Popp attended Gesamtschule Berger Feld in Gelsenkirchen , one of four facilities certified as "elite schools of football" by the German Football Association. She was the school's sole female pupil and could only attend courtesy of a special permit. Popp left school after the 12th grade with a Fachabitur diploma. Popp started her career at FC Silschede, playing there in mixed-gender teams until she reached the age limit of Later she changed to 1.
She had also been approached by French champions Olympique Lyonnais at the time, but chose Duisburg. She was awarded the Fritz Walter medal in silver as the year's second best female junior player. Because Duisburg had major injury worries during the β11 season, Popp played the majority of matches at left back. For the Bundesliga championship, it came down to a match on the final day of the season against the previously unbeaten 1. FFC Frankfurt.
Frankfurt needed only a draw to win the championship, while Wolfsburg needed to win. Popp scored the winning goal in the 89th minute, and Wolfsburg was again victorious in the DFB-Pokal. In February , Popp made her debut for Germany's senior national team in a friendly match against North Korea. Less than two weeks later she scored her first two international goals at the Algarve Cup in a 7β0 win over Finland.
She won the title and became the tournament's best player and top goalscorer. She scored in every game that Germany played [ 7 ] and with ten goals, she holds the scoring record for that tournament together with Sydney Leroux and Christine Sinclair. With this achievement, she became the seventh German woman to score four goals in an international game. In Canada, Germany finished fourth, defeating fellow European powerhouses Sweden and France but were eventually defeated by eventual champions the United States.
Popp started in four of the team's seven games, scoring once. Popp was called up again for the Summer Olympics , where Germany won the gold medal. She received the Silbernes Lorbeerblatt , Germany's highest sports honour, for her performance, along with the rest of the German team. The loss of a key player like her reasonably impacted Germany's performance, as they lost in the quarter-finals to Denmark. She played every minute of the group stage and scored a header against South Africa.
