German Youth National Team Standout Joins Kansas Soccer

April 10, 2012

Soccer Signees
Name	Pos.	Hometown
Courtney Dickerson	F	Peculiar, Mo.
Kaley Smith	D	Albuquerque, N.M.
Ashley Williams	F	Albuquerque, N.M.
Monica Castro	M	Cottage Grove, Minn.
Hanna Kallmaier	M	Emmerting, Germany

LAWRENCE, Kan. –

A four-year standout for the German Youth National Team, Hanna Kallmaier will join the Kansas soccer team in fall 2012, it was announced by KU head coach Mark Francis Tuesday.

Kallmaier helped guide Germany’s U-17 National Team to a third place finish at the U-17 European Women’s Championship in summer 2011. The 5-foot-8 center midfielder is a member of FC Bayern Munich, one of Europe’s top club teams. She has been chosen a team captain five times and guided her team to two U-17 championships and one runner-up finish.

“Hanna is very technical and very comfortable on the ball, even under pressure,” Francis said. “Her distribution is very consistent. She has good size which makes her good in the air and she is athletic. Defensively, Hanna does a very good job of winning the ball. She is someone who is little bit more of a defensive presence in the center midfield, but then when she wins the ball, she is very good at creating with the ball as well, which will fit in very well with our style of play.”

An Emmerting, Germany native who has played soccer since she was six years old, Kallmaier has also played for Bayerischer, her state team, for the last seven years. Bayerischer recently won the Länder Tournament in 2012, a national tournament for all of Germany’s states teams, for which Kallmaier was a team captain. Her team also won the tournament in 2008. On her U-16 squad in 2009, Bayerischer placed first in an international tournament in Prague. Kallmaier was again named a team captain and was chosen as the most outstanding player during the tournament.