Switzerland received – Sandy Maendly: First, then European Championship participation – sport
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The Geneva veteran will become champion again with Servette-Chênois – and as a national player at the European Championship in 2022.
It will definitely be a special year, says Sandy Maendly and looks into the empty Stade de Genève. “I will surely enjoy every minute on the pitch.” The 33-year-old midfielder will end her long and successful career at the end of the season. But first she is aiming for the World Cup qualification with the national team – and that requires a victory in the third group game against Romania.
The Geneva-based woman will work for the club where she played from 2004 to 2006. With the difference that 15 years later everything is different. Greater. More professional. Better. «Chênois has a long history and great importance for women’s football in Geneva. That’s why we absolutely want to keep the name as an addition to Servette, ”says Maendly.
When I started playing football, I never believed that I would be able to wear this shirt at some point.
She is proud to be a Servetienne because as a Geneva woman it is a dream to play for the club. “When I started playing football, I never believed that I would be able to wear this shirt at some point.”
Maendly joined FC Grand-Lancy at the age of nine. Most of the training takes place on a clay court. That hurt when slipping, but it also made her stronger in the end, says Maendly and laughs.
Moving in the referee’s cloakroom
There was still the time when, as a girl, she played in an all-young team and had to change in the referee’s dressing room. Nevertheless, she only has fond memories: “My colleagues have always been kind to me and have helped me. It was really a good time. “
From Grand Lancy, Sandy Maendly makes it onto the big football stage. She changed from Chênois to Young Boys when she was not even 20, not only improved her footballing skills, but also learned German – and is therefore now a sought-after interviewee in German-speaking Switzerland.
Great success in Italy
Then the midfielder, who stands out on the pitch with her fighting spirit and irrepressible will, moved to Italy for five years in 2011. Maendly first played for Torres in Sardinia, then for two years for Verona. And was Italian champion and Super Cup winner three times each.
The first championship title with Torres in 2012 is probably the most special and greatest success of her career. After a one-year detour back to Switzerland to FC Neunkirch and winning a double, she was involved in Madrid for one year before she returned to Servette in 2018 and was instrumental in advancing to the top division.
The EM as a career crowning glory?
Only the national team chapter is still unfinished. The 79-fold international would like to continue writing on this in their last season. After missing the 2015 World Cup due to a cruciate ligament injury, she took a break until spring 2019 before she was regularly called up again by the new national coach Nils Nielsen.
She is now one of the most experienced national players. “I will do everything I can to be able to travel to England next year. There is nothing better than ending your career by participating in a European championship, ”says Maendly. It would be the happy ending in the very last chapter of her career.