The 22-year-old from Leimbach, Germany, now residing in West Palm Beach, Florida, plays college soccer for the Seahawks. After a challenging 2018 season and dealing with serious knee injuries, she is focused on getting back to full fitness for the start of the 2019 season.
College Soccer Player Maxi Krug
Sometimes, she has to pinch herself. Is it all just a dream, or is it really happening? Two years ago, Maxi Krug made a decision: “I want to go to the U.S.” But not as a tourist for a week or two. With the help of Athletes USA, one of the world’s leading college recruiting agencies, Maxi turned her dream of an athletic future into a reality.
A year and a half ago, she packed her bags, left home, and started a new chapter in sunny Florida—both in her sport and professionally. Now 22, Maxi studies Sports Science at Keiser University and plays as an attacking midfielder for the Seahawks.
A few days before Christmas, in a small café with raindrops tapping against the window, Maxi Krug longed for the sunny warmth of Florida. “The weather isn’t as nice here as it was in the U.S. When I left, it was still around 25 degrees,” she says. The cold and gloomy December weather in her hometown of Leimbach, a small rural village, can’t compare to Florida’s sunshine. But what matters now is the reunion with family and friends.
From a sporting perspective, 2018 was much better than her freshman season in 2017, a year she will never forget. In the second game of that season, she collided with an opposing goalkeeper, resulting in a torn ACL—her second one since 2011.
After ten months of recovery, Maxi returned to the field. The season was short—only about four months—but intense. The preparation for it was just as demanding. Three times a day, she sweated through boot camps filled with grueling fitness exercises and running tests. “Those were really tough sessions—six in 48 hours. A few tears were shed. You feel broken afterward, but you have to push through. It eventually pays off,” she recalls.
Growing up, it was hard for her to imagine living and playing soccer in the United States. She began chasing a ball at just four years old, receiving her first pair of football boots with studs from her grandfather. “I thought that was really cool.”
Maxi is the only active footballer in her family. She started playing at SG Leimbach and, at 13, moved to the sports school in Jena. Four years later, on October 13, 2013, she made her Bundesliga debut for Jena in a 3-0 win against Cloppenburg. In the summer of 2015, she moved to Bonn to be closer to her sister, marking a new chapter in her career.
Then, the tide turned. Maxi dared to make the leap across the Atlantic. In her first full season, her team reached the finals of the Nationals, but they lost 0-1 in a tough match. “Of course, it’s bitter to lose a close final and go home empty-handed. But it was the first time in school history that a women’s team made it to the final.” The team was composed of 28 young women, mostly from Europe.
In her first season after recovering from her torn ACL, Maxi contributed 13 goals, making it a successful year despite the challenges. Unfortunately, she ended the season in pain.
Her inner ligament started causing issues again. “It was splinted during the last surgery. There are screws in there that aren’t where they should be. The ligament is partially torn.” The surgery in January went smoothly. “I hardly had any pain and could walk right away.” But that wasn’t the end of her troubles. The last MRI showed a fatigue fracture in her pelvis.
Despite the injuries, Maxi continues to push forward, determined to overcome every obstacle that comes her way.
Maxi Krug Wants to Keep Playing College Soccer in the USA
Maxi Krug now has the time to fully recover from her injuries during the Spring Season. “I’ve agreed with the coach and physiotherapists that I won’t play any friendlies this spring. Instead, I’ll focus on rehab,” she says. Her goal is to be fit for the upcoming season and be ready for her team.
To her delight, she’s no longer the only German-speaking player on the team. Goalkeeper Nina Haeberlin joined in the summer. “We needed someone for that position, and I knew her because she played in Mönchengladbach and most recently for a university in Georgia. I reached out to her and tried to convince her to join us,” Maxi says with a smile.
Both players’ journeys are closely tied to the sports agency Athletes USA, which helps athletes secure sports scholarships in the U.S. Before Maxi, Johanna Rappe, a soccer player from Auleben, Germany, followed the same path. “I thought, if Johanna can do it, so can I. My decision was clear: I want to go to the USA.” Maxi reached out to Jonas Heidrich, a former Wacker Nordhausen player and now part of the agency. Despite her doubts about moving to the U.S. two years after graduation, he quickly reassured her that it was possible.
The journey began with two English tests—speaking, writing, listening, and reading. In order to study at a U.S. university, Maxi needed a certain minimum score. “My scores were good, so I had many options and twelve universities to choose from.” She decided on Keiser University in Florida—a smaller university but one that offered a great sense of community.
Maxi’s long-term goal is to become a physiotherapist after completing her bachelor’s degree. This decision stems from a pivotal experience: her first ACL injury. “After that, I became more interested in my body and started focusing on physiotherapy.”
Despite having lived her dream in the U.S. for the past year and a half, she can’t imagine leaving. “It was the best decision for me,” she says. While she misses some things, like German food (Schnitzel and bread), she’s not ready to give up the sun, the beach, and the sea. Sometimes, even after all this time, she still has to pinch herself to believe it’s all real.
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Maxi Krug swirls in the offensive midfield for the Keiser University Seahawks, where she is doing her bachelor to become a physical therapist
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