Steffi Jones

{{Short description|German football player, executive, and coach (born 1972)}}

{{Infobox football biography

| name = Steffi Jones

| image = Steffi Jones.jpg

| image_size =

| fullname = Stephanie Ann Jones{{Olympedia}}

| birth_date = {{birth date and age|df=yes|1972|12|22}}

| birth_place = Frankfurt, West Germany

| height = 1.80 m

| position = Defender

| currentclub =

| youthyears1 = 1979–1986

| youthclubs1 = SV Bonames

| years1 = 1986–1991

| clubs1 = SG Praunheim

| caps1 =

| goals1 =

| years2 = 1991–1992

| clubs2 = FSV Frankfurt

| caps2 =

| goals2 =

| years3 = 1992–1993

| clubs3 = SG Praunheim

| caps3 =

| goals3 =

| years4 = 1993–1994

| clubs4 = TuS Niederkirchen

| caps4 =

| goals4 =

| years5 = 1994–1997

| clubs5 = SG Praunheim

| caps5 =

| goals5 =

| years6 = 1997–1998

| clubs6 = FSV Frankfurt

| caps6 =

| goals6 =

| years7 = 1998–2000

| clubs7 = SC Bad Neuenahr

| caps7 =

| goals7 =

| years8 = 2000–2002

| clubs8 = 1. FFC Frankfurt

| caps8 =

| goals8 =

| years9 = 2002–2003

| clubs9 = Washington Freedom

| caps9 =

| goals9 =

| years10 = 2003–2007

| clubs10 = 1. FFC Frankfurt

| caps10 =

| goals10 =

| nationalyears1 = 1993–2007

| nationalteam1 = Germany

| nationalcaps1 = 111

| nationalgoals1 = 9

| manageryears1 = 2016–2018

| managerclubs1 = Germany

| medaltemplates =

}}

Stephanie Ann Jones (born 22 December 1972) is a German-American football manager and former player who last managed the German women's national team. As a defender, she earned 111 caps for the national team between 1993 and 2007, helping her country win the 2003 FIFA Women's World Cup and three consecutive European Championships. After retiring from active football, Jones worked as a football administrator, in charge of organising the 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup in Germany, before becoming a manager.{{cite web |url=https://www.fifa.com/tournaments/archive/womensworldcup/germany2011/news/newsid=1079349/index.html |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130629045205/http://www.fifa.com/tournaments/archive/womensworldcup/germany2011/news/newsid=1079349/index.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=29 June 2013 |title=Jones inducted into Hall of Freedom |publisher=FIFA.com |date=6 July 2009 |access-date=5 December 2013}}

Playing career

=Club=

Jones started playing football at the age of four. From 1979 to 1986, she played in mixed youth teams for SV Bonames in Frankfurt. In 1986, she joined the girls' team of SG Praunheim, and moved to the club's women's team in 1988. In 1991, Jones moved to FSV Frankfurt, and subsequently changed teams almost every year until she joined 1. FFC Frankfurt in 2000. In 2002, she joined Washington Freedom to play in WUSA for two years before returning to Frankfurt.{{Cite web |title=Jones inducted into Hall of Freedom on Sunday |url=http://www.dfb.de/news/detail/jones-inducted-into-hall-of-freedom-on-sunday-18894/?no_cache=1&cHash=16472d7e3cf2f4dcb0b310bfc974dab0 |access-date=2022-07-21 |website=DFB - Deutscher Fußball-Bund e.V. |language=de}} Jones ended her career as a player on 9 December 2007.{{Cite web |last= |date=2007-03-26 |title=Jones ends Germany career |url=https://www.uefa.com/womensworldcup/news/01bf-0e10ab31a093-8cbc65f2139a-1000--jones-ends-germany-career/ |access-date=2022-11-11 |website=UEFA |language=en}}

=International=

Jones' first cap for the German national team was in 1993, during the third-place match of the UEFA Women's Championship against Denmark, which Germany lost. From 1997, she won three consecutive European Championships and a bronze medal at the 2000 Summer Olympics. Jones was also part of the squad that won the 2003 FIFA Women's World Cup; she suffered a rupture of her cruciate ligament in the third game of the tournament and was sidelined for six months. She won Olympic bronze for the second time at the 2004 Summer Olympics.{{Cite web |title=Steffi Jones |url=https://olympics.com/en/athletes/steffi-jones |access-date=2022-07-22 |website=olympics.com}} Jones announced the end of her international career on 26 March 2007.{{Cite web |last= |date=2007-03-26 |title=Jones ends Germany career |url=https://www.uefa.com/womensworldcup/news/01bf-0e10ab31a093-8cbc65f2139a-1000--jones-ends-germany-career/ |access-date=2022-07-22 |website=UEFA |language=en}} She finished her career with nine goals in 111 caps.{{cite web |url=https://www.dfb.de/index.php?id=500407&lang=E&action=showPlayer&liga=Frauen-Nationalmannschaft&vorname=&nachname=Jones&cHash=277822afc4 |title=official statistics at German Football Association |author=DFB |work=DFB Net |date=28 March 2007}}

Coaching and administration

Post-retirement, Jones served as president of the organisation committee of the 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup, held in Germany.{{cite web |url=https://www.dfb.de/index.php?id=500016&no_cache=1&tx_dfbnews_pi1%5BshowUid%5D=12703&cHash=e062ef4072 |title=official announcement at German Football Association |author=DFB |work=DFB Net |date=11 November 2007}} She subsequently obtained her coaching license at the German Sport University Cologne. After serving as assistant manager of the national team under Silvia Neid, Jones assumed the position of head coach in August 2016.{{cite web |title=Silvia Neid's last match as German's coach is for the gold |publisher=Associated Press |date=19 August 2016 |url=http://www.nbcolympics.com/news/silvia-neids-last-match-germans-coach-gold |access-date=24 August 2016 |archive-date=26 June 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180626060132/http://www.nbcolympics.com/news/silvia-neids-last-match-germans-coach-gold |url-status=dead }} She was released on 13 March 2018.{{Cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/43400004|title=Steffi Jones: Germany sack women's head coach after SheBelieves Cup disappointment|date=14 March 2018|work=BBC Sport|access-date=5 June 2018|language=en-GB}}{{cite web|url=https://www.dfb.de/news/detail/dfb-entbindet-bundestrainerin-steffi-jones-von-aufgaben-183059/|title=DFB entbindet Bundestrainerin Steffi Jones von Aufgaben|date=13 March 2018|work=dfb.de}}

Personal life

A dual German and American citizen, Jones is the daughter of a German mother and an African-American father. Her father was a soldier stationed in West Germany; he left the family early in her life to return to the United States. Jones was raised by her single mother in a working-class neighborhood in Frankfurt. One brother, Christian, has struggled with drug addiction; another brother, Frank, served as an American soldier in Iraq and lost both legs in an assault in 2006.{{cite magazine |url=http://www.magazine-germany.com/en/artikel-en/article/mdissue/081.html?tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=23&tx_ttnews%5BbackPid%5D=75&cHash=9afad62989&tx_ttnews%5Bissue%5D=081 |title=OC President Steffi Jones |first=Volker |last=Stumpe |magazine=Deutschland |date=28 January 2008 |access-date=25 June 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120305182537/http://www.magazine-germany.com/en/artikel-en/article/mdissue/081.html?tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=23&tx_ttnews%5BbackPid%5D=75&cHash=9afad62989&tx_ttnews%5Bissue%5D=081 |archive-date=5 March 2012 }}

Jones entered a registered partnership with her girlfriend, Nicole, in June 2014. She had come out publicly as a lesbian in February 2013.{{cite news |url=https://www.welt.de/vermischtes/article113344960/Steffi-Jones-outet-sich-Ja-wir-sind-ein-Paar.html |title=Steffi Jones outet sich – "Ja, wir sind ein Paar" |language=de |work=Welt |date=3 February 2013}}

Jones' autobiography, Der Kick des Lebens (The Kick of Life), was released in August 2007.{{cite web |url=http://www.abendblatt.de/daten/2007/09/22/797156.html |title=Interview with Steffi Jones (in German) |author=Jens-Meyer Odewald |work=Hamburger Abendblatt |date=22 September 2007}}

In 2021, she featured in {{ill|Schwarze Adler|de|Schwarze Adler (2021)}}, a documentary detailing the experiences of Black players in German professional football.{{cite news |last1=Bülau |first1=Maximilian |title=Von Mbom bis Kostedde: Das sind die Protagonisten der Amazon-Dokumentation "Schwarze Adler" |url=https://www.hna.de/sport/fussball/rassismus-macht-sehr-muede-90466018.html |access-date=18 June 2021 |work=HNA |date=19 April 2021 |language=de}}

International goals

No.	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
class="wikitable"
1.	11 April 1996	Reykjavík, Iceland	{{fbw\|ISL}}	align=center\|3–0	align=center\| 3–0	UEFA Women's Euro 1997 qualifying
2.	27 June 1999	Landover, United States	{{fbw\|BRA}}	align=center\|3–2	align=center\| 3–3	1999 FIFA Women's World Cup
3.	17 August 2000	Kópavogur, Iceland	{{fbw\|ISL}}	align=center\|1–0	align=center\| 6–0	UEFA Women's Euro 2001 qualifying
4.	20 August 2004	Patras, Greece	{{fbw\|NGA}}	align=center\|1–1	align=center\| 2–1	2004 Summer Olympics
5.	9 June 2005	Preston, England	{{fbw\|ITA}}	align=center\|3–0	align=center\| 4–0	UEFA Women's Euro 2005
6.	12 November 2005	Ulm, Germany	{{fbw\|SUI}}	align=center\|1–0	align=center\| 4–0	2007 FIFA Women's World Cup qualification

Managerial record

As of 4 March 2018.

class="wikitable" style="text-align: center"
rowspan="2"\| Team !rowspan="2"\| From !rowspan="2"\| To !colspan="8"\|Record
G !W !D !L !GF !GA !GD !Win %
Germany (women) \| 20 August 2016[http://datencenter.dfb.de/profil/50833?historize_title=Russland+gegen+Deutschland+-+16.09.2016+-+EM-Qualifikation%2C+2015%2F2016%2C+Gruppe+5&historize_url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.dfb.de%2Ffrauen-nationalmannschaft%2Fspiele-termine%2Fspiele%2F%3Fspieledb_path%3D%252Fmatches%252F2218340 Managerial statistics] \| 13 March 2018 {{WDL\|21\|13\|4\|4\|for=51\|against=17\|diff=yes}}

class="wikitable" style="text-align: center"

rowspan="2"| Team

!rowspan="2"| From

!rowspan="2"| To

!colspan="8"|Record

!GF

!GA

!GD

!Win %

Germany (women)

| 20 August 2016[http://datencenter.dfb.de/profil/50833?historize_title=Russland+gegen+Deutschland+-+16.09.2016+-+EM-Qualifikation%2C+2015%2F2016%2C+Gruppe+5&historize_url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.dfb.de%2Ffrauen-nationalmannschaft%2Fspiele-termine%2Fspiele%2F%3Fspieledb_path%3D%252Fmatches%252F2218340 Managerial statistics]

| 13 March 2018

Honours

=Personal=

11 June 2006: 60px Hessian Order of Merit "for many years of voluntary services as patron of the Ballance 2006 – Integration und Toleranz für eine friedliche Fußball-Weltmeisterschaft project[http://www.hessen.de/irj/zentral_Internet?rid=zentral_15/zentral_Internet/nav/6ba/6ba5072f-a961-6401-e76c-d1505eb31b65,4e070a27-2fe2-cb01-c5ec-3f144e9169fc,22222222-2222-2222-2222-222222222222,22222222-2222-2222-2222-222222222222,11111111-2222-3333-4444-100000005004.htm Hessische Staatskanzlei: Hessischer Verdienstorden für Steffi Jones] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120210093523/http://www.hessen.de/irj/zentral_Internet?rid=zentral_15%2Fzentral_Internet%2Fnav%2F6ba%2F6ba5072f-a961-6401-e76c-d1505eb31b65%2C4e070a27-2fe2-cb01-c5ec-3f144e9169fc%2C22222222-2222-2222-2222-222222222222%2C22222222-2222-2222-2222-222222222222%2C11111111-2222-3333-4444-100000005004.htm |date=10 February 2012 }}; Pressemitteilung vom 11. Juni 2006