German Goalkeeper Ann-Katrin Berger Shares Insights on Football and Life After Cancer Battle
Ann-Katrin Berger, the German national football team’s goalkeeper, has opened up about her outlook on the sport and life following her battle with thyroid cancer. In an exclusive interview with Olympics.com, Berger revealed her approach to the game, emphasizing a focus on the present rather than dwelling on future possibilities or potential setbacks.
“If I think too much, it will ruin my style of play – that’s why I’ve never thought like that before, and I hope that I never will,” Berger stated, highlighting her strategy to maintain peak performance. She further elaborated on her forward-looking mindset: “In general, I don’t look so far into the future. No matter what I do, I just look at what’s in front of me. In football, you don’t know what’s going to happen – and due to my illness, I don’t know whether I might be able to continue tomorrow or not.”
The goalkeeper reflected on how her experience with cancer has reshaped her priorities. “Football is just a game, there are worse things in the world. In the past, football was the be-all, end-all for me. There was nothing better and nothing more important,” she shared. Berger added that the illness has instilled a sense of calm: “The illness has made me a bit calmer… I still hate losing, but I lose and walk away from the game after doing my best for 90 or 120 minutes, then that’s enough for me now.”
Concluding her thoughts, Berger expressed a balanced view on success: “it’s best to leave the pitch as a winner, but as I said, there are bigger things out there that are more important.”
