Klara Melissa Kössler

Melissa Kössler joined Denver Summit's academy graduates only in name; her football education began far earlier, on the youth pitches of 1. FFC Turbine Potsdam, where she progressed from the club's U7 side all the way to the first team. She won the German Under-17 Championship twice with Turbine's youth ranks, in 2015 and 2016, before making her senior Frauen-Bundesliga debut in the 2017–18 season, having first cut her teeth with the second team in the 2. Bundesliga North.

In 2019 she paused her career in Germany to play college soccer for the UMass Minutewomen, scoring 11 goals in 16 games during the 2019–2020 season before returning to Turbine Potsdam. A free transfer took her to TSG Hoffenheim in July 2022, where she spent four seasons, scored 25 goals in the Frauen-Bundesliga and helped the side reach the DFB-Pokal semi-finals in 2025.

In January 2026, Kössler signed a two-year contract with Denver Summit FC, one of the NWSL's newest expansion clubs. She wasted no time making her mark: she became the second player in NWSL history to score in all three of a club's opening regular-season matches, and the first ever to score a club's first three goals outright.

Internationally, Kössler was a standout at youth level for Germany, winning the UEFA European Under-17 Championship in 2017 as the tournament's top scorer and reaching the final of the UEFA European Under-19 Championship in both 2018 and 2019. She made her senior national team debut in 2023 and has since earned four caps for Germany.