Kicking nun

Sister Laura: “I also pray for Sturm Graz”

Sister Laura with a soccer

(Bild: zVg.)

Soccer fever practically doesn't stop at anyone. Not even a Styrian nun: Franciscan Sister Laura has been obsessed with soccer since her childhood in Kosovo.

A smile crosses her face when Sister Laura talks about soccer. The Kosovan-born sister beams when she talks about her favorite team, Sturm Graz. She gets a little embarrassed when she starts raving about Real Madrid and Cristiano Ronaldo. "Playing soccer is in my blood and I've taken this passion with me into the convent," says the 48-year-old nun, defending her sporting ambitions, which are otherwise rather rare behind convent walls.

Sister Laura can "get really annoyed with referees"
With Sister Laura, soccer fever is now also rampant at the Seggauberg Bishop's Palace in southern Styria, if there is still room for the round leather in the Franciscan nuns' spiritual daily routine. "My co-sisters are now on the TV sofa with me when I watch soccer. And they calm me down when I eagerly commentate and get really annoyed about fouls and unfair decisions by the referee."

Sister Laura and "her" round leather

(Bild: zVg.)

Born in Kosovo, she learned to play soccer from her five brothers. "I was one of the best soccer players at school. I was always fascinated by soccer. I used to sit in front of the TV for hours during World Cup matches, learning the tricks from these games and from the great footballers," recalls the always cheerful nun, who came to Austria in 2015 and has now been living in the Seggauberg monastery for three years. There, she hones her playing technique on the green bell meadow, sprints after the ball in her habit, doesn't shy away from a header, but takes great care not to leave any marks on her black and white habit while playing blissfully solo on the green pitch.

Favorite team is SK Sturm Graz
The Franciscan shares a passion for soccer with Bishop Wilhelm Krautwaschl, especially when it comes to their favorite team: SK Sturm Graz. "You can just tell that she's right there with you, watching, standing up, cheering. That's simply beautiful," says the bishop, who also accepts with a smile that the selection of TV soccer channels in the nun's spartan life exceeds the usual standard.

Sister Laura in the stadium

(Bild: zVg.)

Sister Laura is familiar with terms such as free kick, offside trap and banana flank. "Sometimes she corrects me," says Bishop Krautwaschl, who fires up the nun's passion. He can also rely on the nun to intervene manipulatively in the course of the game with impromptu prayers. "My prayers are usually answered".

For the two soccer fans, every live kick becomes a heavenly pleasure. And when you cheekily ask Sister Laura whether soccer is also played at the "boss up there"? "I hope so, because playing soccer is all about having fun."