Dutch professional footballers can be found in all corners of the world, from the spotlights of the major European leagues to the more adventurous jobs on other continents. In the Over de Grens section, Voetbalzone speaks weekly with a player who is active outside the national borders. This time with attention to Menno Bergsen, who exchanged AS Trencín earlier this summer for the Slovenian record champion NK Maribor.
By Chris Meijer
The days off are few for Menno Bergsen during this period. Roughly a month after the 21-year-old goalkeeper signed a two-year contract with NK Maribor, the first official game was already scheduled in the first qualifying round of the Conference League against Urartu from Armenia. “I had a short holiday, because the preparation has already started at the beginning of June”, Bergsen laughs. Between the matches in the Conference League, the Slovenian league also started last weekend. “Spicy, but fun. It’s my first time playing European and having to travel, so it’s nice to be a part of it. I would never come to Armenia otherwise. Or well, small chance. I never thought I would ever get to Maribor, let alone Armenia. I didn’t even know where it was, it’s still quite far away. It is also very warm there, about forty degrees. Well, that way you can see some places.”
That Bergsen would now play with a record champion of European football, he did not immediately expect a year and a half ago when he left the Netherlands behind. The goalkeeper from Oud-Beijerland kept goal for Sparta Rotterdam, FC Dordrecht and FC Eindhoven, where he handed in his contract to play more elsewhere. Tscheu La Ling’s AS Trencín picked him up on a free transfer. “I went there to play more and show myself. That went well, but sometimes less so. I played less than I had hoped. It was a very good choice to go there. I trained hard every day, got better and this is the reward. Afterwards I am very happy that I was with Trencín. I learned a lot there, as a goalkeeper and as a person. I had to become independent and mature.”
Bergsen met the necessary Dutch people in Slovakia with Gideon van de Wee (performance coach), Aschraf El Mahdioui, Ryan Koolwijk, Ruben Ligeon and Gino van Kessel. “I was well received, but it was not necessarily easy. The step was not too big, in the beginning I played every game and it went really well. Life sometimes goes in ups and downs. I’ve had an injury and corona and didn’t always play. There have also been difficult moments off the field. Last year I didn’t see anyone from my family for three months, because the borders were closed because of corona. But in the end I think it’s worth it, my family and girlfriend are behind me and come by regularly if possible,” says Bergsen. According to his own words, the experiences abroad made him look at goalkeeping differently.
Bergsen’s presentation at Maribor.
“Very detailed. At Trencín they wanted me to play football and attack the ball, that is comparable with Maribor. I have changed in a good way, when I look at how I was in goal at Eindhoven and Dordrecht. That’s not a world of difference, but you learn something different everywhere. Supposing I were to go to Russia now, I would also learn something else. You take everything with you in your backpack, I also like to go to different places. You learn something from every culture and goalkeeper coach”, Bergsen nods. After playing nine games for Trencín in a year and a half, his contract expired last summer. Both parties decided in mutual consultation not to continue with each other, so that Bergsen was able to make a transfer-free transfer. That transfer was not long in coming and that was partly thanks to Kris Stergulc, the Slovenian goalkeeper coach of Trencín.
Stergulc (‘really a topper, I learned a lot from him’) filmed the training sessions at Trencín and also shared it with Mitija Pirih, his compatriot and colleague from Maribor. That eventually led to an offer from the Slovenian club. “I didn’t really doubt it. Maribor is a very big club. The biggest club I’ve played so far. I had a very good conversation with the goalkeeper coach. It all just looked really good.” Maribor was not an unknown club for Bergsen. In 2014 and 2017 Maribor was still active in the group stage of the Champions League and with fifteen league titles and nine cups, it is by far the most successful club in Slovenia. “You immediately notice that it is a big club, everything is well organised. There is someone for everything, to arrange things. But there is also someone who picked me up at the hotel and took me to where I needed to go. You just have to think about football, the rest will be taken care of.”
“You immediately notice that it is a big club, everything is well arranged.”
“Football is alive in the city, you see Maribor banners in the cars. If you speak to someone, chances are they’re a Maribor fan. I’ve been recognized several times. Not when I’m walking down the street, but when I happened to be in the fan shop: ‘Hey, the keeper!’”, continues Bergsen. He quickly found his place in eastern Slovenia, where he moved into an apartment in the center of Maribor after just a week. “I searched all kinds of sites and found a good apartment. That is also better, otherwise you live from a suitcase in your hotel and that is not nice. It is a nice and cozy city. Not very big, but the center is nice. We regularly go into town with teammates, there are many nice coffee shops. The vibe good. I like Maribor better than Trencín. Because it’s bigger, but it also has to do with me arriving in the summer. Everything is outside now. I don’t know what it’s like here in winter, maybe it’s comparable to Trencín.”
Bergsen notes that the level at Maribor is higher than at Trencín. “But that in itself makes sense. No agreements have been made about whether I will be the first or second goalkeeper. I came as a goalkeeper and whoever is the best plays. It’s not that I came as a trainkeeper, not that. If I prove myself and show myself, I will play too. I’m not ruling out anything, I’ve only just come here and I’ve already played quite a few practice matches. That went well, so I’ll keep doing my thing and then we’ll see. I hope eventually to get even higher, that I’m going to make minutes here and play myself in the spotlight. You don’t know how it goes, but that’s the plan.” When Bergsen was added to the Maribor group app, it immediately became clear what the goal is for this season.
“The group app is called ‘Maribor champion 2022’, so that is the big objective. If that works out, it will look great on my resume and it’s nice to be a part of it. It is very difficult to predict your future as a footballer. I didn’t know I’d be here a few months ago. That’s what makes it fun. I certainly did not think when I left FC Eindhoven that I would come out of here now”, Bergsen beams. The first goal for this season is to reach the group stage of the Conference League. And there Bergsen, who comes from the Rijnmond region, hopes for one specific opponent. “Feyenoord away would be great. Such a scenario would be nice. Playing in De Kuip is wonderful. I once sat on the couch with FC Dordrecht when we played a benefit match in De Kuip. I would love to play a Conference League game there.”