Brisbane Roar W-League goalkeeper and recently named FIFA World Player of the Year Nadine Angerer said she’s ready to re-shift her focus back to the rest of the Westfield W-League campaign.
Brisbane Roar W-League goalkeeper and recently named FIFA World Player of the Year Nadine Angerer said she-s ready to re-shift her focus back to the rest of the Westfield W-League campaign.
The FIFA Ballon d-Or winner touched back down in Brisbane in the early hours of this morning, admitting that she still can-t quite believe her crown at FIFA-s Zurich headquarters earlier in the week as the world-s best female footballer.
In comparison, the men-s equivalent of the most prestigious individual award in world football was won by Real Madrid and Portugal-s Cristiano Ronaldo with Brazilian legend Pele was given an honorary Ballon d-Or.
“It was really crazy and I still can-t believe it,” Angerer said.
“I think it will take one or two more days to realise what happened.
“Everyone was so nice and friendly – Pele was really cool and they were asking a lot of questions about women-s soccer and they actually knew a lot of things about women-s soccer.
“It was really nice to get to know them.”
Angerer will re-join her teammates at training tomorrow afternoon following today-s rest day and said she-s looking forward to Sunday-s away match against second-placed Sydney FC at Sydney United Sports Centre.
“We play Sydney, it-s an important game on Sunday,” the Germany captain said.
“Now I have two days to recover and get ready.
“I-m so proud of my teammates and I got so many congratulatory SMSs and messages while I was away.”
While in Europe, Angerer said she also did her best to spread the word about her beloved Brisbane and the ever-improving Westfield W-League.
“Everyone was asking me about Brisbane and I think that-s good for everybody,” she said.
“[Sweden Head Coach] Pia Sundhage for example was asking me a lot of questions about the league and [last year-s Ballon d-Or winner] Abby Wambach was asking a lot as well.
“Of course there are some differences between the mentality but I felt at home here very fast, very comfortable here in Brisbane and I can only talk about the positives.”
Brisbane Roar face Sydney FC in this weekend-s Westfield W-League televised match of the round. Kick-off is at 3pm Sydney time / 2pm Brisbane time. Watch on ABC1 from 3pm Brisbane time.
