The real reason German football star Giulia Gwinn turned down an adult magazine shoot

In 2023, German football star Giulia Gwinn received a reportedly very lucrative offer to pose for an adult magazine. Despite the monetary value of the shoot – not to mention the boost to her "brand" – Gwinn politely declined the offer.

While that might not be too surprising on the surface, given the intimate nature of the shoot, there's actually a deeper reason for her decision to decline the offer from the big-name magazine.

Yes, we're talking about that iconic Hugh Hefner (pictured) magazine...

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Motivated by the growing fame of the German football player, the publication reportedly made a firm offer for her to join their list of celebrity models, as Goal reported in July 2023, something that was once seen as a sort of 'rite of passage' for many famous women in the 90s and 2000s.

This all came after spotting the growing number of fans Giulia Gwinn has, and the more than 600,000 people who follow her on Instagram.

Gwinn is one of the best players in Germany. A player who Soccer Bible describes as one of German football's greatest young hopes.

Florian Boitin, director of the German edition of the magazine, said in an interview with German newspaper Bild that Gwinn was not only a top-level athlete, but also a beautiful young woman, making her an interesting prospect for their audience.

However, the Gwinn said no to the offer. explaining that she wanted to be known for what she could accomplish on the field, rather than simply for her appearance.

The athlete herself told the German Press Agency (DPA) that she respected said adult magazine as a "journalistic product", but that, for the moment, "she preferred to remain a footballer on the field".

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Gwinn is not the first German footballer to get approached by this magazine – far from it! The coach of the German national team, Martina Voss-Tecklenburg, also received an offer while she was still playing football.

In 1989, according to what she told Bild, Voss-Tecklenburg received the offer for which he would have earned 15,000 German marks (approx $7,500/£6,000/€6,900) for the photos. She refused for two reasons: because she didn't want her parents to see her daughter so scantily clad, and because she didn't want women's football to be reduced to these types of images.

However, Voss-Tecklenburg would not directly advise players who receive the offer from this adult content magazine to turn it down, but rather would outline the advantages and disadvantages of accepting such an offer. The decision would then fall entirely on the football players, as explained by the coach.

However, there is a superstition that surrounds the magazine and the football players who participate in it. And this may have been another reason why Gwinn has refused to participate.

To date, there has only been one issue of this publication in Germany with footballers. In 2011, Julia Simic (photo), Selina Wagner, Ivana Rudelic, Kristina Gessat and Annika Doppler were photographed for the men's magazine, as the Daily Mail reported.

The German Football Association (DFB) did not like the participation of its players at all, and the five footballers did not end up having the stellar careers that they promised after the publication...

So unless there is a dramatic change of heart, the only magazine pages we'll be seeing Gwinn on will be sports publications such as Four Four Two, or She Kicks – and that's exactly where she belongs!

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