Success on both sides of the Atlantic

Katharina Oelschläger was eight years old when she first started playing soccer at a club in her home town of Meerbusch in North Rhine-Westphalia. Four years later - as the only girl on the boys’ team - she was chosen by a scout from the highly popular German club Borussia Mönchengladbach to take part in a trial training session: that was when Katharina decided she wanted to turn pro. She played for Borussia Mönchengladbach for almost seven years, made it into the Lower Rhine team, and then after completing secondary school moved to the US to study psychology and continue playing soccer. 

Katharina, you’ve been living in the US since 2021. Why did you want to move to America? 

I have some family there and we used to visit a lot. I fell in love with the country as a child – I really like the people and their open-minded attitude to life. Somehow I always knew I wanted to live there one day. And thanks to my scholarship, I can perfectly combine my studies with my sporting career in the US. 

You were just 18 years old when you moved to America, up until then you’d only trained with German clubs. What was it like suddenly playing soccer in another country? 

I started out at a community college in Kansas City, where I played for a year and a half. It was a good start for me in the US because I got to play a lot and wasn’t just sitting on the bench. On two occasions I was even awarded the title MVP (“most valuable player of the year”) – that was a great honour. In my freshman year we went to the National Tournament in Georgia where we finished among the top twelve college teams in the country. In the summer of 2022 I transferred to Florida Gulf Coast University, a larger university with a team that plays in the NCAA D1 – the top league in college sports. 

What’s the difference between playing soccer in Germany and in the US? 

In the US there’s greater emphasis on athleticism, speed and physicality, whereas in Germany the training has more of a technical and tactical focus. The differences are also really noticeable when you watch a game: in US soccer you often see long balls being played from the back. In terms of playing style, I stand out in a team like this because my training at Borussia Mönchengladbach means I’m a bit ahead of the Americans in terms of technique and tactics. Apart from that, there’s generally more interest in us women in US soccer. Our team gets just as much money from the university as the men and we’re treated exactly the same. We get more attention than women’s teams in Germany, so we feel more in the spotlight. That’s something we really appreciate.  

... but you still want to come back to Germany in the long term. What do you have planned for the future? 

Yes, I definitely want to go back to Europe after doing my bachelor’s degree at the end of the year and go on playing soccer professionally – that’s my big dream. In the US it’s extremely difficult to make it into the top teams as a non-American: there are severe restrictions, and a large percentage of players have to be US-born. Back in Germany I had a great training programme at Gladbach so I’d like to build on that. It doesn’t necessarily have to be a German club again, but I’d like to play for a European team in the country’s first or second division. I’ve already started putting together a video of highlights to promote myself to clubs and consultants. I’m beginning to get a bit homesick, too – I miss cycling, so that’s definitely something I’m looking forward to being able to do again.