It's no wonder Camilla Kuver can't stop smiling. After making her Champions League debut only a couple of weeks prior, the 22-year-old has just won her first and second caps for Germany, starting both games against France over the last international break to help her country qualify for the Nations League final. These would be milestones worth celebrating for any player, but they are particularly special for the Wolfsburg defender, given the incredible bad luck she has had with injuries over the past four years.
“I’m not even really sure how I handled it all,” Kuver admits. Coming into this season, Germany’s new centre-back had made just five first-team starts since tearing her ACL in November 2021, at the tender age of 18. In fact, she didn’t get onto the pitch once in the 2024-25 campaign, that her second season with Wolfsburg, the two-time European champions and the most successful club in the history of German women’s football.
But after enduring setback after setback, Kuver looks to finally be on the other side and back on track in a career that still has so much promise. After all, despite all of those injuries, her goals in football were never really gone. “They were just postponed,” she notes.
Now, as huge Champions League encounters with the likes of Chelsea, Real Madrid and, on Wednesday, Manchester United loom, Kuver has plenty of opportunity to show everyone just why she remains one of the most highly-rated young defenders in the game.
Getty ImagesInjury hell
As GOAL walks through Kuver’s injury history with her, it’s no wonder she admits there were times where there would be questions in the back of her mind asking, ‘Is it even worth it?’ After coming through the youth national teams as a talented and versatile full-back, and breaking into the Eintracht Frankfurt first team as a 17-year-old, an ACL tear during her second senior season would spark the beginning of an incredibly difficult few years.
Kuver was back on the pitch at the start of the 2022-23 campaign, only to suffer another knee injury that would keep her out for eight more months. Then, after making just five appearances during her first season at Wolfsburg, having completed a move to the German giants during her rehabilitation process, she would miss the entire 2024-25 campaign in what she describes as “definitely the toughest” part of an extremely taxing time. Having overcome cartilage damage in her knee that sidelined her for half of the year, a dislocated shoulder and a ligament injury in her foot took care of the rest.
“At some point I couldn't even take myself seriously, I feel like, because I came back from injury and then the next one came. Then I thought, 'Okay, now I'm really getting back', and then the next thing came,” Kuver tells GOAL. “Looking back on that time, I'm not even really sure how I handled it all. I just kind of did. I mean, I had to. I think that's what makes this time right now even more special.”
AdvertisementGetty ImagesFighting through
A lot of people would’ve given up had they experienced the setbacks Kuver did. Yet, aside from what she describes as the occasional “tiny questions in the back of my head”, the 22-year-old never considered quitting. Why? “Just because I love playing football,” she responds. “It's always been the greatest joy in my life.
“During rehab, I realised there's nothing that could compare and there's nothing that could give me the same kind of joy. That was something. I just wanted to be back on the field. Also, I had so many goals – for one, the national team goal. I still wanted to prove myself. I still wanted to show what I can do. That was always something, the mindset of, 'I'm not really done yet'. Even though there were all the injuries and stuff, my goals weren't gone. They were just postponed. That was definitely something that kept me going.”
Getty ImagesHelpful factors
Other factors helped, too. Kuver had several friends who were either enduring or had endured long-term setbacks like hers, meaning she could talk to people who knew exactly what she was going through.
“I've always felt it was easier to talk to people who have gone through the same thing because, of course, people are trying to support you and be empathetic, and I'm sure they can imagine just how hard it is, but it's different when you've gone through it,” she explains. “That was definitely easier for me to talk to those people with. It was very, very important, actually.”
School was a welcome distraction during her ACL recovery, while Wolfsburg’s decision to sign her when she was sidelined the following year provided a confidence boost. “It was definitely nice to hear that people saw my abilities and, despite my injuries, they thought it was worth it,” she says.
Getty ImagesSavouring the 'special' moments
The hope now is that all of that is well behind Kuver. She speaks to GOAL as a regular starter for the team placed second in the Frauen-Bundesliga table and as someone who, last month, experienced Champions League and senior international football for the first time. The player who ranked ninth in the 2022 NXGN list of the best teenage talents in the world is reminding everyone why she generated so much hype as she broke through. And while the injuries are something she would’ve gladly done without, they have made the recent months all the more sweet.
Kuver describes playing for Germany as something she thought about during her rehab process, “because it’s not always easy to be motivated to go to rehab every single day”. “That was just one of the big goals and dreams that made it possible for me to even get through it,” she recalls. “It is a very, very special feeling. I think it's also important that I keep reminding myself that it is very special, given the journey that I've been on.”
