Steve von Bergen (born 10 June 1983) is a retired Swiss professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

who played as defender. He played for

FC Zürich Fussballclub Zürich, commonly abbreviated to FC Zürich or simply FCZ, is a Swiss football club based in Zürich. The club was founded in 1896 and has won the Swiss Super League 13 times and the Swiss Cup 10 times. The most recent titles a ...

for two full seasons, winning the Swiss Super League in both campaigns and then moved to Hertha BSC, playing there for three years. He managed to establish himself as a regular on the Switzerland national football team, earning over 40 caps since his debut in 2006 and playing at two World Cups.

Club career

Switzerland

Von Bergen began in the youth division of FC Hauterive, before joining

Neuchâtel Xamax , neighboring_municipalities= Auvernier, Boudry, Chabrey (VD), Colombier, Cressier, Cudrefin (VD), Delley-Portalban (FR), Enges, Fenin-Vilars-Saules, Hauterive, Saint-Blaise, Savagnier , twintowns = Aarau (Switzerland), Besançon (F ...

in 2000. In summer 2005,

Lucien Favre Lucien Favre (; born 2 November 1957) is a Swiss professional football manager and former player who currently manages club Nice. Favre was a playmaker for various Swiss and French clubs, the longest for Servette, with whom he also won the cha ...

, then coach at

, scouted the defender and brought him to the club. In his first season in Zürich, Von Bergen earned 36 caps and contributed to the clubs first championship since 1981. The following season, FC Zürich defended their title.

Hertha BSC

When Lucien Favre transferred to Hertha BSC in summer 2007, he brought von Bergen with him to the

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany. At the top of the German football league system, the Bundesliga is Germany's primary footba ...

. Von Bergen made his debut in the German top division on the second match day against Arminia Bielefeld. During his first season in the German capital, Hertha finished tenth, but qualified for the

UEFA Cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, china, clay ...

via fair-play rating. In the 2009–10, after the departure of

Josip Šimunić Josip "Joe" Šimunić (; born 18 February 1978) is a Croatian retired footballer and current manager of the Croatia national under-19 team. Born in Australia to Bosnian Croat parents, Šimunić started his career at Melbourne Knights then mov ...

, Von Bergen managed to establish himself as a regular in Hertha's starting formation.

Italy

After his contract in Berlin expired in June 2010, Von Bergen agreed to join newly promoted Italian

Serie A The Serie A (), also called Serie A TIM for national sponsorship with TIM, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and the winner is awarded the Scudetto and the Cop ...

club

Cesena Cesena (; rgn, Cisêna) is a city and ''comune'' in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy, served by Autostrada A14 (Italy), Autostrada A14, and located near the Apennine Mountains, about from the Adriatic Sea. The total population is 97,137. ...

on a free transfer. At the end of

2011–12 Serie A The 2011–12 Serie A (known as the Serie A TIM after its headline sponsors) was the 110th season of top-tier Italian football, the 80th in a round-robin tournament, and the second since its organization under a league committee separate from S ...

, Cesena relegated. In June 2012 he moved to Serie A club

Genoa Genoa ( ; it, Genova ; lij, Zêna ). is the capital of the Italian region of Liguria and the sixth-largest city in Italy. In 2015, 594,733 people lived within the city's administrative limits. As of the 2011 Italian census, the Province of ...

on a free transfer. His stay lasted only two months, as in August he was sold to fellow Serie A club Palermo for €1.7 million in an exchange deal for Greek goalkeeper

Alexandros Tzorvas Alexandros Tzorvas ( el, Αλέξανδρος Τζόρβας; born 12 August 1982) is a Greek former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. Club career Early career Ηe began his career as a member of the renowned (domazos academy) ...

(permanent for €600,000) and Paraguayan striker Daniel Jara Martínez (on loan). At the end of season Palermo relegated.

Return to Switzerland

On 19 June 2013, he moved to Young Boys for €850,000. He was part of the Young Boys squad that won the 2017–18 Swiss Super League, their first league title in 32 years. Von Bergen retired at the end of the 2018–19 season.

International career

Von Bergen made his debut for the Swiss national team on 6 September 2006 against Costa Rica. He has been a constant member of the Swiss team, and was called to a preliminary squad for

Euro 2008 The 2008 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2008 or simply Euro 2008, was the 13th UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial football tournament contested by the member nations of UEFA (the Union of Europea ...

. Due to a broken hand, Von Bergen was not able to take part in the tournament. Von Bergen was part of the Swiss national team at the

2010 World Cup , image = 2010 FIFA World Cup.svg , size = 200px , caption = ''Ke Nako. (Tswana and Sotho for "It's time") Celebrate Africa's Humanity'It's time. Celebrate Africa's Humanity'' (English)''Dis tyd. Vier Afrika se mensd ...

. In the first match, where Switzerland shocked

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

1–0, Philippe Senderos was substituted in the 36th minute after injuring his ankle seriously in an accidental collision with a teammate, and Von Bergen replaced him. It was his first appearance in a major tournament. At the 2014 FIFA World Cup, Von Bergen was himself substituted for Senderos after being injured in the 8th minute of the second group game against

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

. A high foot from

Olivier Giroud Olivier Jonathan Giroud (born 30 September 1986) is a French professional footballer who plays as a striker for club AC Milan and the France national team. Regarded for his work-rate, strength, acrobatic strikes, shot power, consistent goal-s ...

fractured his cheekbone and he left the tournament to receive treatment back in Switzerland. He was part of the squad for the 2016 European Championships where the team achieved the best result reaching round of 16.

International statistics

Honours

FC Zürich * Swiss Super League: 2005–06, 2006–07 Young Boys * Swiss Super League: 2017–18

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:von Bergen, Steve 1983 births Living people People from Neuchâtel Swiss-German people Swiss men's footballers Men's association football defenders Switzerland men's international footballers Swiss Super League players Neuchâtel Xamax FCS players FC Zürich players BSC Young Boys players Swiss expatriate footballers Swiss expatriate sportspeople in Italy Expatriate footballers in Germany Bundesliga players Hertha BSC players Swiss expatriate sportspeople in Germany Serie A players A.C. Cesena players Palermo F.C. players Expatriate footballers in Italy 2010 FIFA World Cup players 2014 FIFA World Cup players UEFA Euro 2016 players Sportspeople from the canton of Neuchâtel