Melanie Leupolz is back with Chelsea Women after long absence

In contrast to the men’s side, the positive news keeps rolling in for CFCW fans. Emma Hayes and the Blues traveled to Spain this past week to train in warmer weather ahead of the return to the Women’s Super League on January 15 against Arsenal. German midfielder Melanie Leupolz is back in full training for the first time since she announced her pregnancy back on March 7, 2022.

The box-to-box midfielder last played for CFC in the infamous match against Wolfsburg in December of 2021 that abruptly halted the Blues’ progress past the Champions League group stage. Her presence in the middle of the pitch before her absence made her a seemingly undroppable player for Hayes in the starting IX at the beginning of the 2021/22 campaign. Leupolz announced the birth of her first child, a baby boy on October 11, 2022, through social media.

For females, playing professional sports during this time in their life is a complicated task if their desire is to start a family. Leupolz was forced to miss many months for CFC and her national team during the European Championships due to her pregnancy. The star midfielder joined from Bayern Munich in March 2020, helping the Blues secure the FA Community Shield in August 2020 and reach the club’s first Women’s Champions League Final against Barcelona.

In her lone complete season with the west Londoners, Leupolz made 34 appearances in all competitions, netting nine goals including a left-footed rocket in the FA Cup semi-final against Manchester City. Leupolz started both the FA Cup final at Wembley against Arsenal and the Champions League final. The German scored a critical away goal against her former club to assist the Blues to push them over the top to Gothenburg.

She started 24 of the 26 matches in both the WSL and Champions League in 2020/21, leading the Blues in total tackles in the WSL while acting as one of CFCW’s most creative passers as one of the holding midfielders. Just like Sophie Ingle, Leupolz is a maestro in the passing department and can dictate the tempo when she is on the pitch.

It is almost like bringing in a new signing for the Blues at a perfect point in the campaign. Just like Lauren James at the beginning of the season, Leupolz is going to provide a spark that was not there before. Ingle and Erin Cuthbert have been taking up the bulk of the minutes in the central midfield positions for the Blues, but with the return of Leupolz, Hayes has the ability to rest and rotate between three top-class midfielders with the extensive number of matches in the second half of the campaign.

She has time to get acclimated back with the team, meet the new players that joined during the summer, and get back to fitness before she makes it back at the pitch sometime this season. Right now, there is no timetable for her return to the pitch, but seeing her out in training with the first team is a sign that it may be closer than many of us think.

One of Kingsmeadow’s most beloved players, and CFC’s most lethal factors in set-pieces has fought her way back to the pitch. It is not always a guarantee that a female athlete is going to come back to their respective professional sport. Yet with the support of the club and her family and friends, Leupolz is ready to give the club everything she has en route to what looks to be a successful second half of the campaign.