It’s been a big year for Chelsea and Lioness defender Jess Carter. She helped drive Chelsea to win the WSL championship. She was named Women’s Player’s Player of the Season. Now she’s announced that she and her longtime girlfriend and ex-teammate Ann-Katrin Berger are engaged.
“7 years down forever to go,” reads the caption on her announcement post. She and Berger are glowing, embraced, with the New York City skyline and the Statue of Liberty behind them. It would seem New York is treating the two quite well—their engagement comes a little over a month after Berger announced she was ending her six seasons at Chelsea, and had signed with the NWSL’s NJ/NY Gotham FC.
In the time they’ve been together, the two have become one of the biggest power couples in women’s soccer — and arguably all of women’s sports. They helped bring home a whopping 5 WSL titles in 7 years. The pair also weren’t just teammates at Chelsea. They met while playing together for Birmingham City FC in May 2016, where it was a miracle they got together in the first place.
By February 2017, they had become friends and moved in together (oh my god they were roommates). When Berger finally took Carter out on a date in August that same year — in peak lesbian fashion — Carter didn’t realize it was a date. “When she used the word ‘date’, I thought she meant as friends,” Carter told The Guardian. “Even when she paid, it didn’t click, because she’s one of the most generous people I know.”
Carter and Berger are in great company as they join the handful of other members in the very niche “Engaged to My Sports Teammate” Club. In the past year we also saw the engagement of Marie-Philip Poulin and Laura Stacey, who were teammates on Canadian women’s national hockey team. They brought home the silver at Pyeongchang 2018, the gold at Beijing 2022, and the diamond at Mississauga, Ontario 2023. They also played together this past inaugural season for the PWHL Montreal.
There’s also Alyssa Thomas and DeWanna Bonner of the WNBA. The Two Connecticut Sun players got engaged in July of last year, with the team posting official engagement photos declaring this the “Best. News. Ever.”
Now, Ann-Katrin Berger and Jess Carter have joined the ranks. We’ll be cheering them on at Berger brings home what she calls her “best trophy so far.”
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VincintDario Arias