Solo Session: The only Footballer to play a World Cup and hold a PhD

Students and Graduates!

As the World Cup 2026 is underway, did you know there is only one professional footballer who played a World Cup and obtained a PhD?

I introduce to you Turid Knaak, PhD, a former German professional footballer who had 16 caps* for Germany's female national team and played the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup in France, and top tier clubs such as Arsenal, Bayer 04 Leverkusen, Atlético Madrid and VfL Wolfsburg where she retired from professional football in 2022.

What is also brilliant along her footballing career is that she obtained a PhD at the University of Köln in Children's Special Needs Education in 2021 while still playing for Atlético Madrid. Her dissertation research was about the complex learning of basic text production for years 3 and 7 pupils, exploring learning and diagnostic methods and exercises including spelling, oral lexicon and multi-component storytelling to argue the advantages and limitations in the improvement of school marks in pupils' vocabulary, knowledge of the grammar and high quality written language.

Dr Turid Knaak currently works as a football pundit, commentator and tactical expert for DAZN and Sky, and as football analyst at IMPECT.

Thank you all for tuning in, it has been a pleasure!

*2:36: Apologies for my mistake on the video as I noticed on her football profile that she had 16 caps for Germany and not 15 after editing this session.

Bibliography:

bravery.reports. (2021, August 19). Profi Fußballerin Turid Knaak über ihre Karriere in der Bundesliga und der Nationalmannschaft. [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bnx7ciUqMdI

Doeker, E. (2021, June 11). Turid Knaak: A Doctor who scores goals. Football Engine. https://www.footballengine.net/post/turid-knaak-a-doctor-who-scores-goals

Knaak, T. (2021). Bedeutung und Förderung grundlegender Schreibkompetenzen bei Schülerinnen und Schülern mit Lernschwierigkeiten (doctoral dissertation). University of Köln. https://kups.ub.uni-koeln.de/51599/1/Dissertation%20Knaak.pdf

Strohschein, J. (2019, May 17). Knaak: “Very few women can live off football.” dw.com. https://www.dw.com/en/turid-knaak-very-few-women-can-live-off-football/a-48782166

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hello students and graduates, welcome to PhD Launch, the podcast of late-night talks in which PhDs have a drink and talk about their research topics. The World Cup is underway. Debutants and smaller nations drawing against well-known and favorite national teams to win the competition hosted by Canada, Mexico, and the United States. We're also seeing probably the last dancers of legendary players like Ronaldo, Messi, Modric, and many others. Some of them playing for the sixth time in their careers and bidding farewell to the beautiful game at the greatest tournament of all sports in the world. As a Portuguese football fan, I hope that Portugal will finally win their first World Cup after winning their first UEFA Eurocup back in 2016 in France. Aside from this, there were great footballers who may not have played the World Cup before but earned a PhD upon retiring. There are current and retired players who had played the World Cup and rather earned honorary PhDs, which is different from the actual structure of a doctoral degree. We have the examples of Marcus Rashford and Vincent Company, who both obtained honorary PhDs at the University of Manchester. Cases of former footballers and earning a PhD after three plus years of research is quite rare, but they do exist. For example, we have the former Nigerian football player Felix Owolabi, who won the first edition of the Afghan Cup in 1980 and obtained his PhD in PE at the University of Ibadan in Nigeria, and recently João Tomás, a former Benfica striker who had four caps for Portugal and obtained his doctoral degree in sports science at the University of Coimbra. After researching in depth about this topic, did you know there is only one footballer who earned a PhD while still playing football and appearing at the World Cup? Thierid Knack, a female German international footballer, became the first ever PhD while still an active player who played the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup in France before retiring in 2022. With 15 international caps for Germany, Knack managed to maintain her high footballing level while playing for Atletico Madrid alongside her doctoral studies, which is something not many active elite footballers can do according to her. Nack's PhD is in special needs education, a subject that she had explored during her undergraduate at the University of Köln, and then reinforced her background in her dissertation about the importance and promotion of basic writing skills in students with learning difficulties. She successfully defended in 2021

Welcome To PhD Launch

SPEAKER_00 3:16

while still playing for Atletico, arguing the complexity of basic text production for special needs children from years 3 to 7 based on 5 previous

World Cup Context And Legends

SPEAKER_00 3:27

empirical studies in which Kack is the co-author. Across her five articles, both in German and English, that helped Knack to complete her dissertation. She concluded that writing fluency and exercises around spelling, diverse oral lexicon and multi-component storytelling could improve better marks in children's vocabulary, knowledge of the grammar and high-quality written language, despite the limitations in using learning and diagnostic methods she applied for her case studies. Combining a PhD with elite football isn't an easy task, but for Nak, she managed it by having a supporting team and the philosophy of Women's Bundesliga

Honorary Degrees Versus Real PhDs

SPEAKER_00 4:15

in helping female footballers to work or study during the day and train in their respective clubs during the evening. Dr. Turid Nak is a role model for so many girls and women who want to achieve higher in their studies while playing competitively. After retiring from professional football in 2022 at Wolfsburg, she currently works as a football pundit for The Zone and Sky and a football analyst at Impact. Thank you all for tuning in. It has been a pleasure.