02-07-2025
Germany keeper Berger wants to enjoy Euros after surviving cancer
Germany goalkeeper Ann-Katrin Berger in action during the team's training session ahead of Friday's UEFA Women's Euro 2025 soccer match against Poland. Sebastian Christoph Gollnow/dpa
Germany women's team goalkeeper Ann-Katrin Berger has a special feeling going into Euro 2025 after surviving thyroid cancer.
"I felt strong for a long time, untouchable even, but that has changed since the cancer," she told the Stern magazine in a joint interview with Bayern Munich goalkeeper Maria Luisa Grohs.
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Grohs had to sit out this season due to a malignant tumour in the tonsils in November.
"I now know how quickly my life can be in danger. I'm now trying to be a little more aware of everything and enjoy it, including the games for the national team this summer," Berger said.
She was first diagnosed with thyroid cancer in 2017 and underwent surgery. During Euro 2022, when she was a back-up keeper, Berger learnt that the cancer was back, but kept it to herself at that time.
"I didn't want to burden my team-mates and cause any unrest. The focus should be on the tournament, not on me," she explained.
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Berger, 34, became first choice in the national team last year and her heroics helped Germany win the bronze medal at the Paris Olympics.
She has retained her number one status for the Euros in Switzerland which the record eight-time champions Germany start on Friday against Poland, with Denmark and Sweden the other group stage opponents.
Grohs, meanwhile, has already been nominated to the Germany squad but is yet to make her debut for the national team.
She made her comeback for Bayern in March, but it's not part of Germany's squad for this summer's Euros.
"Before the cancer, it was clear to me that football wasn't everything in the world. The crazy thing is that it has become more important to me since the illness," she told Stern.
"You no longer have things in your own hands. Since then, in the areas of my life that I can control, I feel an even stronger urge to do everything perfectly."
