Alara Şehitler: Fast-track to the biggest stage

Two Bundesliga titles, two Supercups, a DFB Cup, two gold Fritz Walter Medals, and this Wednesday another Champions League match at Atlético Madrid. A glance at Alara Şehitler's career suggests that she has achieved more than many who have been in the football business for years. Yet she is only 19 years old and currently playing her third professional season. Despite her great success, anyone who talks to her hears no trace of arrogance. “I still have a lot to learn,” she says with a sincerity that leaves no room for complacency. There is no doubt in her voice, but rather the knowledge that the path she is on is far from over. And that's despite the fact that she didn't originally want to play football. But let's start at the beginning.

Driving lessons and football

Aulendorf is a small town that trains tend to pass through rather than actually stop at, but it’s the place where Alara's story began. It was here, in this small town of 10,000 inhabitants on the western edge of the Schussental valley in the district of Ravensburg in south-eastern Baden-Württemberg, that the now Germany international grew up, amidst driving school cars, the smell of tractors and the steady rhythm of a village that rarely loses its tranquillity. Her parents run the local driving school here, so it was only natural that the family's everyday life revolved around manoeuvres and revving engine. Football was almost always playing in the background, but mainly the men's game. “That was just what you watched,” Alara says today. And while the Bundesliga, Premier League and Champions League were on in the living room, she played with her brother whenever time allowed. He was older, stronger, faster. And that's exactly why he was her perfect opponent.

Her love of football came early – perhaps earlier than most. And her love for Bayern arose precisely because of a transfer that divided many at the time, namely Manuel Neuer's move from Schalke to Munich in 2011. Alara was four, maybe five years old when she first realised that a goalkeeper she liked was now playing for a new club. “I always liked Neuer,” she says today. “And when he went to Bayern, it was clear that I would become a Bayern fan.” A childish conclusion that never changed.

From village life to champion in Munich

Eleven years later, she would follow the same path. Not to the Allianz Arena, but to the youth academy of the record champions. In 2022, she took to the pitch for the first time with the Munich women's team for a week of trial training. She says she definitely felt nervous that week. But she did well. More than well, you might say. Five days, everything new, everything big. In 2023, she finally made the move – away from Aulendorf, away from Weingarten and Ravensburg, away from the world where she had always been one of the boys, into the dressing room of one of the biggest clubs on the continent.

Juggling school and training

And while she suddenly found herself training alongside Pernille Harder and Georgia Stanway – players she had only seen on television until then – she also had other responsibilities to juggle, namely her school exams. And with the move came a change of school. New subjects she had never studied before. But she mastered it all with flying colours. “You do it because it's very important for your future,” she says, as if it were the most natural thing in the world to juggle school, international matches, travel, competitions and the leap into the professional arena at the same time. In the summer of this year, she finally held her leaving certificate in her hands. She had done it.

The fact that Alara is now playing in Munich, or rather for Bayern’s women’s team, was something she could never have imagined as a child. “If I have to play with the women, I'll quit,” she said at the time, laughing about it today as if to apologise for the absoluteness of that statement. For the 19-year-old, it was long a matter of course to march through the local leagues with the boys, as captain, as an accepted exception. The idea of playing women's football simply did not exist for her. Her goal was clear: “I wanted to play in the men's Bundesliga.” It wasn't just a saying or a dream, but the only world she knew. This was also because, a few years ago, women's football did not have the presence it enjoys today.

Role models now teammates

Since Alara joined Bayern in the summer of 2023, her development has almost been in fast-forward, making her mark almost immediately. A young player who doesn't tread carefully but moves at this level with a naturalness that could almost be irritating. Of course, this is due to her quality, a combination of physical robustness, casual overview and outstanding technique. But when asked about it, she almost instinctively shies away from the praise. Instead, she talks about her teammates. “I get on really well with so many of them,” she says, as if it's not primarily about her, but about the environment that supports her.

It is extremely difficult for her to single out her closest friends in the squad. But they do exist, the people who appear like fixed northern lights in her story. First and foremost, Franzi Kett, one of those friendships that develop in youth football and, if you’re lucky, carry over into adult life. The two have known each other since the early youth national teams. In the house where Alara spent her first years in Munich, Franzi was someone who made the transitions easier for her – from village and city life, from boys' football to the women's Bundesliga, from youthful self-assurance to professional expectations.

Linda Dallmann and Giulia Gwinn are equally supportive. Both long-established Germany players, they did not treat her condescendingly from the outset, but rather with a kind of unassuming warmth. Gwinn in particular is more than just a colleague to her. They are connected not only geographically, as both come from the Ravensburg region, but also biographically. Their parents also know each other well and are friends. The Germany captain and Alara both played for Ravensburg and Weingarten, and both understood football early on not only as a hobby, but also as a language. Alara describes Gwinn and Dallmann as “like two big sisters”. This sentence conveys a mixture of respect and familiarity that has developed over the past few years.

Making her mark from the start

Her entry into professional football went remarkably smoothly. The team accepted her, and Alara repaid their trust right from the start. She scored on her very first competitive start, the DFB Cup round of 16 in Offenbach in 2024. It was an early sign that she had arrived. But that wasn't all. Last year, national team boss Christian Wück called her up to the senior squad for the first time. To outsiders, this nomination seemed like a knighthood, but for Alara herself, it was the fulfilment of a childhood dream that she’d achieved at the age of just 17, two days before her 18th birthday.

She’s squeezed in getting her driving licence alongside her professional career. As if that wasn't the most absurd logistical challenge in an already packed daily schedule. Due to her tight match schedule, she only had one intensive week at home. Her dad squeezed her in between his classes. She passed on her first attempt. “Yes, of course,” she says and shrugs her shoulders as if it were no big deal. Her first car was an Ellenator, a strange three-wheeled vehicle that looks like it was designed by accident, but which you are allowed to drive at 16. And which gave her the freedom to stay in the fast lane.

Spanish nights

Alara, now firmly established in the FC Bayern Women's team, is no longer just a promise, she is a reality. In her third season with a contract that runs until 2027. Her name is not only on the match report and autograph cards, but also stands for moments when the game turns, for goals that tell stories. Perhaps this will also be the case on Wednesday evening against Atlético Madrid. It is the penultimate act of the Champions League’s league phase that awaits the Munich Frauen. Bayern are in a good position, with three wins from four games and now 11 matches without defeat. And now another trip to Spain. Alara and her teammates travelled to Barcelona at the start of the Champions League, and just a few days ago they were in the vibrant capital for the Nations League final. Now it's Madrid again, another chapter waiting to be written. Confidence is high, fuelled by victories against Juventus, Arsenal and Paris Saint-Germain. Now another trip to Madrid is on the cards. And perhaps this time Alara will achieve what has eluded her so far: her first win on Spanish soil this season. Third time’s the charm, she’ll hope.

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