The Bundesliga's first lady
Whoever thinks that the Bundesliga is just a man's world is mistaken. At the age of 33, Katja Kraus has become the league's first lady by joining the board of Hamburger SV.
Having won two league titles and five German Cups as a goalkeeper with the country's finest women's team, 1. FFC Frankfurt, Kraus's credentials are not in question. She also represented Germany in two UEFA European Women's Championships and the 1996 Olympic Games before retiring in 1998, by which time she had already crossed over into the men's game.
"I started in men's football years ago when I was press officer at Eintracht Frankfurt," says the self-made woman from Offenbach. "After that I worked in football for a sports marketing enterprise and then I joined Hamburg in my current position." Since spring 2003 Kraus has been in charge of communication and marketing at Hamburg.
