlands	1–0	2–0
9	24 June 1999	Civic Stadium, Portland, Oregon, United States	Mexico	1–0	6–0	1999 FIFA Women's World Cup
10				4–0
11				6–0
12	2 September 1999	Sternquell Arena, Plauen, Germany	Russia	3–1	3–1	Friendly
13	23 September 1999	Playmobil-Stadion, Fürth, Germany	Ukraine	1–0	3–0	UEFA Women's Euro 2001 qualifying
14				2–0
15	14 October 1999	Marschweg-Stadion, Oldenburg, Germany	Iceland	1–0	5–0
16	11 November 1999	Stadio Mario Lancellotta, Isernia, Italy	Italy	2–0	4–4
17				3–1
18	6 April 2000	Stadion am Bornheimer Hang, Frankfurt, Germany	Italy	2–0	3–0
19	11 May 2000	NSC Olimpiyskiy, Kyiv, Ukraine	Ukraine	4–1	6–1
20	16 July 2000	Bremer Brücke, Osnabrück, Germany	China	1–1	1–3	Friendly
21	27 August 2000	Old Tivoli, Aachen, Germany	Denmark	1–0	7–0
22				2–0
23	13 September 2000	Bruce Stadium, Canberra, Australia	Australia	1–0	3–0	2000 Summer Olympics
24	4 May 2002	Estádio Adelino Ribeiro Novo, Barcelos, Portugal	Portugal	7–0	8–0	2003 FIFA Women's World Cup qualifying
25	14 November 2002	Nattenberg Stadion, Lüdenscheid, Germany	Russia	2–0	4–0	Friendly
26	6 March 2003	Sportzentrum Große Wiese, Arnsberg, Germany	China	3–0	3–1
27	27 March 2003	Karl-Liebknecht-Stadion, Potsdam, Germany	Scotland	2–0	5–0	UEFA Women's Euro 2005 qualifying
28				3–0
29				4–0
30	7 February 2004	Estádio Municipal de Albufeira, Albufeira, Portugal	Portugal	3–0	11–0	UEFA Women's Euro 2005 qualifying
31				6–0
32				7–0
33				8–0
34				9–0
35	21 April 2005	Stadion an der Bremer Brücke, Osnabrück, Germany	Canada	3–1	3–1	Friendly
36	9 June 2005	Halliwell Jones Stadium, Warrington, England	France	1–0	3–0	UEFA Women's Euro 2005
37	15 June 2005	Deepdale, Preston, England	Finland	1–0	4–1
38				3–0
39	19 June 2005	Ewood Park, Blackburn, England	Norway	1–0	3–1
40	25 September 2005	Leimbachstadion, Siegen, Germany	Russia	2–0	5–1	2007 FIFA Women's World Cup qualifying
41	20 October 2005	Hans-Walter-Wild-Stadion, Bayreuth, Germany	Scotland	1–0	4–0
42	25 February 2009	Bielefelder Alm, Bielefeld, Germany	China	1–0	1–1	Friendly
43	9 March 2009	Estádio Algarve, Faro, Portugal	Sweden	1–3	2–3	2009 Algarve Cup
44	25 July 2009	Rhein-Neckar-Arena, Sinsheim, Germany	Netherlands	2–0	6–0	Friendly
45	27 August 2009	Ratina Stadium, Tampere, Finland	France	1–0	5–1	UEFA Women's Euro 2009
46	30 August 2009		Iceland	1–0	1–0
47	4 September 2009	Lahti Stadium, Lahti, Finland	Italy	1–0	2–1
48				2–0
49	10 September 2009	Olympic Stadium, Helsinki, Finland	England	4–2	6–2
50				5–2
51	24 February 2010	Complexo Desportivo Belavista, Parchal, Portugal	Denmark	2–0	4–0	2010 Algarve Cup
52				4–0
53	28 February 2010	Complexo Desportivo Belavista, Parchal, Portugal	Finland	1–0	7–0
54				3–0
55				5–0
56	3 March 2010	Estádio Algarve, Faro, Portugal	United States	1–2	2–3
57				2–3
58	15 September 2010	Rudolf-Harbig-Stadion, Dresden, Germany	Canada	1–0	5–0	Friendly
59	28 October 2010	Volkswagen Arena, Wolfsburg, Germany	Australia	1–1	2–1
60	25 November 2010	BayArena, Leverkusen, Germany	Nigeria	1–0	8–0
61				3–0
62	7 June 2011	New Tivoli, Aachen, Germany	Netherlands	5–0	5–0
63	5 July 2011	Borussia-Park, Mönchengladbach, Germany	France	2–0	4–2	2011 FIFA Women's World Cup
64				3–1

Inka Grings competed in two FIFA Women's World Cup: USA 1999, and Germany 2011; one Olympics: Sydney 2000; played in 13 matches and scored 6 goals.^[21] Along with her Germany team, Grings is a bronze medalist from Sydney 2000.

Goal	Match	Date	Location	Opponent	Lineup	Min	Score	Result	Competition
USA 1999 FIFA Women's World Cup
	1	1999-06-20[m 1]	Los Angeles	Italy	Start			1–1 D	Group match
1	2	1999-06-24[m 2]	Portland	Mexico	Start	10	1–0	6–0 W	Group match
2						57	4–0
3						90+2	6–0
	3	1999-06-27[m 3]	Washington	Brazil	89. off 89' (on Meyer)			3–3 D	Group match
	4	1999-07-01[m 4]	Washington	United States	{{{4}}}. off 92' (on Hoffmann)			2–3 L	Quarter-final
Sydney 2000 Olympic Women's Football Tournament
4	5	2000-09-13[m 5]	Canberra	Australia	Start	35	1–0	3–0 W	Group match
	6	2000-09-16[m 6]	Canberra	Brazil	Start			2–1 W	Group match
	7	2000-09-19[m 7]	Melbourne	Sweden	{{{4}}}. off 45' (on Mueller)			1–0 W	Group match
	8	2000-09-24[m 8]	Sydney	Norway	Start			0–1 L	Semifinal
	9	2000-09-28[m 9]	Sydney	Brazil	{{{4}}}. off +94' (on Goette)			2–0 W	Bronze medal match
Germany 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup
	10	2011-06-26[m 10]	Berlin	Canada	{{{4}}}. on 65' (off Mbabi)			2–1 W	Group match
	11	2011-06-30[m 11]	Frankfurt	Nigeria	{{{4}}}. on 53' (off Prinz)			1–0 W	Group match
5	12	2011-07-05[m 12]	Moenchengladbach	France	Start	32	2–0	4–2 W	Group match
6						68 pk	3–1
	13	2011-07-09[m 13]	Wolfsburg	Japan	{{{4}}}. off 102' (on Popp)			0–1 aet L	Quarter-final

FCR 2001 Duisburg

• Bundesliga: 1999–00; runner-up (7) 1996–97, 1998–99, 2004–05, 2005–06, 2006–07, 2007–08, 2009–10
• German Cup: 1997–98, 2008–09, 2009–10; runner-up 1998–99, 2002–03, 2006–07
• UEFA Women's Cup: 2008–09

FC Zürich Frauen

• Nationalliga A: 2012, 2013
• Swiss Women's Cup: 2012, 2013

Germany

• UEFA European Championship: 2005, 2009
• Summer Olympic Games: Bronze medal 2000

Individual

• Women's Footballer of the Year (Germany): 1999, 2009, 2010^[6]
• Top-scorer Bundesliga (6): 1998–99, 1999–00, 2002–03, 2007–08, 2008–09, 2009–10^[5]
• Top-scorer UEFA Women's Championship: 2005, 2009
• Top-scorer UEFA Women's Champions League: 2010–11^[22]