Lara Dickenmann

Dickenmann was born in the town of Kriens located in the Canton of Lucerne. She began her career with the boy's section of local outfit SC Kriens spending seven years at the club. In 2000, she joined DFC Sursee. Dickenmann gained notice for her performance with her national team's youth sides helping the Swiss U-19 team reach the 2002 and 2004 UEFA Women's Under-19 Championship and winning three league championships and two league cups with Sursee. For her efforts during the 2003–04 season, Dickenmann was named the Swiss Player of the Year.

In 2004, Dickenmann decided to move to the United States of America to play college soccer at the Ohio State University. In her freshman season, she was named the Big Ten Freshman of the Year, as well as the nation's Freshman of the Year by numerous publications. She was also deemed a second-team All-American by the NSCAA. Dickenmann established single-season records for OSU in goals scored (13) and assisted on (12) helping Ohio State reach the Elite 8 in the NCAA national tournament.

In her sophomore season, due to earning call ups to the Swiss national team, Dickenmann missed significant playing time. However, she still earned all-Big Ten honors after being selected to the second team. Her junior season was more spectacular as she was named Ohio State's Most Valuable Player and was also selected as a first-team All-American by the NSCAA.^[3] On 14 December 2008, Dickenmann graduated from the university after completing a bachelor's degree in international business. She departed the university the career leader in assists (32), second in total points (89), and seventh in goals scored (27). Dickenmann was also a three-time Big Ten Academic All-American and a four-time Ohio State Scholar Athlete. She was the first Ohio State women's soccer player to earn an appearance on the Hermann Trophy watch list. The trophy is awarded to the top soccer player in the country.^[4]

 

During the offseasons when Dickenmann was in college, in an effort to continue playing high level soccer and still maintain her college eligibility, she starred with the New Jersey Wildcats in 2006 and in 2007, played for Jersey Sky Blue. With Jersey Sky Blue, Dickenmann was named the W-League Most Valuable Player for the 2007 W-League season.^[5] Following her senior season at Ohio State, she played half a season with FC Zürich Frauen, the women's section of popular Swiss club FC Zürich helping the team win the 2008–09 league championship. Prior to graduating, it was announced that Dickenmann would be joining Division 1 Féminine club Olympique Lyonnais in 2009. Dickenmann joined the club mid-season during the 2008–09 season and was limited to only four appearances, though she did score two goals. Lyon were later declared champions of the league winning by a very wide margin. For the 2009–10 season, Dickenmann was named a starter and began the season on a positive note scoring a goal in Lyon's 6–0 win over Montigny-le-Bretonneux. On 29 November 2009, she scored her first professional hat trick in a 9–0 victory over ESOF Vendée La Roche-sur-Yon.

In April 2015 Dickenmann agreed a transfer to VfL Wolfsburg.^[6]

Dickenmann starred with the Swiss women's under-19 team in both the 2002 and 2004 UEFA Women's Under-19 Championship. In both editions, the Swiss failed to get out of the group stage. On 14 August 2002, at the age 16, she made her international debut in a match against France. Switzerland lost the match 2–1, but Dickenmann was responsible for the Swiss's only goal scoring it in the 33rd minute.^[7] Since her debut, Dickenmann has been a regular in the squad appearing in teams that attempted to qualify for UEFA Women's Euro 2005, the 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup, and UEFA Women's Euro 2009; all of which the Swiss have failed to qualify for. Dickenman and Switzerland also missed out on qualification for the 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup. She scored her first goal of the qualification process in a 2–0 victory over the Republic of Ireland converting a penalty.^[8]

Goals scored for the Swiss WNT in official competitions

Competition	Stage	Date	Location	Opponent	Goals	Result	Overall
2007 FIFA World Cup	Qualifiers	2006–03–25	Biel	Republic of Ireland	2	2–0	2
2009 UEFA Euro	Qualifiers	2008–05–08	Oberdorf	Wales	2	2–0	2
2011 FIFA World Cup	Qualifiers	2009–09–19	Wohlen	Republic of Ireland	1	2–0	4
		2010–03–27	Wohlen	Israel	1	6–0
		2010–06–23	Karagandy	Kazakhstan	2	4–2
2013 UEFA Euro	Qualifiers	2011–11–24	Aarau	Kazakhstan	3	8–1	5
		2012–03–31	Aarau	Turkey	1	5–0
		2012–09–15	Istanbul	Turkey	1	3–1
2015 FIFA World Cup	Qualifiers	2013–09–21	Nyon	Serbia	1	9–0	10
		2013–09–26	Reykjavík	Iceland	1	2–0
		2014–02–12	Petach-Tikva	Israel	1	5–0
		2014–04–05	Zug	Malta	3	11–0
		2014–04–10	Aarau	Denmark	1	1–1
		2014–05–08	Nyon	Iceland	1	3–0
		2014–06–19	Inđija	Serbia	2	7–0
2017 UEFA Euro	Qualifiers	2015–10–27	Biel/Bienne	Georgia	1	4–0	4
		2015–11–27	Lurgan	Northern Ireland	1	8–1
		2016–09–15	Gori	Georgia	1	3–0
	First Stage	2017–07–22	Doetinchem	Iceland	1	2–1
2019 FIFA World Cup	Qualifiers	2017–09–15	Elbasan	Albania	1	4–1	5
		2017–09–19	Biel/Bienne	Poland	1	2–1
		2018–04–05	Schaffhausen	Scotland	1	1–0
		2018–06–12	Minsk	Belarus	2	5–0

Statistics accurate as of match played 13 September 2015^[9]

 

(Correct as of 18 May 2012)^[10]

Zürich Frauen

• Nationalliga A: Winner 2008–09

Lyon

• Division 1 Féminine: Winner 2009–10, 2010–11, 2011–12, 2012–13, 2013–14, 2014–15
• Coupe de France Féminine: Winner 2011–12, 2012–13, 2013–14, 2014–15
• UEFA Women's Champions League: Winner 2010–11, 2011–12

VfL Wolfsburg

• Bundesliga: Winner 2016–17, 2017–18, 2018–19, 2019–20
• DFB-Pokal: Winner 2015–16, 2016–17, 2017–18, 2018–19, 2019–20, 2020–21

She is openly lesbian^[11] and married with her former teammate Anna Blässe.^[12]

• Official website
• Reference website
• Lyon player profile (in French)