When Ann-Katrin Berger debuted for Gotham FC, fans inside New Jersey’s Red Bull Arena roared. They welcomed the veteran goalkeeper with deafening cheers that continued every time she touched the ball, and grew even louder with every save.
For the 33-year-old Berger, who was making her NWSL debut after leaving Chelsea last month, breaking into the starting lineup just nine days into her new contract confirmed what she already knew to be true: that moving Stateside was worth it.
At Chelsea, she shared time with England international Hannah Hampton and Sweden international Zecira Musovic. As a result, Berger only made five appearances during the 2023-24 season.
“It was the right time to move on and go,” Berger told The Athletic. “The big reason was, I know I needed to play.”
In four matches with Gotham, Berger has earned two clean sheets, helping the reigning NWSL champions hover mid-table in what has been a slow start to their 2024 campaign. She is quickly establishing herself as one of the league’s top goalies. In the team’s 1-1 draw with San Diego Wave on Sunday, Berger was named player of the match following a dominant performance with several critical saves, including a stunning free kick from María Sánchez.
Berger’s appetite for a bigger role drove her thousands of miles from home, and it’s that drive that is propelling her into a new chapter of her career as she hopes for an Olympic debut with Germany’s national team. Though Berger first played with the senior team in 2018 and was on Germany’s World Cup roster last year, the team failed to qualify for the Olympic games in 2020.
“That was one of the reasons why I really wanted to make sure that I play and be in the best shape I can be, to be a part of that Olympic squad,” Berger said. “For a soccer player, I think it’s the most special tournament because not everyone goes there. So, I hope, I really hope, that I will be there in the summer.”
Berger has a long resume with successful stints at professional clubs across Europe. She began her career in 2009 in Germany, with Sindelfingen and Turbine Potsdam.
“When I started, we actually had to beg to get some training pitch in the second division of Germany, I remember,” Berger says. “We had to beg to get a training pitch to train three times a week. … Sometimes when I get bonuses, or paychecks, or anything like that, I’m looking at them and say, ‘How the hell did I do that?’ I’m just playing football, and it is unbelievable to actually earn money and live a good life right now with that money.”
By 2014, Berger signed with Paris Saint-Germain and later with Birmingham City, where she won WSL players’ player of the year in 2017 after returning from thyroid cancer, a health battle she has persevered through twice. In 2019, Berger joined Chelsea after being recruited by Emma Hayes as part of a rebuild.
At Chelsea, Berger made 114 appearances, becoming a four-time WSL champion with the club. She won the FA Cup three times, League Cup once and twice finished third in the best FIFA goalkeeper award voting. Berger was long established as Hayes’ No. 1 keeper, before falling behind Musovic and Hampton this season.
Following Berger’s transfer to Gotham, Hayes said, “I’ve never seen a goalkeeper save penalties like Ann, best in the world. Some of the adversity she has had to endure with her own personal health, she is legendary status at Chelsea, but this is football.”
Berger’s contract was up this summer, she reasons, so leaving the club made the most sense, especially as Chelsea is once again undergoing a transition of sorts. Hayes will leave the club at season’s end, taking over as coach for the U.S. women’s national team. More changes may soon be on the horizon, with investors this week saying they are interested in acquiring a minority stake in Chelsea’s women’s team.
“Obviously, we don’t know what’ll happen in Chelsea, with the new manager coming in, whoever that will be,” Berger said. “I think it was the right time to move on.”
Berger wanted to join a team where she’d see valuable playing time, because she still has to prove herself on the pitch to be called into Germany’s competitive Olympic roster.
“In Germany, we have the luxury of having so many amazing goalkeepers, and I don’t want to get picked if I don’t play for a long time,” Berger said. “I think it was just reasonable for me to do it for my career. Especially in my age, I would say I still have a couple of more years (of playing) in me, and I just want to perform at the best I can.”
Since joining Gotham, Berger has had a whirlwind of a month. Her transfer was announced on a Friday, then on Saturday she traveled to Washington, D.C. for the club’s match against Washington Spirit. Though Berger didn’t play that game, she was quickly thrust into training and debuted the following week against Racing Louisville.
Gotham ended that match with a 1-1 draw. Berger told reporters afterwards she was “gutted” the team conceded a goal. She said the pace was quicker than she was accustomed to, and would now work to adjust her game.
“It’s very, very quick – so, I have to be quicker now,” Berger said. “I have to learn, because I think the strikers, and everything, is just much quicker. The ball has to move quicker, and I think that’s the main thing I actually have to focus on and integrate into my game.”
Following Berger’s debut, Gotham head coach Juan Carlos Amorós said the goalkeeper has been “fantastic” since joining the team. “We thought that Ann deserved to play and I’m very, very pleased with allowing someone else into the team that I think can really help us now,” Amorós said. “Her experience, her calmness, her confidence. You saw it in bits and pieces (today), it was fantastic for someone to make their debut the way that she did, and she showed the reason why she was chosen to play today.”
For Berger, leaving Europe was a difficult decision, mostly because it meant being further away from family. Gotham offered a happy medium, though, because it offers the shortest flight back home from the U.S. While in the States, Berger said she looks forward to indulging in some of the finer aspects of American life, like its rabid sports culture.
“I love the fact that the Americans love just the sports, in general, like football, hockey, NFL, basketball and soccer, and women’s football,” Berger said. “I love the NFL and I love the NBA. I watched it so many times at home, as well — like, I stayed up in the middle of the night just to watch a game, and I think that’s one of my biggest dreams to go to an NFL game, really.”
Though Gotham has ties to the NFL’s New York Giants, Berger is admittedly a fan of the Kansas City Chiefs and their star quarterback, who also happens to be a minority owner of the Kansas City Current.
“I just appreciate the sports person, and that’s why (Patrick) Mahomes right now is a very, very unique player, and I love to watch him,” Berger said.
With Gotham, Berger trains alongside some U.S. national team regulars, like Jenna Nighswonger, Crystal Dunn, Emily Sonnett, Lynn Williams, Rose Lavelle and Kelley O’Hara. Midge Purce is also a U.S. regular, but suffered a season-ending injury prior to Berger’s signing. Growing familiar with these U.S. players, in addition to her existing familiarity with the team’s incoming coach, can be an asset for the Olympics — especially with Germany and the U.S. drawn into the same group.
Having Berger on the team is beneficial for Gotham too, Lavelle said following the goalkeeper’s debut, which coincided with her own. The two played against one another in England, when Lavelle was with Manchester City. The two sides ended in a memorable 2-2 draw in 2021, with title-winning saves made by Berger to keep Chelsea at the top of the WSL table that year.
“Obviously, I played against her a little when I was at City and so I immediately knew, she’s really freaking good and she’s gonna elevate this group that much more,” Lavelle said. “She can contain the ball. She’s great with her feet. She has a good soccer mind, and then she comes up in big moments.
“She’s somebody who’s going to make us better in training, too, in the piece that we need to maybe get better at, like the final third and finishing, because you’re gonna have to be really freaking good if you want to score on her.”
Gotham, which sits seventh in the league, returns to Red Bull Arena on Sunday. Though the Olympics are on her mind, Berger’s immediate goal is winning for Gotham.
“I’m here to win, and I’m here to end up at the top of the league, or also being in the playoffs, because I’d quite like to experience that straightaway in my first season,” Berger said. “I think that’s two of my targets, really, and, personally, I’m just trying to make that experience, while I’m in right now, as nice as possible, and I think I have good people around me that will help me with it.”
(Photo: Vincent Carchietta-USA TODAY Sports)
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