Born in
Rheine-
Mesum, she made her football debut at age 15 in 1993, playing for
FFC Heike Rheine in the
Frauen-Bundesliga. Within two years, she made her first appearance for the
Germany national team, playing in a 13 April 1995 match against
Poland. She went on to become a mainstay of the national team, playing on Germany's bronze medal-winning squads in the
2000 and
2004 Summer Olympics, as well as their
2003 Women's World Cup championship team. Along with
Birgit Prinz and
Bettina Wiegmann, she is one of only three German women with more than 150
caps, having reached that mark in a 23 November 2006 match against
Japan. She also holds a team record with 61 consecutive international matches played. Stegemann retired in 2009 with 191 international appearances and eight goals to her credit. ==Style of play==