No call-up for Alisha Lehmann: Her relationship with the national team is complicated

Alisha Lehmann was 18 years old when she was called up to the national team for the first time. The training camp in Japan inspired her so much that she decided to become a professional footballer. That same season, Lehmann scored her first international goal and signed a contract with the English top flight.

Eight years and 57 international matches later, Lehmann is by far the most famous Swiss footballer. But her relationship with the national team is complicated. It's becoming increasingly unlikely that she will be part of the home European Championship in July. Lehmann was last in the squad for a team training session in February, but missed out due to injury. For the two Nations League matches in the next few days, the last serious matches before the European Championship, she's only on the standby list.

National coach Pia Sundhage attributes this to Lehmann's limited playing time at her club Juventus and minor injuries. However, she also says that the door remains open—the coach is allowed to take 30 players to the first training camp.

If Lehmann is rejected, it 's not just a footballer who's missing, but a phenomenon . The 26-year-old reaches as many people with each social media post as Roger Federer, Yann Sommer, and Granit Xhaka combined. While it's hard to estimate how many of her nearly 17 million followers actually find access to women's football through her, her presence strikes a chord with a younger generation: Girls in the stadium scream as soon as Lehmann touches the ball.

This summer's European Championship wouldn't be the first one Lehmann would miss. In May 2022, the Swiss Football Association issued a statement: "National player Alisha Lehmann will forgo the European Championship preparation camp in June and, accordingly, will also forgo participation in the European Championship." She herself was quoted as saying: "It's a personal decision. I don't feel mentally ready for a European Championship tournament."

The "mental" was quickly reinterpreted as mental problems, which she later vigorously denied. It was a typical misunderstanding: As open as Lehmann is, she is equally discreet when it comes to her private life. Interest in her person has to be satisfied with speculation – as is often the case with superstars.

When Lehmann returned to the team in February 2023, she said: "Sometimes unpredictable things happen in life; for me, it was something personal. I only wanted to share it with my family and closest friends." But she also said: "Looking back, I would certainly handle it differently, but I learned from the mistake."

Just a few years ago, the speedy Lehmann was considered the successor to Ramona Bachmann and Ana-Maria Crnogorcevic in attack. However, she played intermittently for the national team and at her clubs. Since then, Naomi Luyet, Iman Beney, and Sydney Schertenleib have taken the national team by storm: young players with great potential. Over the years, Lehmann's image has shaped public perception more than her footballing skills. Recently, some media outlets have dubbed her a "national team influencer."

Lehmann is being criticized for her activities outside of football. Lara Dickenmann, a former national team player, told "Blick" that Lehmann is too distracted by her activities. In addition to football, Lehmann is the face of the swimwear campaign for Tezenis, an Italian clothing brand. She coaches a team in the English version of Baller League, an indoor soccer format that combines sports and entertainment. She maintains various advertising collaborations. Added to this are the snippets from her everyday life, all the selfies she frequently presents on Instagram and TikTok.

In these snippets, it looks as if Lehmann lives on a different planet than her female colleagues. Music stars like Cardi B and Drake follow her on social media, and she likes fancy cars and juggling on the beach in Dubai. In women's football, which, unlike men's football, strives to be approachable, this might seem frivolous. And in Switzerland, where anything that tries to become too big is leveled, uninhibited self-expression triggers disapproval anyway.

But is Lehmann really distracted from football by her activities, as Dickenmann claims? Lia Wälti, captain of the national team, is doing a distance learning course alongside her job at Arsenal, is completing her coaching training, and has just published a children's book with her sister. In a recent interview with the NZZ newspaper, she said : "I may be a professional footballer, but the day has sixteen hours besides bedtime. You can use them wisely."

Ultimately, this is what Lehmann's case is all about: that her activities are seen as not particularly smart in the eyes of her critics. As if there's a decent way to make money and a bad one. Wälti also sees this differing assessment as a problem, as she recently said on the SRF program "Gredig direkt": "Nobody says anything to me because I do things outside of football that are perhaps more prestigious." It's understandable that professional female footballers take the opportunity to improve their finances off the pitch. Their salaries are still modest in most cases.

Lehmann herself can't understand the excitement. In her rare interviews, she always emphasizes that football is her clear priority. Wälti also confirmed this at Gredig: "We see that Alisha invests just as much as everyone else." How she spends her free time neither distracts nor influences the team. In a recent podcast with her employer, Juventus, Lehmann said that she's not often on her phone; her social media manager tells her when to post. When people criticize her lavish makeup, she defies the idea of ​​wearing even more striking lipstick.

Lehmann's mother is having more trouble with the harsh comments: She recently defended her on Instagram. Lehmann herself only feels the criticism when it comes from someone close to her – like Dickenmann's. She told her that her comments hurt her feelings.

Sometimes it seems as if Lehmann is a stranger to the national team. When she announced her decision not to participate in the 2022 European Championship, she was seen on the beach with her then-boyfriend shortly afterward. This didn't suggest excessive closeness to her teammates. A mistake, as she admitted after her return to the team. "Sometimes I'm not the best person when it comes to communication," said the communicator, who earns a lot of money through self-promotion. When she was absent from the last reunion, she posted pictures from Dubai. That's permissible. But is it also wise?

Lehmann is trying to change the impression that there is a certain distance. Shortly before the national coach presented the squad for the next round of matches, Lehmann gave an interview to the news portal "20 Minuten." Regarding her non-nomination for the previous round of matches, she said: "That hit me hard. I have strengths, and I want to use them to help the team. I was really, really disappointed." The plea sounded urgent, but initially went unheard.

Can we really leave Alisha Lehmann at home? Shouldn't we take advantage of her enormous reach at the home European Championships, even if other strikers are more likely to be seen? Anyone familiar with the history of women's football knows that it is constantly fighting for recognition. To be taken seriously for its performance on the pitch. Given this, the association's decision can be nothing other than a purely sporting one.

An article from the « NZZ am Sonntag »