Bekiroglu: "My trainer calls me Aslanim - my lion"

In the A-youth, a coach relegated Efkan Bekiroglu to the second team.

"Effe" had to play "group", the league under the district class.

Today he is a professional in Turkey.

• Efkan Bekiroglu moved from TSV 1860 Munich to Alanyaspor after the 2020/21 season. 

• The 25-year-old is fulfilling

  a dream

  in

  Turkey

  and is at the

  top

   of

  the

  table in

  the

  Süperlig

  with his new club

  . 

• In a big interview, the ex-Leo talks about his start in

  Alanya

  , the emotional chaos of his

  family

  when he was substituted for

  Galatasaray Istanbul

  and the close contact with his ex-colleagues. 

Munich / Alanya

-

walks through his apartment in

, a small

the

in

, with his mobile phone in hand

.

“Four rooms, really big.

My mother's heart is bleeding because she can't visit me and cook for her son.

But that's how all mommies are, ”laughs Bekiroglu.

He wants to show his farewell present to the lions.

There's

.

“The team gave me this number,” says Bekiroglu and grins.

He's looking for

signature

.

“Look, he even wrote the number 10 next to his signature.

I've always wanted this number. "

+

The farewell present: Efkan Bekiroglu always wanted Timo Gebhart's ten at TSV 1860.

© fkn

After leaving

Bekiroglu

found everything

in

that he dreamed of as a footballer.

At 17, a coach at

banished him

to the second team.

Bekiroglu was too bad for him.

He played "group", the league below the district class.

Today his parents see their son on TV against

.

With

is

on the

.

In the

, Effe has to queue up and hope for his chance.

It wouldn't be the first one he took in his life.

Bekiroglu on move to Alanyaspor: "It was my dream to play here"

How does it feel to play football in your parents' home country?

It was my dream to play here.

To feel this flair is incredible.

Germany is very formal.

People even offer you tea here if you renew your passport.

How can you best describe the difference between German and Turkish football?

My trainer calls me Aslanim.

That means "my lion".

Fits fine, doesn't it?

No coach in Germany would say to his player: Let's go, my lion.

It doesn't even exist in 1860 (laughs).

With a speech in Turkish, my trainer awakens me even more.

You can describe a color in Turkish for half an hour.

There are just so many words for it.

This language triggers a completely different feeling in me.

Efkan Bekiroglu on Süpgerlig: "The level is unbelievable"

Was it right to leave the lions in summer?

I miss my boys.

The time around 1860 was the best of my life.

I went out to eat with Herbert Paul every day.

I won't find close friends here.

I am alone very often.

Of course, I often think about whether it was the right decision.

I'm not a regular player and I don't have the same standing as in 1860. My father was still talking about 1860 until the last moment.

He said: If you stay, maybe you will rise.

But I said to him: Dad, I can play in the first Turkish league.

I have to take this opportunity.

The opinion in Germany is often: Turkey is not a top league.

It's not England or Spain.

But I can tell everyone: the level is incredible.

Is there a moment when you knew you were right to come here?

I'm a big gala fan.

My entire family loves this club.

I was allowed to enter this stadium.

Not as a fan, but as a player.

The feeling in the catacombs and the view from the tunnel into the stadium were pure goose bumps.

I saw gala trainer Fatih Terim.

He is a legend.

I warmed up next to top stars who used to be my role models.

Then the trainer calls my name and changes me.

Suddenly it doesn't matter whether Arda Turan or Ryan Babel is on the pitch.

I played soccer and wanted to win.

Nothing else counted.

Efkan Bekiroglu: "Fortunately I have never been to a youth training center"

How did your family in Munich experience this game?

My father can never sit still anyway.

Regardless of whether the opponent is FC Bayern II or Zwickau.

But tears flow against Gala.

My family sat in front of the TV in Munich and hoped that their son would come on.

You still can't realize what is happening to me.

Hopefully I'll be able to experience this feeling when I have a son one day.

+

The best time: Bekiroglu made friends in 1860.

"I miss the boys," says the ex-lion.

© dpa

So far you are only a substitute.

Would you have hoped for more?

In my career it always starts from scratch.

Fortunately, I've never been to a youth academy.

At FC Augsburg there were players in the second team who complained that the whirlpool was too small.

I've seen Dachau, Fürstenfeldbruck, Phönix and Unterföhring.

In the A youth, a coach sent me to the second team.

He thought I was too bad.

I had to play group.

This is the league below the district class.

In football, you have to show humility.

If you get a chance, you have to be able to shed this humility.

Seven games in the coming weeks: Efkan Bekiroglu wants to take his chance

What are you missing for the breakthrough in Turkey?

I need the coach's 100 percent trust to perform at my best.

But I have to work hard for that.

Leaping until the coach trusts you is the hardest process in football.

It was no different with Biero.

I will never forget the game against Uerdingen in the first season at 1860.

Quirin Moll was hurt.

Biero struggled for a long time whether he should let me play on the six.

I played my best game of the season and was on the team after that.

Here I have to queue up again.

I'm just the Efkan from the 3rd division.

Soon we'll have seven games in a few weeks.

This can be my chance.

Effe, Heppi, Vino and Timo.

That was the gang of gangsters of the lions.

Are you still in contact?

Fortunately, a clever person invented Facetime.

I am in constant contact with Herbert Paul, Daniel Wein and Timo Gebhart.

I tell them about the duels here.

But most of the time they can't figure it out when I call them with sunglasses on.

I can go to training in flip-flops in November at 25 degrees.

They are jealous of that (laughs).

But whenever people have too much of something, they want exactly the opposite.

I would love to put on my winter jacket again and turn the heating on.

(Christoph Seidl)