Knaak’s Swedish adventure finally began in January 2021 when she secured her move to Rosengard.
Her first experience of club football outside of her native Germany, she entered a dressing room full of top-class players who’d narrowly missed out on the 2020 Damallsvenskan title the season before.
Among her new colleagues, perhaps none were more influential to the squad than icon of the women’s game and former Sweden international, Caroline Seger.
Knaak and the ex-Lyon midfielder would quickly form a strong bond, but their storied history together began in an unlikely location.
Seger laughs: “I found her at IKEA sitting in a chair. We ended up having lunch and coffee together randomly and I felt right away how we clicked.
“We ended up having lunch and speaking about everything and we had the same thoughts about a lot.”
Knaak confirms the chance encounter: “It must have been in the first week and I remember I was trying to buy a nice chair so I went there [IKEA] and had a look around.
“I then called my brother on FaceTime because I needed him to help me choose as I’m so bad at those things.
“I sat down in the chair and called him, I looked up and saw two pairs of feet standing there. That was our first real meeting outside of football.
“I tried to tell her I was Facetiming my brother so I’m not totally insane, but it was a nice day because I went with Caroline and Olivia Schough for a coffee and that was pretty much the first conversation we had and we got along pretty well.
“So, in the end it was a pretty good day.”
With the Swedish top-flight running from spring to winter, Knaak began pre-season soon after her arrival at Rosengard, but the rigours of consistently playing on astro turf for the first time took its toll.
An overuse injury stunted her progress slightly but after returning to the field in June, she immediately stamped her authority on the division, playing again in defensive midfield and at centre-back across 16 outings.
Knaak’s move to Rosengard also presented the opportunity to play in the Champions League and after she helped them beat Brann over two legs to qualify for the group stage, they were placed in a highly competitive Group D with Benfica, Bayern Munich and Barcelona.
On 19 October 2022, Rebecca was named in the starting XI for their opening group assignment away to Bayern – a proud moment no doubt – but her return to Germany would have a kaleidoscopic impact on her career.
With the hosts leading 2-1, a somewhat innocuous collision with Georgia Stanway around the hour mark left Knaak with a broken big toe.
At face value, an injury to a toe may not seem the most substantial – but the issue led to a year on the sidelines, with often no signs of light at the end of the tunnel.
Henrick Kackur, Rosengard rehabilitation coach, was there every step of Knaak’s journey through recovery and he says the uncertainty held back any progress.
He explained: “For a while we weren’t exactly sure what the issue was and how to fix it. She had a lot of setbacks and it went on for a long time with both the healing process, finding out exactly what to do and how to do it.
“In this case, there were a lot of things we didn’t know. It was a small toe injury, things didn’t really heal out, there was pain even though we couldn’t see what it was.
“Even though some injuries might be worse, we still know what to do. We didn’t really know and if it was just us trying to deal with the pain for the rest of her career or not.”
Knaak added: “I went from the x-ray with the doctors having been told I would be back in six weeks.
“I felt my whole rehab was a set-back. I remember the first weeks were okay, but something didn’t feel right, but I was pushing through.
“I just kept going although it was quite painful, but the medical staff said it wasn’t right so they extended the six weeks for six weeks, then for six weeks, then for three months, then for six weeks.
“I was never on a constant scale, I was either at a nine or a one both physically and mentally, pain wise.
I really tried to trust the process and not stress, but it got harder and harder the more setbacks I got.”
As those challenges continued and the pain refused to subside following surgery, Kackur recalls a ‘dark’ period where all eventualities were being discussed.
He said: “The dark moments were days when we were discussing and talking about ‘will this ever end?’ and ‘will this be the end of her career?’.
“A lot of players with injuries have faced these things, but I would say it was, in one way, another level. It all comes down to there being so many things that weren’t clear.
“That’s the level of darkness because you can’t really see a way out.”
Knaak admits that retirement, at just 26, began to become a genuine possibility.
She added: “I did think about it [retiring], and I started saying it out loud which scared me. The injury was in October and I said it in the summer after that where I was still in pain.
“Looking back, I think I said it as a coping mechanism to know I could still do something else, I don’t know if I really meant it, at the time I did because I didn’t want to think about the pain anymore.”
Standing side by side with her during the process was Seger who was recovering from an Achilles tendon injury at the same time and the pair were precious counsel for each other during a difficult stage of their careers.
The Swede said: “I saw how hard she worked. She pushed me and I pushed her and we did it together. You go through a lot of emotions, it’s up and down, up and down.
“When you’re in a situation like that, it’s never fun but at least we did it together and that made the journey a lot easier.”
In total, Knaak had five surgeries on her big toe to correct the injury which included consultations with medical professionals in Germany.
And remarkably in only four weeks, she was back on the field – playing the final 10 minutes for Rosengard in a 2-1 Champions League qualifier away win over Serbian side Spartak Subotica in October 2023.
Following that success, Rebecca never looked back and reestablished her status as a key member of the team which would go on to achieve future, sparkling success.
Therese Sjogran, Rosengard’s Sporting Director at the time, immediately noticed a renewed physical and mental strength in Knaak when she returned to the field.
“When you are out for a while, you normally come back stronger because you have time to build yourself up in a way that you can’t during the season,” she explained.
“It was really hard for her mentally as well, but she came back stronger in every way, and you could see how happy she was to be out there again.
“Injuries are so tough, but you learn so much. When she came back you could see she was stronger in every aspect.”
By her own admission, the 2024 Damallsvenskan campaign is where everything seemingly ‘clicked’ for Knaak as Rosengard won the title with 25 victories from 26 games.
Coming into a side brimming with confidence, she played 19 top-flight matches and scored a staggering 12 goals from centre-back as her former employers raced to the championship.
Rosengard were presented with the Damallsvenskan crown after a 4-0 home win over Linkoping which is a moment which will forever stay with Seger, especially holding the trophy with Knaak at full-time after everything they went through together.
She sums it perfectly: “Even talking about it or when you remember the small things, it’s just gives you the chills because it was an amazing season.
“We cried a lot together and we reminded each other that we did this together.