Africa’s Only World Cup Final Scorer, Nia Künzer, Still Making A Difference

In the 93-year history of men’s and women’s World Cups, only one World Cup final goalscorer was born on the African contintent. 20 years ago today, Nia Künzer headed in the only Golden Goal to ever win the tournament.

Nia Tsholofelo Künzer was born in Mochudi, Botswana in 1980, the daughter of German development workers on a two-year tour in the country. Her forenames are Swahili for ‘I can’ and ‘hope’. She later grew up in Hesse and began playing soccer at the age of five. In 1997, Künzer signed for German side SG Praunheim (later to become 1. FFC Frankfurt) after recovering from an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury she sustained at the age of 15.