'I'm not sure how I handled it' - Wolfsburg star Camilla Kuver on four injury-plagued years, why she never thought about giving up and how a difficult journey made Germany & Champions League debuts even more 'special'

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.”

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.”

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.

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.”

Amid it all has been a positional change, too. Kuver’s debut for Germany - as they defeated France over two legs to reach the Nations League final, to be played against Spain later this month - came at centre-back, a role in which she has been a rock for Wolfsburg at the start of this season. Prior to joining the two-time European champions, Kuver was mainly a full-back, either on the right or the left. But her new club saw her future in a central position, one she had played before with the youth national teams in particular. Having immersed herself in it since her Eintracht departure, she’s actually enjoying it more, too.

“I feel like you have more control over the game and how it's played,” she explains, while her experience at both right-back and left-back allows her to be “comfortable” on either side of that Wolfsburg centre-back pairing. “That just makes me more flexible in my game,” she adds.

It means she is facing new challenges in each game, too. No longer tasked with stifling lively wingers, Kuver is now having to lock down some of the best centre-forwards in the game instead, with Marie-Antoinette Katoto, Ada Hegerberg and Pernille Harder three of the biggest names she has had enthralling individual battles with already this season. Given the fixtures Wolfsburg have on the horizon, names like that of Sam Kerr are potentially to come. That sort of star power, though, isn’t daunting for the ambitious young defender. Quite the opposite, in fact.

“They're big names but I always like to remind myself, they're also just human, because I know when I came here to Wolfsburg, for me, Alex Popp and Svenja Huth were these top, top players,” Kuver explains. “Of course, you see them on the field and they are these top, top players - but they're also just normal humans. I feel like that helps to know that the way I think about Pernille Harder, Ada Hegerberg, these kinds of names, I used to have this understanding also for the players that I play with now. So for me, it's good to know, 'Okay, it is the kind of level of where I'm at'. They're the ones that I want to come up against and, of course, challenge myself against. They're the best players out there, so it's very exciting to play against these kinds of names.”

Elisabeth Terland is the next striker Kuver will be tasked with keeping quiet, as Wolfsburg take on United in the Champions League on Wednesday. Terland might not have the name of a Kerr or a Hegerberg just yet, but the Norway international has made a flying start to the new season, scoring nine times already to be a key player in a United team who, until recent back-to-back defeats in the Women's Super League, had been in great form.

Wolfsburg, meanwhile, are an interesting case in this season’s competition. A two-time winner that reached the final of the 2022-23 edition and were 2-0 up at half-time against Barcelona on that occasion, only to succumb to the Catalans’ almighty second-half comeback, the German giants have great history in Europe. However, the recent financial boom within the women’s game has seen them lose ground both abroad and at home, a fact never more evident than when Kuver talks about the Bundesliga title race. “I think what is clear is that Bayern Munich are the favourites,” she admits. “Their squad is just a different level.”

That is more an acceptance of reality, though, as Kuver and Wolfsburg still have real confidence and belief in what they can achieve, especially after a solid start to the new season. Despite finishing as runners-up to the Bavarians in each of the last three years, and not making much ground in the Champions League since the 2023 final, this is still a very dangerous team that can cause any opponent problems. Paris Saint-Germain learned that last month, when Wolfsburg thumped them 4-0.

“If we're going to be a little overlooked, then we'll take that. We’ll do our thing,” Kuver says, speaking with the excitement of someone who has been chomping at the bit to play on stages like this for some time, and is now finally getting the chance to show what she can do on them.