Where it all started: Rising star Florian Wirtz' youth club, still coached by his father

Record ID: 1827555

  • Title: Where it all started: Rising star Florian Wirtz' youth club, still coached by his father
  • Date: 28th June 2024
  • Summary: PULHEIM (IN BRAUWEILER), GERMANY (JUNE 27, 2024) (REUTERS) LITTLE BOY FROM YOUNGEST "BAMBINI" TEAM IN WIRTZ JERSEY WITH NUMBER 17 TRAINING AND KICKING BALL INTO GOAL DRONE SHOT OF SOCCER FIELD OF TEAM GREEN-WHITE BRAUWEILER VARIOUS OF CHILDREN DOING SOCCER EXERCISES VARIOUS OF BOY IN WIRTZ JERSEY WITH BALL (SOUNDBITE) (German) HANS-JOACHIM WIRTZ, FATHER OF GERMANY MIDFIELD
  • Embargoed: 12th July 2024 15:18
  • Keywords: Euro 2024 Florian Wirtz Germany family youth
  • Location: PULHEIM, HERZOGENAURACH, GERMANY + UNKNOWN LOCATION
  • City: PULHEIM, HERZOGENAURACH, GERMANY + UNKNOWN LOCATION
  • Country: Germany
  • Topics: Europe,Soccer,Sport
  • Reuters ID: LVA001444627062024RP1
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: On a football pitch in Germany's North Rhine-Westphalia, a group of young footballers, known here as the 'Bambinis' are getting their goal kicks in under the watchful eye of trainer Hans-Joachim Wirtz.
    What makes this trainer special for his team is that he is the father of Germany national player Florian Wirtz, who himself trained and played with the Bambinis.
    Known as one of the three 'wizards' of the German national Euro 2024 squad, Wirtz's success story has made his local community proud and happy.
    The young upcoming Bambinis wear his name on their jerseys as they run across the training pitch. After all, European Championship goalscorer Florian learnt to play football right here in Pulheim, in the Brauweiler district, very close to Cologne.
    Hans-Joachim Wirtz, Florian's father, is the chairman of the sports club and trained his son himself back in the day.
    "He already had a lot of free movement with the ball and was able to move well. He always saw where his team-mates were on the pitch even back then, even as a 4-year-old, and so the first signs, if you had paid attention to them, which we didn't at that point, then you could have seen that very clearly back then already,"
    recalls father Wirtz, who is still active in the training team twice a week.
    DFB youngster Florian Wirtz scored the first goal for the German team in the opening match of the European Championship against Scotland in the tenth minute, setting off the national team's euphoric 5-1 victory.
    Wirtz joined the German national squad from another rising star, the Bundesliga's Bayer Leverkusen, who won the league for the first time this season.
    The 21-year-old attacking midfielder started his career with his dad at the sports club Grün-Weiß Brauweiler, but then quickly switched to the youth team of 1. FC Köln. From there, he moved to the Bayer Leverkusen U19s four years ago. Today, his market value is estimated at 130 million euros according to transfermarkt.de. This currently makes Wirtz the most expensive German international player.
    Family and friends are immensely proud of the young German goalscorer. Even some lifelong 1. FC Köln fans have started rooting for Bayer Leverkusen in an act of local patriotism according to Florian's father.
    Former and current coaches agree, that Florian Wirtz is exceptionally skilled. The German team's next match takes place on Saturday (June 29).
    As group winners, the national team under coach Julian Nagelsmann will face Denmark in the round of 16 of the European Championship.
    (Production: Andi Kranz, Petra Wischgoll, Susanne Neumayer-Remter, Laura Urraca-Makuch)
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2024. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
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