Sandra Starke

Sandra Starke (born 31 July 1993) is a Namibian-born German footballer who plays as a forward for Frauen-Bundesliga club RB Leipzig and the Germany national team.

She was born in Windhoek, Namibia to a Namibian-born German father and a Dutch mother.

Club
Sandra Starke was born and raised in Namibia and came to Germany at age twelve. On the recommendation of a friend, she went to the "Sportschule Friedrich-Ludwig Jahn", the sports boarding school of the 1. FFC Turbine Potsdam. From 2006 to 2010 she played in the youth teams and won the German B junior championship in 2008, 2009, and 2010. In 2010 she got promoted to the professional squad, but she was mainly used for the second team in the 2nd Bundesliga North.

Her first-team debut came on November 23, 2012. In the summer of 2013, Starke signed a contract with SC Freiburg. On September 14, 2013 (2nd matchday) she scored her first Bundesliga goal in the 1–2 defeat in the away game against FC Bayern Munich with the goal in the 51st minute. In 2017/18 Starke was injured  but was able to play again in the 2018/19 season and extended her contract with Freiburg in February 2019.

In February 2021, Starke signed a 3-year contract with VfL Wolfsburg until mid-2024.

In April 2023, she joined Chicago Red Stars on loan. The agreement is valid until June 30, 2023. From July 1, 2023 she will play for RB Leipzig, where she has signed a contract until 2025.

National Team
For the U16 national team, she played four international matches in the Nordic Cup tournament, for the first time on June 29, 2009 in Hagfors / Sweden in a 3–0 victory over the selection of the Netherlands, when she came on in the 67th minute for Sofia Nati, most recently on July 4, 2009 in the 2–1 defeat by the Swedes. Her only international goal came on June 30, 2009 in Forshaga, 1–0 after 15 minutes in a 6–0 win over the Icelandic team. Starke was in the squad for the U17 national team for the 2010 World Cup, but did not play. Most recently, from 2011 to 2012, she made five appearances for the U19 national team. She made her debut for the senior team in a 5–0 win over Greece on 8 October 2019, scoring her first senior international goal with a 3–0 goal in the 65th minute. She had come on for Linda Dallmann in the second half.

Miscellaneous
On the occasion of World Diabetes Day on November 14, 2020, Starke made her type 1 diabetes public, which was first diagnosed a few years earlier.

She is the sister of Namibian international footballer Manfred Starke.

International goal
Scores and results list Germany's goal tally first:

Achievements

 * German Cup: Finalist 2019, Winner 2022
 * German Champion: 2022
 * German B Junior Champion: 2008, 2009, 2010