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At 20 years old and participating in her first European Championship, and before her first major transfer this summer: wing attacker Cora Zicai has been stirring up the Bundesliga for years and is now possibly making a name for herself on the big stage. Because at the European Championship, the top talent could take on an important joker role.

Cora Zicai is Germany's youngest player at the 2025 European Championship, the native Breisgau is exactly 20 years old, just like Bayern Munich's Franziska Kett. Accordingly, Zicai was still in school at the last tournament in 2022. The wing striker grew up with five brothers, the oldest of whom also plays football.

In her youth, she went to the sports friends Eintracht Freiburg and played with boys there before being taken into the SC Freiburg's youth team. For the SC, she made 79 games in the 1st Bundesliga at a young age and scored a total of 14 goals and seven assists.

📸 Daniela Porcelli - 2025 Getty Images. Zicai in the past season for SC Freiburg.

Cora Zicai: Fritz-Walter Medal in Bronze

Last year, she received the award as Freiburg's Sportswoman of the Year for her performances, and in 2021 she was awarded the Fritz-Walter Medal in bronze as one of the best German young talents in the U17 sector. Not only that, but the top talent has been on the radar of many other clubs in recent years and has been linked to Eintracht Frankfurt, for example.

So far, she has remained loyal to SC Freiburg, but her contract expires in the summer, and Zicai has decided to transfer to VfL Wolfsburg. Despite the big upheaval, she wants to achieve a lot with the wolves, preferably win titles. The decision to switch to VfL was not easy for Zicai, as she told web.de in an interview: "I know I have my family, my friends, actually the perfect environment. That's why I was already hesitant. But I think, in the end, it's good for me to get out of my comfort zone a bit, to experience something different."

Last season was Zicai's final breakthrough in the Bundesliga, she made the step from a talent to a top performer within the Freiburg team: with eight goals and four assists in the league, she was the top scorer of the SC. For her personally, it was also the best season of her career in terms of scorer points.

International debut on her birthday

Deservedly, she made her debut for the A-national team under Christian Wück, of all things, on her 20th birthday in the 6-0 test match win against Switzerland in November 2024. And as if that wasn't enough, she also scored her first international goal in the 73rd minute, scoring the 5-0 goal.

📸 Daniela Porcelli - 2024 Getty Images. Goal celebration after the first goal on her international debut.

Cora Zicai has been playing for Germany since the U15, with the U20 she took part in the World Cup twice, in 2024 in Colombia it went to the quarterfinals. Zicai contributed three goals and three assists to the result. Her special abilities also flashed there and caused excitement among fans outside of Germany for the first time - since Freiburg doesn't play internationally.

Versatile player

Her previous coaches appreciate Zicai's versatility, among other things. She is at home on both offensive wing positions, but can also play a mix of offensive midfielder and hanging striker. Regardless of the position she is used in, Zicai brings a big run towards the goal.

To get into a good position, she uses her tricky assertiveness in one-on-one situations, her speed, and overview. At the same time, she is, of course, not a finished player at her young age, and those who have seen her play for SC Freiburg in recent years could observe her development steps in some areas.

Because she plays more directly than Jule Brand and sometimes goes into different spaces than Klara Bühl, she could be an important substitute player at the European Championship with her carefreeness. Because with her qualities, Christian Wück can put the opposing defense in front of different tasks.

Will Cora Zicai be Wück's super joker?

It's not unusual for coaches to have a clear idea of when they want to make which player substitutions before a game at major tournaments. At the 2022 European Championship, England's Alessia Russo was the "super-sub" for her coach Sarina Wiegman: the firmly planned substitute player who stirs everything up and brings goal danger.

📸 Naomi Baker - 2022 Getty Images. Russo scored in the 2022 European Championship semifinals after coming on against Sweden.

On the one hand, it's about tactical considerations: which players are consistent enough and also disciplined enough in the offense to press for a starting eleven, can maybe even play a difficult-to-crack team tired? And which players can come off the bench well and take advantage of the other team's fatigue?

Another factor is precisely this energy: not only is the game day tightly scheduled, but at least on the first days of the European Championship, it will be really hot in Switzerland, even in the evenings, when games are played, it's currently over 30 degrees. Whoever can deploy a Cora Zicai in a similar role can be happy about their own squad.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇩🇪 here.

📸 Daniela Porcelli - 2024 Getty Images