09 August, 2019.

Two years ago, German center back Johannes Bergmann arrived on American shores with the dream of reinvigorating his soccer career and becoming a professional in the MLS. After playing for youth Bundesliga side RW Erfurt and swiftly ascending up the German National Team youth squads, Bergmann decided to move to the United States to face new challenges.

Bergmann made his debut for the University of Maryland soccer team in 2017, and since then, he has started 40 games and played over 3000 minutes to become an integral part of UMD’s back line. In 2018, Bergmann helped Maryland clinch a fourth NCAA Men’s Soccer D1 National Championship, and in the summer of 2019, he was chosen captain of the team due to his international experience, composure and exceptional tactical understanding of the game.

In early August, we had the opportunity to catch up with Bergmann as he continues to prepare for the upcoming 2019 college soccer season. Throughout a whole afternoon in College Park, Maryland, Bergmann told us all about his long journey from the youth Bundesliga in Germany to college soccer in the United States. The University of Maryland’s star central defender gave us insight into both U.S. and German youth development systems, and he shared his plans for the future in the MLS. Bergmann also opened up about last season’s memorable championship campaign with UMD and told us what to expect in the Fall as the ‘Terps’ prepare to defend their national title.



You were born in Germany, so when did you start playing soccer?

I’ve been playing soccer since I was five years old. I grew up in a soccer family, so my dad played soccer, my grandpa played soccer, and Germany is a big football country so I kind of grew up in that whole environment. Also, I loved to play soccer right from the beginning. I played a lot with my grandparents, my neighbors and also with my parents. There was almost never a day without playing with the ball.

Coming from a soccer-oriented family, how crucial was their support throughout your development?

My family has been very supportive throughout my career. I also have a younger brother who plays professional in Germany, and they always had to manage that between him and me. It was a lot of work for them, but together, with my grandparents, they all tried to split the work and drive us to practice during the week and games on the weekends. Without them I wouldn’t have made it. You need parents to support you especially once you start getting older. At the beginning you just practice a couple of times a week, but when you get older you practice four times a week, and then you have a game every weekend. I lived 45 minutes away from my academy, so they always had to drive me. Without their support it really would have been challenging.

After playing for several soccer academies when you were a child, you eventually ended up going to a sports boarding school in Germany. Why did you make that decision?

When you’re in Germany and you want to play for an academy that’s a bit too far away, you usually just end up going to the boarding school that they have. I lived an hour away from my academy, and from U-14 onwards my parents just couldn’t drive me anymore because it was too time consuming. In the end we just decided it would be best if I just went to the boarding school, and it’s really the perfect environment to get better. You’re surrounded by good players, you can practice thrice a day and it’s just very competitive.

How long were you at the boarding school, and what was the experience like?

I went there when I was fourteen years old, and I left when I graduated from high school when I was 18. It was like 4-5 years. In Germany I went to school for thirteen years because due to all the soccer I missed a lot of classes, so I had to do one more year to catch up with all the school stuff. I think it was a great experience because you have to learn to manage your time and you also get a very good education. I woke up in the morning, went to two classes, then had technical practices, went back to school and then had team practice in the afternoon. I got a great education on both ends.













Early in your career you also made it into the youth Bundesliga.

Yeah, I made it to a youth Bundesliga team in the U-17 when I was fourteen, so I played with guys three years older than me that are now playing in the first division in Germany or in other leagues internationally. It was a very good experience. Even though it was one of the smaller academies, we always played in the top level. We played in the U-17 Bundesliga and the U-19 Bundesliga against teams like Hamburg and Werder Bremen, so it was very competitive and very good for my development.

When did you get called up to the youth German National Team?

I was about seventeen or eighteen years old. I played well in one scouting tournament and the U-18 national team coach called me and invited me to a training camp with forty to fifty players. I was the only player from a small academy and almost all the other players were from Dortmund, Bayern Munich and Schalke. Only eighteen players would make it to a tournament in Israel, and I guess I was good enough to make it. We played there against Japan and against Portugal. We stayed there for a week, and then after that I went back to Germany and played against the Netherlands and France in 2012. It was a very cool experience against some very good opponents. After that I unfortunately got injured very badly. I had a pretty bad knee injury, so I was out for a year.

What was it like for you, as a very young player, to deal with an injury of that magnitude? When Ronaldo from Brazil injured both of his knees early in his career, he always mentioned how that experience truly changed him as an individual. How did your injury change you both as a player and as a person?

It was a really tough time. I needed a lot of time to get to my original level. It wasn’t a good experience, but it has made me harder and it has allowed me to see the game differently. I was only thinking about soccer before my injury, and sometimes you take it for granted that you’re healthy and not injured. Sometimes you also don’t take care of your education and think that school isn’t important, but that injury really changed my point of view on that.

Did you decide to come to the United States right after that injury?

No, it wasn’t right after the injury. Right after the injury, I still tried to become a professional player, but since I was out for a year when I was supposed to make the transition from youth to men, it was pretty hard to catch up to my old level and to the level of the pros. I was practicing with a professional team over there, but I never got an appearance, so I moved to another club in the 4th division in Germany. It was still very competitive, and I played there for about three years.

How did you end up making the jump to the United States then?

I have a friend who used to go to the same boarding school as me, and he works for an agency here that transfers European players to colleges in the U.S. It’s basically a college recruiting agency, and he would always tell me that if I wanted to come to the States and play college soccer here then he could help me. So I called him and just said ‘listen up, I need your help, and I want to try that. I feel stuck right now, and I want to change something in my life. I want to make a cut now and have a new experience in another country, learn another language and see another culture.’ So my friend just said ‘Okay, I can help you,’ and then eventually I transferred here to Maryland.







Why did you decide to come to Maryland?

Our coach Sasho [Cirovski] talked to me a lot and just convinced me this was the best school. He was very engaged in everything and really took care of me. I could feel he was very interested in me as a player, and he even visited me in Germany. That was a sign that he really wanted me. I also heard from friends that had already played here that Maryland was a very good school academically and athletically.

What was it like for you to adjust to soccer here?

I would say the biggest difference is that soccer here is a little bit more physical. The players are good, but I feel some of the players don’t have the same tactical understanding as we get taught in Germany. Either way, the players here are very good, and they all have a very good level. The biggest difference, I would say, is that the season is only over a four-month period, but in Germany you play over the whole year. You don’t have a game every three days over there, and here it’s very tiring, so it was hard to adjust to that. I really underestimated that because my first season, after three, four games, I was already burnt out because it was all at a very high intensity. Also, the rule of unlimited subs was new to me, so I was facing a fresh striker every ten minutes since you can sub as many times as you want. Playing every three days and also keeping up with school work was hard. Just that whole change to a system of playing over a three-month period while in Germany it’s over the whole year was probably the hardest part.

Now that your season only lasts three months instead of the whole year, what do you do during the rest of the year?

During the offseason in the Spring semester we do a lot of lifting. We do a lot of strength and conditioning, and we also have about six games throughout the whole Spring.

I know that right now you’re in the middle of gearing up for the 2019 Fall season, but can you tell us about last year’s championship run? What were the expectations going into the season, and what obstacles did you overcome to end up lifting the trophy?

We started the season with high expectations, but we couldn’t win during the first five games which was pretty disappointing for us. Your motivation can sometimes go down after a bad string of games like that, but we always believed in ourselves and our coaches did too. I think even though we lost a few games in the beginning, that really helped us come closer and create good team bonds. The team chemistry was one of the biggest reasons why we won last year. We were like a family. After those first five games we still weren’t very consistent with the wins, but late in the season something changed, and we started winning game by game. We went into the playoffs with a feeling that we were invincible, and we finally got that winning mentality after a while.

I think it was good that we didn’t succeed in those first five games because my first season at UMD we were unbeaten for the first ten games, but then I think we became too cocky, and we thought that it would continue like that into the playoffs. Maybe it was good to have a setback in the beginning. It made us come closer as a team, and I think eventually that was the key.

Apart from lifting the trophy, what’s the best memory you have from that fantastic campaign?

Choosing just one moment is hard. For me, personally, I loved the moment when I drew the PK in the final [against Akron] because afterwards we scored the 1-0, and we knew we weren’t likely to concede a goal. We didn’t think the game was over, but we knew the chance of winning was very high.

I also really enjoyed the game in Kentucky [to advance to the College Cup] because it was a very tough game, very competitive, and very physical. That away game against Kentucky is a good memory because they hadn’t lost a game back then, until they played us. I think they had won 19 games, but we played them, and we won. That was a very good feeling.

Donovan Pines — who is now at DC United — was also part of that UMD title-winning squad. What was it like playing with him?

It was very good, we complemented each other very well. I was more involved in building up the game, and he was a bit more defensive. He had some qualities that I didn’t have, and he was just great at defending. I knew whenever he went into a challenge that he was going to win it. He always had my back and vice versa. He was so strong defensively that I knew that if we just played at our normal level, we would keep a clean sheet. We had a very good connection and we developed good chemistry. Overall, he’s a great center back and he deserves to start for D.C. right now, definitely.

Are you looking to play in the MLS like Pines or would you like to return to Germany?

I’m planning on going to the MLS. I want to play pro. That’s really what I have been working on my whole life. I have already played in Europe, and I would like to see what it’s like here.











What would the process be for you to make into the MLS?

First of all, I have to play a good season. After that, I would go to the MLS draft in January and hopefully get drafted. But getting drafted doesn’t mean you get a contract. It’s more like you’re on a trial. I hope I can get drafted by a good club and then just see where it goes from there.

What teams do you think would be a good fit for you?

Soccer changes so quickly now, with all the turnover in coaches and all that, so I haven’t really looked specifically into any teams. I really like how LA Galaxy is playing and how they build up from the back. I also like how Atlanta plays soccer. I really like those teams soccerwise, but I would be happy with any team if I make it.

How do you think college soccer has helped you grow as a player?

I think college soccer has definitely helped me improve my physical part. I wasn’t bad physically, but I have definitely gotten stronger and faster, which has really helped me a lot. I also think that due to the culture change and due to being in a new environment my personality got better. Soccer is very important to me, but I take care of my education too, so I like how the system here combines soccer and school. I like how here I can also take care of my education.

If a young player from here has to make the decision of going to college or trying to make it pro, what would you recommend?

In the end it always depends on how good you really are, but like I said earlier, when I was 17-18 and in the Germany National Team, I didn’t really take much care of my education. Definitely not as much as today. But after I got injured, I completely changed my point of view. I would recommend going to college, and if you feel like you don’t like it after one or two years, you can try and go pro. Every person is different, every player is different. Some players, if they’re good enough, should take the opportunity and try to play professional. But if they feel they still need time to adjust then I think college is a good option because you take care of your education and get better as a player.



Before starting this interview, we were talking about how the 2026 World Cup is going to be here in North America. Last year the United States failed to qualify for the World Cup in Russia and that cast great doubt over how well the U.S. can fare at an international level. What areas do you think the U.S. must improve to compete well internationally?

I think the U.S. is on a good path right now. It all depends on the education that the players get from a young age. You need really good coaches already for the U-9, U-10 and U-11 so that players get the soccer IQ early in their careers.

I think starting early is definitely important. In other countries it seems like even if you’re not playing in an academy you’re playing soccer 24/7.

That’s what I was gonna say. First of all, soccer is not the main sport, so the education is not the best it could be. The education for basketball and American football gets the most priority. Also, sometimes I don’t see the same passion and love for the game that there is in other countries where soccer is really a religion, like in South America and Europe. For them, it’s a religion, it’s a passion, and they love to play every day everywhere. I remember back in the day we played every day when I was 6,7,8 years old. I lived close to a soccer field, so we used to go there every single day, right after we got home from school. Sometimes we did homework, sometimes we didn’t. You know how it is when you’re young. We used to play until the sun went down, and that’s something that seems to be missing here. Many teenagers or younger children sit in front of their laptop or computer and play Fortnite, so maybe that should change.

A lot of people also criticize the ‘Pay to Play’ system that is prevalent in U.S. youth soccer. Many talented players seem to get lost simply because they can’t afford to have the best opportunities to showcase their skills.

In Germany you have academies everywhere, so I think some of the problem also has to do with the size of the country here. If you really want to go to a good academy you might have to travel a lot. It should either be cheaper or there should be more scholarships or financial support from the club or academy.

For example, in Germany if you go to a boarding school, like I did, you only pay a little and you don’t have to pay for school or anything else. You pay a few hundred bucks per month for the boarding school, but that’s it. It’s not very expensive. Here it’s more of a business than genuinely educating the player sometimes.

When it comes to youth development, specifically, what do you think can be improved?

I think it depends on the level. Some teams have very good tactics, and it also depends on the coach. I think here at UMD we have good tactics, we play good soccer and every player on our team knows what to do. I just feel like sometimes when you play against some opponents that don’t necessarily have a good soccer program, you can tell that they struggle when it comes to knowing how to press, how to defend in shape and how to space themselves.

I think what should improve is that coaches should not put as much emphasis on strength and physicality. Academies should also have coaches that teach knowledge about the tactics and the game. I feel like a lot of coaches here still compare soccer too much to American football, for example, and it’s completely different. It’s good to do strength and conditioning, but on the other side you also have to really teach a player how he should defend, how he should move off the ball, how to check in and check out and how his spacing should be on the field. The priority should be on teaching the youth to have soccer IQ, and that’s something that I think has been improving. On our team, I couldn’t tell you a single player that doesn’t have the soccer IQ. On our team the players are very well educated when it comes to that, and our coaches are very knowledgeable about the game. Unfortunately, not everyone has that same privilege, and I think that can improve.













Having seen a few games last year, it is evident that you guys do have great coaching and talented players. Going into the Fall season, what do you think are your greatest strengths as a team?

I think it’s good that 50% of the starters already have the experience that comes with winning a national championship. The experience is a big plus. Also, I think now we know how important it is to have team chemistry after last season. The team chemistry is already very good, and it’s a strength, but we will try to continue to build on it.

Lastly, what are your expectations for this season as defending champions? The University of Maryland soccer program was already seen as one of the best in the country, but do you think now you have an even bigger target on your back?

I think this year our opponents are definitely gonna be even more motivated to play us. This year is going to be even harder because every team is gonna give 150% against us instead of 100%. But we are aware of that, we know about it, and we are getting prepared. We know we can only win games if we work very hard defensively because we know that’s the key to winning games. If we don’t underestimate our opponents and we respect them without being scared, then I think we have good chances to repeat the success we had last season. We’ve never won the championship twice in a row, so we are going to try and make it happen for the first time. That’s the goal.



Interviewer / Editors: Pablo Bayona Sapag / Daniel Friedman-Brown & Donovan Hugel

Photography: Carlo Rojas & Gabriel Bayona Sapag

Special thank you to Johannes Bergmann and the University of Maryland. Thank you, Captain!

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