German footballer (born 1990)
Ann-Katrin Berger (born 9 October 1990) is a German professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Women's Super League club Chelsea and the Germany national team.
Early life
At the age of four, Berger began playing football in the KSG Eislingen. As a teenager, she moved to FV Faurndau. She played as a striker, midfielder and defender and only switched to the goal at the age of 16, joking she became "lazy to run," and "has grown" again.[2]
Club career
In 2007, she moved up to the Oberliga Baden-Württemberg. A year later, Berger moved to second division side, VfL Sindelfingen.[3] In the summer of 2011, Berger signed a three-year contract with 1. FFC Turbine Potsdam in the Frauen-Bundesliga, the top division in Germany.[3] She made her debut for the club on 21 August 2011 and shut out Hamburger SV 4–0.[4] She made five appearances for the club during the 2011/2012 season playing a total of 450 minutes. Potsdam finished first in the league with an 18–2–2 record.[5] She was the starting goalkeeper in three of Potsdam's 2011–12 UEFA Women's Champions League matches helping the squad earn shut-outs against Þór Akureyri and Glasgow City F.C.[4][6]
Berger signed with Paris Saint-Germain in June 2014, playing 22 matches in all competitions during her two-year spell with the club.[7] In June 2016, she joined Birmingham City.[8]
In November 2017, Berger was diagnosed with thyroid cancer.[9] She made a full recovery. During her battle with cancer, she had a desire to continue playing football. On 4 February 2018, she made her first appearance since being diagnosed with cancer in the Fourth Round of the 2017–18 FA Women's Cup in an away match against Reading. Birmingham won 1–0. With her strong determination she had a brilliant season, and as a result she won the PFA Team of the Year Award.[10]
Berger continued her strong return in 2018, helping Birmingham City to a fourth-place standing after midway point of the 2018–19 FA WSL season. Having run down her contract at Birmingham City and rejected a new offer,[11] she joined reigning champions Chelsea on 4 January 2019.[12] Chelsea manager Emma Hayes signed her as part of the team rebuild even though Chelsea had three other goalkeepers on their roster.[13]
In April 2021, Berger made title winning saves away against Manchester City in a 2–2 draw, as Chelsea fought to preserve their lead at the top of the table.[14] Chelsea and manager Emma Hayes later won their 4th WSL title, the most by any WSL team, by 2 points on the final day of the 2020–21 season with a 5–0 victory over Reading. Chelsea broke the records for most wins (18) and most points (57) in a season, and became just the third team to defend the League title after Liverpool and Arsenal. Berger registered the most clean sheets (12), winning the Golden Glove.[15] On 23 August 2022 Berger announced, that she was suffering from thyroid cancer again.[16] A little over a month later, on the 25 September, Berger made her comeback against Manchester City.[17] In March 2023, Berger made the decisive save on Lindsay Horan's shot in the penalty shootout with Lyon, to take Chelsea to the semi-finals in the Women's Champions league.[18]
International career
Berger received her first call-up to the Germany national team in November 2018.[12] She made her national debut on December 1, 2020 in the Euro 2022 qualifier against the Republic of Ireland.[19]
She was named in the squad for Euro 2022, but did not play, as Germany finished as runners-up.[20] In July 2023, she was named in the squad for the 2023 World Cup.[21] She made no appearances and for the first time ever, Germany got knocked out after the group stage.
Personal life
Berger is openly lesbian, and in a relationship with her Chelsea teammate Jess Carter.[22]
Berger is an Ambassador and co-founder of the Judan Ali Football Academy known as JAFA based in London and founded in 2019.[23][24]
