Who is Alica Schmidt? Dortmund's new fitness coach is the new buzz on social media

Alica Schmidt, a 21-year-old track and field German athlete, has taken the football community by storm after reports suggested she had been hired by Bundesliga giants Borussia Dortmund as their fitness coach. Earlier this week, Schmidt shared a series of stories to Instagram where she was seen working out with the likes of Thomas Meunier, Felix Passlack, Manuel Akanji and Mats Hummels. Schmidt even a challenged Hummels to a 400m race, where she, unsurprisingly, blew the defender out of the park. 

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Who is Alica Schmidt? Dortmund's Plan B to keep Sancho at the club?

While Alica Schmidt will be expected to improve the fitness levels of Dortmund players, football fans are busy joking this also means Manchester United's quest to sign Jadon Sancho this summer is over. Despite being linked with the player for months now, United have struggled to get the deal over the line, having so far failed to meet Dortmund's steep asking price for the England international. 

With Schmidt apparently being the fitness coach at Dortmund, fans believe there is no chance Sancho is leaving the German club:

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Alica Schmidt making the headlines, thanks to jokes over the Jadon Sancho transfer, will surely boost her already surging Instagram popularity. With over one million followers on platform Instagram, Schmidt has firmly established herself as a social media influencer. Add to that, she was labelled as "World's Sexiest Athlete" by Australian magazine 'Busted Coverage,' earlier this year.

In response to her feature on the magazine, Schmidt said, "I do not know why I got this title. Sport comes clearly first. There are thousands of girls on Instagram who look good and still do not have as many fans makes you interesting, and that's just competitive sport for me."

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Speaking of sport, the 21-year-old recently resumed her training post the COVID-19 pandemic. Schmidt is hopeful of taking part in the Tokyo Olympics next year, which will be her first major event as a senior athlete. Born in 1998, Schmidt has enjoyed success as an athlete from a very young age. In 2017, she starred in the 4x400 relay at the European Athletics Under-20 Championships, bagging a silver medal. She followed it up last year with a bronze medal in the same category at the U23 European Championship. 

In addition to her success on the field, as mentioned above, Alica Schmidt is also enjoying her career as an influencer. Just like Dortmund, Schmidt is sponsored by German sports brand PUMA, a brand she often promotes on Instagram. The 21-year-old uses her social media platform to promote other brands from time to time. 

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(Image Credits: Alica Schmidt Instagram)