After becoming well-known in England during her time with Chelsea, more chapters in the shot-stopper's incredible story are being written at Euro 2025
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Women's Euro Tickets
Secure your Women's Euro 2025 tickets for this summer's international tournamentLocation: SwitzerlandStadiums: Various, including St. Jakob Park, Stadion Wankdorf, Stade de Genève and moreDate: July 2 – 27Final: July 27, St. Jakob Park
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New kits from adidas, Nike and Puma have been released for the Women's Euro tournamentGrab your favourite team's kit to support throughout the gamesSearch for your team, including Italy, England, Germany and moreAvailable in sizes XS – XXL
From
€50
Buy nowRead MoreTickets
Women's Euro Tickets
Secure your Women's Euro 2025 tickets for this summer's international tournamentLocation: SwitzerlandStadiums: Various, including St. Jakob Park, Stadion Wankdorf, Stade de Genève and moreDate: July 2 – 27Final: July 27, St. Jakob Park
From
€149
Buy nowRead MoreAccommodation
Where to stay
Book hotels, apartments and accommodation across Switzerland for the Women's EurosSearch for places to stay near the stadiums, across Zurich, Basel, Bern, Geneva and moreLook for accommodation based on your dates, number of bedrooms, and budget on Booking.com
From
€49
Book nowRead MoreKits
Shop your kit
New kits from adidas, Nike and Puma have been released for the Women's Euro tournamentGrab your favourite team's kit to support throughout the gamesSearch for your team, including Italy, England, Germany and moreAvailable in sizes XS – XXL
From
€50
Buy nowRead MoreTickets
Women's Euro Tickets
Secure your Women's Euro 2025 tickets for this summer's international tournamentLocation: SwitzerlandStadiums: Various, including St. Jakob Park, Stadion Wankdorf, Stade de Genève and moreDate: July 2 – 27Final: July 27, St. Jakob Park
From
€149
Buy nowRead MoreAccommodation
Where to stay
Book hotels, apartments and accommodation across Switzerland for the Women's EurosSearch for places to stay near the stadiums, across Zurich, Basel, Bern, Geneva and moreLook for accommodation based on your dates, number of bedrooms, and budget on Booking.com
From
€49
Book nowRead MoreKits
Shop your kit
New kits from adidas, Nike and Puma have been released for the Women's Euro tournamentGrab your favourite team's kit to support throughout the gamesSearch for your team, including Italy, England, Germany and moreAvailable in sizes XS – XXL
From
€50
Buy nowRead More
Germany are going to be up against it on Wednesday as they take on Spain for a place in the 2025 European Championship final. Not only did Saturday's quarter-final win over France take it out of them from a fatigue perspective, with the eight-time winners somehow getting through 120 gruelling minutes with just 10 players before winning the shootout, it also depleted them numerically, with Kathrin Hendrich suspended after her brainless red card, Sjoeke Nusken picking up a yellow that also rules her out and Sarai Linder joining Giulia Gwinn on the injury list. Germany will have only 19 players available, three of them goalkeepers.
Perhaps no one is more important to Christian Wuck and his team, though, than one of those 'keepers. As Germany defied the odds to progress on Saturday night, it was Ann-Katrin Berger who stole the show, first with a truly outstanding save to prevent an own goal from Janina Minge and then with her penalty shootout heroics, as she saved two either side of her own thumping finish to book her nation's place in the last four.
"We knew that we could only survive with mentality, fighting spirit and solidarity," Wuck said afterwards. No one embodies those values better than Berger, whose status as one of the best goalkeepers in the world is made all the more incredible by the two battles with cancer she has endured during her time at the very top of the game.
Getty ImagesSuccess abroad
For fans of the women's game in England, Berger is extremely well-known. It was in the Women's Super League that the goalkeeper first properly asserted herself as a top-quality player, having struggled to make her mark in the Bundesliga or, after joining Paris Saint-Germain as a 24-year-old, the Premiere Ligue.
She joined Birmingham City in 2016 and, after earning the first of her four PFA Team of the Year nominations in the Midlands, would spend the majority of her nine years in England with Chelsea, becoming a vital cog in a team she lifted 10 major honours with.
Berger became renowned for her incredible reflexes, the world-class saves she could produce in the biggest games and – as so many more now know – her knack for saving penalties.
AdvertisementGetty ImagesInspiring comebacks
But she was also well-known because of her incredible story. The word 'inspiring' is thrown around a lot nowadays, but it well and truly applies to Berger, who was first diagnosed with thyroid cancer back in late 2017. One only has to look at how the next year or so panned out to learn a lot about the German's character: She returned to the pitch in February 2018, was named to the PFA Team of the Year in April, and in January of the following year, signed for Chelsea.
Almost five years after that first diagnosis, Berger revealed that there had been a recurrence in her thyroid. It didn't slow her down for long, though. A month later, she was back, stealing the show in a 2-0 win over title rivals Manchester City.
"I just want to tell my story to help people out there," she told during those battles. "I [fought] it and I'm a normal person. So why can't other people do it?"
Getty ImagesShaping her character
It's not something Berger dwells on too much today. “I feel like I’m not really an emotional person but I’m glad that I’m here and I’m glad that I have the team-mates I have,” she said after Saturday's win, asked to reflect on her journey from cancer diagnosis to this point. “What happened here makes me proud to be here. Whatever happened in 2022, I’m looking forward now to the future. Now I live my best life and I’m in the semi-final.”
However, it's something that has clearly impacted and shaped her as a person and, in the context of this Germany team, a leader. "She is a player who has had extreme experiences," Wuck said. "That is a very important character trait. I think her faith and pathway in life has made sure she is patient, and the patience and calmness she brings to the team she proved today. It's just incredibly important that you have such personalities in the team, that you have a goalkeeper in the team who radiates calm."
Getty ImagesPatience is a virtue
Patience is something Berger has needed during her time in the national team set-up, too. Despite being a star in England for so long, the shot-stopper found international opportunities tough to come by. It wasn't until two years after her first call-up that she made her Germany debut, back in 2020, and she didn't make a single appearance at Euro 2022 or the 2023 Women's World Cup.
That was despite being voted to the PFA Team of the Year in England in 2020, 2021 and 2022, and finishing third in voting for The Best FIFA Goalkeeper in 2021 and 2022. Berger had established herself as one of the best in the world in her position, and yet if you turned on the summer's big international tournament, you wouldn't see her.
