Manuela Zinsberger

Manuela Zinsberger (born 19 October 1995) is an Austrian professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for English Women's Super League club Arsenal and the Austria national team.

Zinsberger grew up in the village of Niederhollabrunn in Lower Austria.

She was first trained at the LAZ Stockerau and from 2009 at the AKA St. Pölten.

In the winter transition period 2009/10, Manuela Zinsberger switched for the first time to adult football for USVG Großrußbach in the Lower Austrian state league.

She made her debut on 21 March 2010 in a game against Maria Anzbach.

In the nine championship games she was able to keep five clean sheets.

In the summer of 2010, she moved to ÖFB-Frauenliga club SV Neulengbach and made her debut on 30 October 2010 (9th matchday) – shortly after her 15th birthday – in a 1–1 draw at home against FC Südburgenland.

From the 2011/12 school year she moved to the newly established National Center for Women's Football in St. Pölten.

Since the 2012/13 season she was the first-choice goalkeeper at SV Neulengbach.

At the same time she played for the Neulengbach Juniors in the 2nd division East/South until 2013.

After Zinsberger had played international matches for the U-17 and U-19 national teams, she was called into the senior Austria national team for the first time on 2 June 2013, for a fixture against neighbours Slovenia in Radlje ob Dravi.

She played three qualifiers for the 2015 World Cup in Canada: the 3–0 win on 26 October 2013 in Budapest against Hungary, as well as the two 1–3 defeats against France on 31 October 2013 in Ritzing and on 9 April 2014 in Le Mans.

On 27 June 2014, Zinsberger signed a three-year contract with FC Bayern Munich.

She made her debut for Bayern Munich on 21 September 2014 (3rd matchday), when she won 4–1 with the second team in the away game against ETSV Würzburg.

For the first team she completed her first Bundesliga game on 30 November 2014 (11th matchday) in a goalless draw away against SGS Essen.

At the 2014 Algarve Cup, she featured in the 2–0 defeat by North Korea on 7 March, and in the 2–1 win over Portugal on 12 March.

In March 2016, she won the Cyprus Cup with Austria as the first entrant.

In 2017 she was named Austrian of the Year by Die Presse in the international success category.

On 18 February 2017 (matchday 12) she saved a penalty taken by Carolin Schiewe in the 74th minute in the away game against SC Freiburg and secured a 3–2 victory for her team.

On 26 February 2017 (matchday 13), her team won 2–1 with two goals from Vivianne Miedema, who came on as a substitute in the 60th minute.

Aged 17, she played the second half of Austria's 3–1 win, substituted in the 46th minute for Anna-Carina Kristler, to gain her first senior cap.

With the senior national team, she finished the 2nd qualifying round for the 2017 European Championships as runners-up in Group 8 behind Norway and qualified for the first time in a major tournament.

On 2 April 2019, it was announced that Zinsberger would not renew her contract and would leave the club at her own request in the summer.

For the 2019/20 season, she was signed by English Premier League club Arsenal.

After moving to Arsenal WFC, Zinsberger quickly established herself as a first-choice goalkeeper and played six times in her first twelve games and conceded only 11 goals.

On 17 November 2019, Zinsberger was also part of the London derby victory between Arsenal and Chelsea, who celebrated a record crowd of 38,262 in the English Women's Super League.

Arsenal won 2–0 away, Zinsberger not conceding a goal in the record game.

In the 2019/20 UEFA Women's Champions League she played in a round of 16 game before the Covid break and in the quarter-finals after the break.

The quarterfinals against Paris Saint-Germain was then lost 1–2.

In December 2020 at age 25, she was named Austria's Footballer of the Year by the Austria Press Agency, being the first goalkeeper to win Footballer of the Year.

In her youth, Zinsberger played for USV Leitzersdorf and SV Stockerau.

Third in the 2020/21 FA Women's Super League, Arsenal had to qualify for the 2021/22 UEFA Women's Champions League via the placement route, which included wins against Oqshetpes Kokshetau (4–0), PSV Eindhoven (3–1), and Slavia Prague (3:0 and 4:0), where she was in goal three times.

In the group stage, she played in the home win against Hoffenheim (4–0) and in the two defeats against defending champions FC Barcelona (1:4 and 0:4).

Second behind Barcelona thanks to the better goal difference over Hoffenheim, they reached the quarter-finals.

Here she played in the two games against VfL Wolfsburg.

After a 1–1 draw at home, they lost 2–0 in Wolfsburg.

Arsenal finished the 2021/22 season as runners-up.

Zinsberger made 20 appearances and was on the bench twice.

On 5 February 2021 Zinsberger signed a long-term contract with Arsenal keeping her with the club until 2023.

Zinsberger won the 2021/2022 Women's Super League Golden Glove with 13 clean sheets.