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 lea ...

who played as defender. He played for

FC Zürich Fussballclub Zürich, commonly abbreviated to FC Zürich or simply FCZ, is a professional football club based in Zurich, Switzerland. The club was founded in 1896 and has won the Swiss Super League thirteen times and the Swiss Cup ten times. ...

for two full seasons, winning the

Swiss Super League The Super League (also known as the Credit Suisse Super League for sponsorship reasons) is a professional association football league in Switzerland and the highest level of the Swiss football league system. It has been played in its current fo ...

in both campaigns and then moved to

Hertha BSC Hertha, Berliner Sport-Club e. V., commonly known as Hertha BSC () or Hertha Berlin, is a German professional football club based in Berlin. Hertha BSC plays in the 2. Bundesliga, the second tier of German football league system, German footbal ...

, playing there for three years. He managed to establish himself as a regular on the

Switzerland national football team The Switzerland national football team (, , , , ) represents Switzerland in men's international Association football, football. The national team is controlled by the Swiss Football Association. Switzerland's best performances at the FIFA Worl ...

, 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 Neuchâtel (, ; ; ) is a town, a municipality, and the capital of the Swiss canton of Neuchâtel on Lake Neuchâtel. Since the fusion in 2021 of the municipalities of Neuchâtel, Corcelles-Cormondrèche, Peseux, and Valangin, the city has ap ...

in 2000. In summer 2005,

Lucien Favre Lucien Favre (; born 2 November 1957) is a Swiss professional Association football, football manager and former player who most recently managed club OGC Nice, Nice. Favre was a playmaker for various Swiss and French clubs, the longest for Serve ...

, 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

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 and the highest level of the German football league system. The Bundesliga comprises 18 teams ...

. Von Bergen made his debut in the German top division on the second match day against

Arminia Bielefeld DSC Arminia Bielefeld (; full name: ; commonly known as Arminia Bielefeld (), also known as ''Die Arminen'' or ''Die Blauen'' ), or just Arminia (), is a German sports club from Bielefeld, North Rhine-Westphalia. Arminia is most well known as ...

. During his first season in the German capital, Hertha finished tenth, but qualified for the

UEFA Cup The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a Typography, typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star (heraldry), heraldic star. Computer scientists and Mathematici ...

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

Josip Šimunić Josip "Joe" Šimunić (; born 18 February 1978) is a retired footballer and current president of NK Rudeš. Born in Australia to Bosnian Croat parents, Šimunić started his career at Melbourne Knights then moved to Germany where he spent ...

, 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 (), officially known as Serie A Enilive in Italy and Serie A Made in Italy abroad for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Italy and the highest tier of the Italian football league system. Establish ...

club

Cesena Cesena (; ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy; and - with Forlì - is the capital of the Province of Forlì-Cesena. Served by Autostrada A14 (Italy), Autostrada A14, and located near the Apennine M ...

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 ( ; ; ) is a city in and the capital of the Italian region of Liguria, and the sixth-largest city in Italy. As of 2025, 563,947 people live within the city's administrative limits. While its metropolitan city has 818,651 inhabitan ...

on a free transfer. His stay lasted only two months, as in August he was sold to fellow Serie A club

Palermo Palermo ( ; ; , locally also or ) is a city in southern Italy, the capital (political), capital of both the autonomous area, autonomous region of Sicily and the Metropolitan City of Palermo, the city's surrounding metropolitan province. The ...

for €1.7 million in an exchange deal for Greek goalkeeper

Alexandros Tzorvas Alexandros Tzorvas (; 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) Panathinaikos football academy but, de ...

(permanent for €600,000) and Paraguayan striker

Daniel Jara Martínez Daniel Celso Jara Martínez (born 22 November 1993) is a Paraguayan football midfielder. Career Jara Martínez started his career with Paraguayan outfit Club Nacional Asunción, with whom he participated in the 2010 Torneo di Viareggio, a yout ...

(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 The 2017–18 Swiss Super League (referred to as the '' Raiffeisen Super League'' for sponsoring reasons) was the 121st season of top-tier competitive football in Switzerland and the 15th under its current name and format. Basel were the defend ...

, 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 Costa Rica, officially the Republic of Costa Rica, is a country in Central America. It borders Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the northeast, Panama to the southeast, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, as well as Maritime bo ...

. 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 European ...

. 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 The 2010 FIFA World Cup was the 19th FIFA World Cup, the world championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's national Association football, football teams. It took place in South Africa from 11 June to 11 July 2010. ...

. In the first match, where

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

shocked

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

1–0,

Philippe Senderos Philippe Sylvain Senderos (; born 14 February 1985) is a Swiss retired professional footballer who played as a defender. Senderos began his career at Servette, before moving to England as a teenager with Arsenal. He made 116 appearances ov ...

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 The 2014 FIFA World Cup was the 20th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for list of men's national association football teams, men's national Association football, football teams organised by FIFA. It took place in Brazil fr ...

, 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 located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

. A high foot from

Olivier Giroud Olivier Jonathan Giroud (; born 30 September 1986) is a French professional Association football, footballer who plays as a Striker (association football), striker for Major League Soccer club Los Angeles FC. Giroud began his senior club career ...

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 *

: 2005–06, 2006–07 Young Boys *

: 2017–18

Individual

Team of the Year: 2018–19 *

Goal of the Year: 2019–20

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:von Bergen, Steve 1983 births Living people Footballers 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 men's footballers Swiss expatriate sportspeople in Italy Expatriate men's footballers in Germany Bundesliga players Hertha BSC players Swiss expatriate sportspeople in Germany Serie A players AC Cesena players Palermo FC players Expatriate men's footballers in Italy 2010 FIFA World Cup players 2014 FIFA World Cup players UEFA Euro 2016 players 21st-century Swiss sportsmen